Canon Remote Live View Shooting via PDA

[al_sieradski]

<p>Is it possible to do remote live view shooting on a Canon EOS camera with the display on a PDA (pocket PC) running on Microsoft Mobile Software? I'm thinking of situations where the camera is in a awkward situation and the camerman is a cable length away.</p>

[tomwatt]

<p>Even if it were (I can't speak to that... I suspect it would need a computer tether), if you're that far away, if the view you see doesn't suit, how are you going to affect it? If you're not able to move the camera because you're that far away, you're stuck with what you get anyway... in which case, it would be a situation where I'd likely put on "P" and shoot a bunch blindly... check to see what I have, then shoot more as necessary. Lather, rinse, repeat as needed.</p>

[Charles_Webster]

<p>I don't think EOS Utility (the software for operating tethered) will run on Windows Mobile. You should check the Canon site for details on the minimum requirements.</p>

<p><Chas></p>

[greg_moss2]

<p>Hmmm... would the Eyefi cards or the Wifi (Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E2A or similar)that Canon makes, be able to broadcast to your PDA? My PDA has Wifi and I can set it up like a notebook PC. Depending on which camera & PDA, there may be a way to do it. That would be cool if you could. I'll have to experiment a little.</p>

[ed_v.]

That would be great to use in place of a variable-angle LCD for situations when the camera is near the ground pointed upwards, self portraits, wildlife, etc. I can think of a few times when I wanted to rotate my screen like my Powershot A640.

[digitmstr]

<p>I am sure someone will write and iPhone app for this, soon enough...! If not, there are some pretty small, portable PCs around that would do the trick. Not as small as an iPhone but very portable...</p>

[greg_moss2]

<p>Ok. Eyefi... no. It needs a wireless hub, no adhoc computer-to-computer network.<br>

WFT-E2A to a WiFi capable PDA with a web browser... yes!<br>

Set WFT mode to HTTP. Setup IP address & up to 3 user logins. Select the IP address in your PDA's web browser. Login. You can run remote capture, view files, etc. I was not able to try live view, but it should work. (Page 39 Chapter 4 of the WFT Manual) Is it worth $700 for WFT? You can buy the Asus Netbook for around $300 with Windows XP. Then run the USB cable to almost <strong>any</strong> EOS camera. You then have a 8.9" or 10" screen, files can be saved to both camera & PC and you have a new laptop!<br>

Good Luck!</p>

[ian_burrell1]

<p>I have been working recently (and other people have done before) on getting gphoto2 to compile on the Nokia N800 internet tablet. The N800 has a USB OTG port so with the right adapter, it can act as an USB host and plug into the camera. gphoto2 is an open source library and command-line client that can control some cameras, Canon DSLRs included. The N800 runs Linux and it should be pretty easy to get gphoto2 working on it. One problem is that some of the camera remote control features are undocumented and proprietary and not supported. Live View is probably one of them.</p>

[corey_wright1]

<p>@ Greg: I've just purchased a Samsung N110 Netbook for this very purpose, but cannot seem to run the DPP software - I get the message that it requires a resolution of 1024x768 and most netbooks are only 1024x600. Know a way around this? Also, how do I install the remote capture tool on my netbook? Any help would be appreciated.</p>

[adrian_staicu]

<p>I was just thinking who nice would be if I could control my camera using my Windows Mobile phone. I wanted to do some timelapse photography and the laptop is just to heavy and only has about 2h of power on batteries. I think I should buy a remote switch with timer.</p>

<p>I didn't think about live view on mobile device... but now seams a very good idea. Maybe on iPad (with 1024x768 resolution). That would be nice.</p>

<p>@Ed V.: Most Canon cameras have video output, but I wasn't yet able to find a small lcd monitor to fit my needs or budget. If you have a HDMI connector: <a href="http://www.cinema5d.com/news/?p=3063">http://www.cinema5d.com/news/?p=3063</a></p>