# Canon SDK +iOS/Android



## K-amps (Jan 9, 2012)

Does anyone know if there are plans (rumors  ) of Canon announcing an SDK or plug in for people who would like to take their iOS /Android Tablets into the field for previewing their shots, or even using it for Time Lapse/ focus bracketing and similar "extended" functions? These functions can be performed by a laptop, but these can be heavy & unwieldy on a long trek.

If there is any site where I'd hope to get the info, it has to be CR !


----------



## Mt Spokane Photography (Jan 9, 2012)

I haven't heard of it. 

Acer and Lenovo are said to be releasing windows8 based tablets this fall, with a lot more computing power. I would expect usb ports, memory card slots, and other features that would appeal to photographers.

I'm holding off on a tablet until one that is more suited for photography shows up.


----------



## K-amps (Jan 9, 2012)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> I'm holding off on a tablet until one that is more suited for photography shows up.



Same here, but I have waited enough through 2 generations of ipads... I hope we can catch a break with the ipad3 otherwise I might need to go windroid, and re-buy many of my apps for that platform.

Heck if Canon even released an SDK for the Kindle Fire... I'd be ok with a 7inch screen!


----------



## wickidwombat (Jan 12, 2012)

I found this
http://www.canonrumors.com/forum/index.php/topic,2807.0.html
it works well as a controller


----------



## PeterJ (Jan 12, 2012)

There's an application for Android called DSLR Controller:

https://market.android.com/details?id=eu.chainfire.dslrcontroller&hl=en
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnxvFYza6Y4

Rather than being based on the Canon SDK I'd guess (but am not sure) it would be based on the libgphoto2 library. Unfortunately my Droid phone doesn't support USB host or OTG so I haven't been able to give it a try, but it does work on some of the Galaxy tablets for example.


----------



## K-amps (Jan 12, 2012)

PeterJ said:


> There's an application for Android called DSLR Controller:
> 
> https://market.android.com/details?id=eu.chainfire.dslrcontroller&hl=en
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnxvFYza6Y4
> ...



Saw that, sounds very promising, but is it a ported niche product (non-mass)? Since I have not heard a lot about it except for that one youtube video. If it was robust enough, it could have caused many photograpgers to move to Android... I would think. Has it happened? Is the app beta or final? I know too many questions... but have you used it yet?


----------



## M_Max (Feb 8, 2012)

K-amps said:


> PeterJ said:
> 
> 
> > There's an application for Android called DSLR Controller:
> ...



Saw this thread, signed up and then promptly forgot all about it. Duh. ???
Anyhow, I've got an Asus Transformer tablet and have this app. It cost me all of £5 for a beta copy.

Yes it is still in Beta at the moment, I admittedly haven't used it a huge amount and it probably works better for studio/still life stuff (which I don't really do a lot of at the moment) because the USB connection isn't the tightest and has a tendency to work loose if you move it about a lot, not the apps fault more an Asus design flaw.

The app is good though, seems to everything I've asked it to do. Crashes are minimal although it hated me trying to use video with it and didn't really like it when the camera went to sleep, this could have been fixed in one of the many (read: 4 or 5) updates since I last used it I should add that video isn't supported by the app but thought I'd try it anyway.

This app is one a few apps that offer this function after having a quick look on the Android Market, although when I bought DSLR Controller it was the only true direct connecting app. The others involved WiFi and another laptop surely making the tablet surplus to requirement anyway?!.
Updates are frequent, every time I check for app updates, it is always there in the update list.

The app is essentially a lot like using the EOS Utility but with a touch screen which I quite like, it feels natural to jab the screen and change shutter speed and aperture this way. IMO this app is easier to navigate around than the EOS Utility.
Focusing is nice with a couple of options: 
- An automatic mode where you drag a box around then tap where you want it to focus, a lot like standard Live View focusing.
- A manual mode of sorts where you pick a point with a box again and can then adjust the focus with 6 buttons in total. 3 buttons to focus in and 3 to focus out. Each of the 3 buttons does a slightly smaller increment than the last so enables quite small adjustments to be made, although it does take a while to master this mode.

Official website http://dslrcontroller.com/ which has all the features on it because I can't really remember any of them and I don't have the tablet at work with me.

Hope that makes sense.


----------



## K-amps (Feb 8, 2012)

Good info thanks for your reply.

I am now invested in iOS :-\... so need something for an ipad


----------



## M_Max (Feb 9, 2012)

No problems, sorry it took so long to actually write a reply.

I'm really surprised the Android system got the app first. I figured it would be developed (3rd party) for the iPad then Android support added later.

Whilst I was reading reviews and researching tablets and also these types of apps I'm sure I read somewhere, I forget where, that both Canon and Nikon had said they had no plans to release an official tablet/mobile application, or the SDK for that matter, which I think is a little short sighted.

Is there really nothing similar to DSLR Controller on the App Store after all the years IOS has been around?


----------

