IPad 2, telescope control and Canon 7D Live View questions?

[Dennis]

Hello,

My recent outing to image the ISS transiting the Sun got me thinking about getting an iPad 2 to support these types of mobile projects where I will be setting up away from home/power for a few hours to image a specific event.

The functions I am interested in are:

• Telescope control for Takahashi EM200 Temma II.
• Remote Live View on the iPad 2 screen to assist with focusing.

At a recent meet up with Mike (Iceman) I was also impressed with an application he was running on his iPhone to show the rise/set times and vectors of the Sun and Moon – I think it was called “The Photographer's Ephemeris”.

We do not have mobile ‘phones as our lifestyle does not require them and so the iPad looks as if it might offer the functionality required.

Does anyone use an iPad for the above functions?

Thanks

Dennis

[h0ughy (David)]

i think acropolite was tinkering with the camera control with some software at last years astrofest Dennis, so i wonder if he has that worked out by now?

[Dennis]

Thanks Dave – it is not clear if the 7D can be controlled directly via ONLY the iPad or whether you need to tether the 7D to a Windows PC and then use the iPad to operate wirelessly via the Windows PC.

Cheers

Dennis

[h0ughy (David)]

i distinctly remember Phil saying it was an app and he may have bought a remote trigger?

[Octane (Humayun)]

TPE is the bomb: http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/s...ad.php?t=62740

In the most recent update, the author has now added a compass to the mix, too (a long-missed feature).

I've used TPE for all my beach sunrise/sunset shots, as well as the recent eclipse, too.

It's an absolute dream come true for a landscape photographer.

H

[iceman (Mike)]

omg Dennis getting an iPad2?

That's *almost* a mobile phone, Dennis In fact, get the 3G version and you can use skype while on the road and it IS a mobile phone.

Welcome to 2011, Dennis

[beren]

Haven't got a Ipad but recently brought a Ipod touch which I think is similar having fun discovering all the different apps you can get. I am yet to try it but have Sky Safari pro and the Skywire cable from Southern Stars to control the Tak temma mounts.

[Dennis]

Thanks for the replies guys – much appreciated.

I guess my decision hinges on the answer to “does the iPad2 offer Remote Live View” without the need for a “server” PC?

Even if I had to purchase something like onOne’s DSLR Camera Remote instead of EOS Utility that would still be okay, but it looks like a no-go as OnOne’s blurb states:

“With your supported camera connected to a computer running the lightweight onOne DSLR Camera Remote Server application, the iOS application running on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad can remotely trigger the camera.”

Oh well, looks like I will have to postpone my membership of the year 2011!

Cheers

Dennis

Originally Posted by iceman

omg Dennis getting an iPad2?

That's *almost* a mobile phone, Dennis In fact, get the 3G version and you can use skype while on the road and it IS a mobile phone.

Welcome to 2011, Dennis

[Omaroo (Chris Malikoff)]

Hi Dennis

The developer of DSLR Remote has previously stated that an untethered solution isn't possible unless Canon themselves provide for iOS development in their SDK, which they don't at this stage,.

If they do, then it will be the first app off the blocks to do so I suspect.

http://www.ononesoftware.com/blog/20...pad/#more-2504

"Will the iPad allow me to eliminate the computer from the equation and connect the iPad directly to the camera?"

The short answer is no, you still need to tether the camera to the computer. The longer answer is that while there is the Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit, it only solves one portion of the connection problem. This adapter neatly solves connecting the iPad to USB to mini USB connection issue, but it doesn’t get around how our product was initially designed using the supported software developer kits (or SDKs) that are provided by Canon and Nikon.

Those SDKs, provided by Canon and Nikon, are only available in a format that runs on a Macintosh or Windows based computer. They are not provided in a programming language that is easily portable to the iPhone OS, the Android OS, etc, etc.. What we did was to embed those SDKs into our DSLR Camera Remote Server and then made sure that we put the code in place to have those SDKs (which are completely different between Canon and Nikon and even between camera models from the same manufacturer) talk seamlessly to the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch and your tethered camera.

In order to eliminate the computer in the middle from the setup, we either have to wait for Canon or Nikon to make a version of their SDK available that runs on the iPhone OS {4} or we have to recreate it ourselves. This is something we’ve thought about doing, but obviously isn’t something we’ve started doing yet. I’m not ruling it out, but it’s no small undertaking so we aren’t taking the effort lightly.

So at the end of the day, for the foreseeable future, you will need to continue to have a laptop or desktop computer running the DSLR Camera Remote Server along with our DSLR Camera Remote app running on your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. We know that you want us to get the app to the point where the computer isn’t needed and we want the same thing. I just don’t know when it will happen. In the meantime, it continues to work as it always has.

[Dennis]

Thanks Chris – I appreciate that piece of information.

However, it may not be a deal breaker as the more I see of the IPad2, the more appealing it becomes.

Cheers

Dennis

[g__day (Matthew)]

For ideas like that - untethering the Camera from a PC - at the SDK level, for Canon - why not simply shoot the idea to their Australian research lab CiSRA in North Ryde. They love ideas that lets their stuff get ahead.

Maybe shoot an e-mail to one of their directors - I'd advise pinging Jim Metcalfe on jim@research.canon.com.au suggesting the desire the 5,000+ strong Australian Astro-imaging community would have for this? Jim's a great guy. Mind you CiSRA are ultra secret about their research - they are not a marketing company - they are the patent / capability based engineering firm. So if you approached it - could you please evaluate the opportunity to enable XYZ - as a large user group would really like it - they'd be delighted to get ideas from large user bases.

My 2 cents!

Matt