DiyPhotoBits.com

A few bits and pieces about photography

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DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control 2.0 : Embarrassment

October 29th, 2008 · 21 Comments

Ok so here is DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control 2.0 — the Embarrassment release.   I’ve named it that because I’ve had no time to work on it recently and so it still is a) very rough with major holes and b) fails to have all the obvious fixes and enhancements that I have discussed with people.

DOWNLOAD

So why release it at all?  Well because having control of the camera exposure from the computer is cool — and at the moment I have it sitting here on my PC working and maybe you’d like to have it on your PC working as well.

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Tags: Download · Software

DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control 1.0

October 16th, 2008 · 17 Comments

Update; Now try version 2.

Ok here’s something new — I’ve taken the various little scripts for tethered shooting and remote control and wrapped them up in a nicer interface.  This is the first time I’ve tried writing a “hypertext application” or .HTA file and it’s quite an interesting mix of HTML and scripting.  I think I can do quite a few interesting things with this.  But for now here I have produced:

DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control 1.0

DOWNLOAD (200K installer)  Use version 2 instead

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Tags: Download · Software

RAW : in remote shutter release script

September 30th, 2008 · No Comments

Two of my scripts let you press a key on the keyboard, or click with the mouse, and remotely release the shutter.  But just like the built in Windows Explorer technique for doing these they both only are able to trigger JPG, even if the camera is set to RAW.

Until today.  It turns out this is not that hard to fix.  But the programatic technique is a bit of a laugh; because Windows Image Automation does not officially support RAW the NEF files on my Nikon D300 are typed as being of “undefined” type.  Unlike JPG files which WIA does know are JPG files and are typed appropriately.

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Tags: News

Windows Remote Shutter Release HOWTO

September 29th, 2008 · No Comments

I explained before how my remote shutter release script was actually redundant, because Windows has a built in feature that does this. Of course I did then go forward and make the self-portrait script which does do something more useful, remote shutter release combined with immediate download and viewing, but the original idea of a simple remote shutter is still useful.

So I thought a better explanation of how that Windows feature works might help, and it’s good practice for me making videos as well:

Via YouTube:

Via Vimeo:

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Tags: Video

Tethered shooting with Bridge viewing

June 18th, 2008 · No Comments

Update: This is now obsolete, use instead the DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control 1.0 application.

Here’s an update to the Tethered shooting script – this one customized to work with Bridge for viewing.

Download

Instructions and usage are the same as the original except that if you have Bridge open on the tethered shooting folder — “c:\tethered” by default — then after each new image is added Bridge will advance to that image by pressing [END] to go to the last image in the folder.  You need to have sorting set appropriately so the most recent image is the last in the folder.

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Tags: Download · Software

Coming soon - the world’s most expensive DSLR remote control

June 16th, 2008 · 3 Comments

Yes, to go with my expensive D300 — I now find I have no wireless remote control shutter release.  The handly little not-particularly-cheap ML-L3 remote that worked for my D40 is no good for the D300.

Instead I’m supposed to buy an ML-3 remote – which costs about ten times the price.  Sure it does a lot more, but I don’t particularly want more, I just want to press a button in my hand while the camera is on a tripod at the other side of the room as I do endless self-portraits while practicing my off-camera lighting. 

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Tags: News

Free Tethered Shooting Script for Nikon

May 23rd, 2008 · 61 Comments

Update: The With Bridge version provides almost instant image viewing in Adobe Bridge without any keypresses.  If you use Bridge instead of Adobe Lightroom then download that version.  I’ve also made a video to show how to use this script.

Update: This is now obsolete, use instead the the DIYPhotobits.com Camera Control 2.0 application.

If you’ve been keeping up with the blogs of various big photography bloggers out there you’ll certainly have been seeing quite a bit about tethered shooting recently. Not that it is a revolution or anything, but it certainly is a help to be able to see your images immediately on a big screen — and that doesn’t just go for those with failing eye-sight but basically the images you see on the LCD at the back of your camera are only the jpg preview, not the RAW (should you be shooting raw).