Triggertrap - Use your smart phone to smartly trigger your camera

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 The video is long and only covers a few of the functions of the Triggertrap app/system - that's how cool this app is (or how much I like to hear myself talk?)I have one more Triggertrap to give away (given away 4 so far) Like my Facebook page and stay tuned for the last giveaway.Also seen in this video -Hotshoe Tripod Mount: http://goo.gl/FqLFbSmartphone Tripod Adapter: http://goo.gl/pcNcfI love making or creating time lapse movies and although I don’t get to do it nearly as often as  I like I am always on the lookout for gadgets that help. I have talked about the little Neweer intervalometer before, it is only $13 bucks and does a great job of telling your camera to take a picture every X seconds, it can also allow you to control bulb mode on your camera which allows you to set your shutter speed to longer than 30 second exposures.   The Neweer Intervalometer does its job well but doesn’t offer much in the way of options beyond the standard picture every x seconds.We have another option that is lots smarter and it only costs a bit more but does require a smartphone or tablet.  For the last few weeks I have been testing and app from a company called Triggertrap. They make apps for android and iOS and a small dongle that you plug into the headphone jack of your smartphone or tablet.   The benefit of a setup like this over the standard intervalometer is the sky is really the limit – your smartphone is a powerful computer and using that as the brains of the intervalometer allows dozens of creative ways for you to control the shutter of your camera.Some of the functions of the Triggertrap app include

  • Bulb Ramping Timelapse enables seamless sunrise/sunset timelapses,
  • HDR timelapse lets you combine the power of HDR and timelapses,
  • TimeWarp, a feature unique to Triggertrap, uses algorithms developed for animation to create more dynamic and natural-looking timelapses.
  • Sensor Controls: Leverages the smart device’s on-board sensors to release the shutter; Sound Sensor Mode uses the microphone to trigger at a set audio level, Seismic Mode fires based on vibrations, bumps or knocks, and Metal & Magnetism Sensor Mode can be used to fire the shutter in their presence
  • Facial recognition: Takes a photo once Triggertrap detects the programmed number of faces in the frame
  • Multiple HDR Capture Modes: Provides expanded control over bracketed exposures for Long Exposure HDR, or automates Long Exposure HDR Timelapse capture
  • DistanceLapse: Unique to Triggertrap, this mode relies on the smart device’s on-board GPS chip to fire the shutter over pre-determined distances
  • Motion detection mode: Triggers camera whenever motion is detected in the
  • Star trail mode: Allows external cameras to automatically take a series of long exposures in sequence to reduce noise
  • Wireless mode: Unique to Triggertrap, this new Wi-Fi triggering technology enables photographers to leverage the range and speed of a Wi-fi network to control the dynamic features of the Triggertrap Mobile app wirelessly

The Sensor controls are missing from the Android app, the devs tell me that they will be added soon, the Android app is also a bit laggy on my rezound, I also tested on the nexus and it was much smoother but still missing the sensor controls found on the iOS version.There are actually three parts to the set up – Your smartphone running the triggertrap app, the dongle and the camera specific cable.  Make sure you get the new v2 dongle (red wire) I bought the original dongle, with a black wire and although it works fine with my iPad refused to do anything when plugged into my android phone – I contacted support and Lucy was awesome, she walked me through a series of tests and even though it seemed it was more of my phone as the problem she sent me the newer red wire dongle free of charge, it arrived just a few days later and works perfectly.  I love working with people that take an extra step to make things right.My phone and my camera go everywhere with me and now I just throw these two little cables in my bag and I have a very smart and versatile trigger system for my camera.   I have added a little hot shoe tripod adapter that I use for some of my microphones and a generic cell phone tripod holder and now I can easily use the facial feature to snap photos.What am I most excited about –The wireless control is pretty niftyOn Black Friday 2011 I picked up a suction cup mount and have tried a few drivelapses (timelapse while driving) Now I can use the GPS to trigger over distance instead of time, this should give a different look and feel more true to the trip)Bulb Ramping Timelapse – Sunset and sunrise is very difficult to capture - you either lose light quickly or you use P mode and the light remains constant through the sunset totally ruining the idea of capturing a lovely sunset.  Did you know that as the sun sets you lose about a stop of light every 10 minutes.  Using the Bramping mode (for bulb ramping) you can pre-adjust for the light lost and really extend the length of time your timelapse will run while actually capturing the decreasing light.