There’s a new way to use DSLRs now – and it’s all possible thanks to Unleashed – a brand new, versatile piece of software and hardware that connects the user’s phone directly to the camera.
There has been a series of remote controls made available to the public by manufacturers and third-party vendors. But the problem with such a form of technology is that they aren’t as compatible as users would like them to be. Issues with connectivity, being the primary cause.
But Foolography does the smart thing and skimps out on the WiFi as other remote controls do and goes the Bluetooth route. There’s a proprietary dongle that the kit comes with, which can be connected to the camera’s USB and HDMI port. This makes the camera detectable by the smartphone, enabling access to the high-quality DSLR camera.
Even with WiFi oriented cameras available on the market, they can’t really take advantage of their receivers to output to another device such as a smartphone. Even if they do, it’s very limited, and at the risk of having to close the WiFi signal to the phone. With the risk of losing high bandwidth, since Bluetooth isn’t fast enough to transfer data for live feeds, there could be a way around that later as technology develops, which will be interesting to see.
Unleashed was funded by Kickstarter and also will be available through the platform for sale at $145. The app currently looks very neat and squeaky clean, but there are a few bugs to squash and hardware kinks to change. All this will be done until its ready for an official launch next year in June.
Unleashed can stay on the camera and not stick out like a sore thumb, so as far as periphery goes, it gets an A+. A prototype of the device was shown at the Photokina event in Cologne recently. Unleashed can also make low-res thumbnails and transfer them to the phone if the user wants to check on exposure and detail. For now, the concept is exciting, and there’s a lot to look forward to. Currently, the device is compatible with select models of Canon and Nikon but the company is working on making it available for most other DSLRs as well.