On January 24, the libgphoto2 and gphoto2 programs version 2.4.8 were released for download. Even more quietly, on February 1, the gtkam-0.1.17 program was released. The appearance of the latter is not reflected even on the first page of the project, so at the time of writing (end of February) program 0.1.16.1 still appears. from December 2008, and only by clicking on the Download link, you can find that the program has been updated. In my opinion, an epoch-making event occurred, because until that time there was a task in digital photography that could only be realized using computers running Windows or Mac OS X. Namely, the task of remote control using a computer for Canon SLR cameras with a live picture. For the gPhoto2 program itself, perhaps the event is not so significant - several more cameras have been added to the 1100 with which it can already work. However, for many applications, especially in scientific and technical photography, only remote control from a computer allows you to fully realize all the benefits of digital photography. Among SLR camera manufacturers, Canon is the only one that offers a free EOS Utility program bundled with the camera, part of which is the CameraSetting / Remote Shooting computer remote control program. I wrote briefly about its capabilities in an article dedicated to the Canon EOS 450D camera. Unfortunately, the camera does not come with a free operating system that can run the included programs. There are signs of monopoly collusion :-). Considering that the photographer has no time to be distracted while shooting, and it is extremely reckless to load the laboratory computer with extraneous tasks during the experiment, I believe that a bootable Live CD with an OS that allows you to run only programs for the camera would be in demand. If desired, the photographer would have the opportunity to work on someone else’s computer without violating his settings.

As I already showed in the article on software, and then in the article on calibration, today all photographic problems can be solved under Linux. All but one. In order to use one of the most suitable cameras for laboratory photography, such as the Canon EOS 1000D, there was no necessary software. Generally speaking, the ability to work with this camera was announced in the previous version of the libgphoto2 library. But then it was only a hint of efficiency; I was not able to actually work with it. I remind you that the main program is libgphoto2, and gphoto2 is the command line interface and gtkam is the graphical interface to this library.

gPhoto2 allows you to see a picture in text mode in the style of the 80s, funny, but in practice it only allows you to assess the presence of movement in the frame.

Gtkam allows you to view and download photos on a memory card for almost all supported cameras, change settings and remotely release the shutter for many, and finally, for some, see a live image on the computer screen.

It's finally happened. You can see a live image on the computer screen in graphic mode, and you can control the focusing of the lens. The title photo of the multiplying pictures demonstrates that the remote viewing pictures are indeed updating. It is not yet as comfortable as in the EOS Utility program, which, by the way, it seems that no one has yet been able to get it to work under Wine. The gtkam program demonstrated the functionality of the libgphoto2 library, and now that the main task of interacting with the camera has been solved, the photographer can take a risk and try to write a graphical interface that is convenient for him, to which he can add, as I plan to do, control not only of the camera, but also of the sled, its moving. When doing macro photography, the photographer's hands are sometimes too rough a tool and it is better to do everything remotely. At the moment, screenshots when working with the gtkam program look like this.

The main program window with a folder tree and thumbnails of pictures on the memory card. You can right-click “Capture” and open a preview window.

The picture changes much more slowly than in the Windows program, but already in the version that can be downloaded from SVN, significant progress has been made in this matter. There is no screen magnifier yet. By clicking the “Options” button, a window with six tabs is called up.

The first tab is responsible for focusing. The lens is controlled by 6 buttons that allow you to move the lens back and forth in different steps. Unfortunately, in this implementation you need to select a step and click the “Apply” button. Moreover, in order to take the next step, you must either change its value or take a zero step; it will not be possible to move twice with the same step. The menu also includes an autofocus button, but it does not yet function. It can be assumed that in the future, focusing will be carried out by a desktop computer, and not by the camera processor, which will potentially allow us to use not only native lenses, but also a separate drive for any others.

The second tab of the configuration window has changed little compared to previous versions; in it you can set the date and time and indicate where to record the image - to a memory card or to a computer.

The third tab gives us information about the camera status.

The fourth, very long tab allows you to set the recording format and white balance.

The fifth tab allows you to set exposure parameters and shooting mode. So in the case of aperture priority, you can set exposure compensation, Shooting mode: single frame, series, and timer time. And of course, the diaphragm itself.

The last tab is responsible for communication with the computer.

That, in fact, is all I wanted to say. Linux is an operating environment for do-it-yourselfers. We have been given a tool in the form of the libgphoto2 library, it’s time to start creating our own Photographic complexes. Although I was not able to fully get Helmut Dersch's 2005 program to work with a Canon EOS 1000D, it seems very tempting to me on the Internet, including a PDA. P.S.

I promoted the idea that the camera is a computer peripheral back in the last century. Then, by the way, control was more common as a percentage of the total number of cameras. However, today cameras can solve significantly more problems and the approach to them must be individual, which means that programming is part of the functions of the photographer, as well as choosing a scene and shooting mode. The company cannot know what a particular photographer needs, but, unfortunately, does not give him the tools to do the job himself. In my memory, only Kodak offered a programming tool designed specifically for a photographer, along with its early cameras, such as Kodak DC265, then the idea was picked up by the creators of and. So far, gPhoto2 is far from these projects in terms of friendliness and documentation, but open source code and the GPL license leave me hoping to live until this bright time.

Breeze Systems Limited, founded by Chris Breeze, has been developing software for managing digital cameras and various applications for organizing and processing digital photos for over 17 years. The other day, one of the most popular programs released by this company was updated - DSLR Remote Pro was released under number 2.2.1. This program allows full control of Canon SLR cameras using a computer (there are versions for Mac and Win), which are connected using a USB or FireWire cable. An analogue of NKRemote v2.2 (supports Windows only) has been developed for Nikon camera owners; there is also a PSRemote program for Canon PowerShot compacts. Since the author of these lines has a Canon SLR camera and Windows is installed on his laptop, this article will discuss working in the program for Win. Nikon camera owners will be able to get a general impression of this program, and all additional information about compatibility with their equipment can always be found on the official Breeze Systems website.

Compatible with camera models

Of course, in order to control the camera from a computer, you need to be the owner of a camera that supports “live viewing” mode, that is, Live View. And all the latest models of DSLRs from Canon are provided with this function: this Canon EOS 7D, 60D, 50D, 5D Mark II, 550D, 500D, 1000D, 450D, 40D, as well as professional models. All of these cameras are fully compatible with DSLR Remote Pro and will allow you to use all of its features. However, cameras that were released earlier and do not support Live View, for example my Canon EOS 30D, can also be controlled using the program, only many functions will not be available. For a complete list of compatible cameras, see the official website of the program developer.

DSLR Remote Pro for Windows will run Win 7 (32-bit only on some models), Vista (32-bit only, and not on all models), XP or 2000, while the Mac version will require OS X 10.4 (Tiger), OS X 10.5 (Leopard) or OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard).

Screenshot 1. Main window of the DSLR Remote Pro program

Key Features of DSLR Remote Pro

• Controlling Canon SLR digital cameras using a computer. In the screenshot, 1 panel to the left of the photo allows you to change the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance and other parameters
• Shooting video clips on a camera memory card (Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, 5D Mark II, 7D, 60D, 600D, 550D, 500D and 1100D)
• Display images on the computer screen in real time (Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, EOS-1D Mark III, EOS-1Ds Mark III, 5D Mark II, 7D, 40D, 50D, 60D, 600D, 550D, 500D, 450D, 1100D and 1000D)
• Autofocus, as well as manual focus adjustment from a computer (Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, Canon EOS-1D Mark III, EOS-1Ds Mark III, 5D Mark II, 7D, 40D, 50D, 60D, 600D, 550D, 500D, 450D, 1100D and 1000D)
• Camera control in video mode, including focusing, capturing video and uploading clips to a computer (Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, 5D Mark II, 7D, 60D, 600D, 550D, 500D and 1100D)
• “Photobooth” mode: automatic shooting of a series of photos at specified intervals with specified parameters, followed by automatic printing on a printer (both several photos on a sheet, and one photo per sheet, which is also customizable) - an excellent solution for reporting from corporate events, weddings and other celebrations. The mode only works with JPEG format
• View high-resolution photos in full screen immediately after taking the frame
• Ability to view footage while the camera continues to take pictures
• Tools for fans of automatic shooting at specified time intervals (Time Lapse), such as shooting a sunset or a flower blooming
• View photos in color or black and white
• Automatic HDR shooting with bracketing - up to 15 frames in a series with varying shutter speed or aperture
• Integration with Photomatix Pro for automatic stitching of HDR shots
• Record photos directly to your computer's hard drive

On the big screen you can display:

• Flashing overexposure zones
• A grid over the image, and the grid parameters can be configured by the user
• B&W mode
• Overlaying the focus point on the image

Practice using the DSLR Remote Pro program

I repeat - since I have a Canon 30D DSLR, which is only partially supported by the program, some of the functions for me will remain “behind the scenes”, not implemented. Of course, controlling the photography process from a computer will first of all be convenient in order to view the future frame not on a tiny camera screen, but on the large display of a laptop or desktop. This way you can perfectly align the future frame with the grid, notice in time light exposure, foreign objects in the frame, etc. Surely every amateur photographer has wondered: why is my screen so small, if only it were bigger! My camera does not have Live View mode, and is not trained to shoot video, so I focused on those few functions of the program that are available to me.

Configuring program options

Before you start working with the program, you need to configure some of its options. Oddly enough, I was completely satisfied with the default values, which are shown in screenshot 2, and there aren’t that many settings themselves. I only changed the folder where the program will put the photo files. By the way, I still haven’t found the “Record photos to the camera’s memory card” checkbox, that is, all photos are automatically copied directly to the computer’s hard drive, bypassing the camera’s memory card.

HDR shooting

Since I love experimenting with HDR shooting, I started exploring this option first. Everything is simple here: you need to set the camera mode to M, RAW, AWB, ISO 100 for minimal noise, select the correct shutter speed for the desired aperture, the value of which is selected from the expected depth of field, I chose F11. Next, focus (you can use autofocus by half-pressing, or in manual mode), then turn off autofocus with the switch on the lens and connect the camera to the computer. This completes the camera setup.

Now you can proceed to setting up the program. Screenshots 3 and 4 show bracketing settings for HDR shooting. In the first list you can select the number of frames (I usually did 3 or 5; more is simply not needed for shooting outdoors in my opinion), and in the second - the exposure shift step (I chose 1 stop). After which you should definitely select the option to change the shutter speed (Shutter speed) so that the aperture is always constant to achieve the best depth of field. If you want to experiment, try changing the aperture... something tells me that little good will come out of this, but who knows!

Photo 5. A simple diagram of connecting a computer to a camera.
Filmed on a phone, since the camera was busy at the moment :-)

The camera is installed on a tripod, configured and connected to the computer, it’s time to press the F8 button and enjoy the result. Photos are taken with a delay of about 3 seconds, after another couple of seconds they already appear on the computer display. Photo 5 was taken on a phone, and also against the sun, so only the reflection of the assistant was displayed on the computer screen (Sasha, hello!), and not the program’s workspace, as I had hoped.

I couldn’t resist and decided to stitch together the HDR on the spot in Photoshop CS5. The laptop battery died immediately, as soon as I managed to save my work :-) I believe that the technical side of the work is now clear. The question remains - and who would think of it On a clear, fine day, you can carry a tripod, a camera and a computer for a walk, and even bother your companion with requests for help... You can handle such a pile of equipment alone, there’s nothing complicated here, but it’s inconvenient! The USB cord is short, so you have to hold the computer in your hands.

But the camera remains completely motionless during HDR shooting, which is very important for accurately merging exposures. This scheme of work is more suitable for shooting the interiors of rooms where there is no rush, where it is possible to put the laptop on a chair or stool. And the accuracy indoors will be amazing - the camera is motionless. Comfortable! And the result will be visible on the laptop screen, plus everything indoors will certainly be 220 volts.

This scheme is also suitable for taking a series of photographs at intervals, say, for editing a video of equipment assembly, a sunset, a flower blooming, for the purpose of protecting a store at night :-). Surely everyone has seen videos like this, and they are filmed exactly this way, it’s called Time Lapse. The only problem is that you need a very powerful laptop battery (or a 220V generator?) to film something like this in nature. There is a special cable for the camera that allows you to do this operation without a computer, and besides, no one has canceled a simple stopwatch! There would be a desire, wouldn't it?

One thing I can say for sure is that such an action attracts the general attention of passing vacationers. And getting a blessing to tinker with a laptop and a tripod inside the temple will be almost impossible, I tried:-(And what a piercing photo I missed, looking at the rays of the sun that created stunningly beautiful lighting inside the Church of St. John Chrysostom in the St. Nicholas Monastery in Staraya Ladoga! I love this beauty with all my heart, but I am forbidden to take a photo...

Integration with Photomatix Pro program

If anyone decides to shoot HDR using a computer, it will be extremely convenient to integrate the DSLR Remote Pro program with another program created specifically for HDR stitching - Photomatix Pro. I like everything about this program, except for the most important thing - today Photomatix Pro cannot work correctly with moving objects in frames, which I have repeatedly noted in my articles on the topic of HDR. And Photoshop CS5 can do this with amazing accuracy.

By the way, almost nowhere in the help for the DSLR Remote Pro program does it say anything about how to set up this very integration. Google and forums helped me figure out this problem. Pay attention to screenshots 3 and 4 - there is a checkmark at the bottom and a bat file is registered. If you have Photomatix Pro installed, do the same and everything will work.

The output is a stitched HDR with default settings and a *.hdr file, which you can later open in Photomatix Pro and edit at your discretion. Anyone interested in tinkering with scripts is welcome: by editing the bat file, finer-tuning of the gluing parameters is possible.

Photobooth mode

This tool works only with the JPEG format and is designed for automatic shooting and subsequent gluing of contact sheets and collages. Here are the tool settings options:

The only practical use I could think of for this feature was that if you put the camera on a tripod in a corner somewhere at a company party, you could get prints of fun photo collages that the camera would make with this program.

There is another feature of the Photobooth tool - shooting a portrait against a green screen. You hang up a green screen, turn on this mode and make faces in front of the lens. The program will automatically cut out the green background from the resulting images and replace it with any image of your choice. Auto collage!

We can only hope that if serious programmers from a serious company have devoted so much attention and time to this tool, it means that someone needs it and is in demand by someone. I didn’t bother to deal with him.

Some conclusions

Pros

• Lightweight, fast and self-sufficient a program for controlling a camera from a computer, which is significantly superior in its functions to most well-known analogues.
• Stable, bug-free operation even on a weak laptop.
• Supports most modern DSLRs, there is also a version for PowerShot compacts.
• Integration with Photomatix Pro. You can set the photo to automatically open after shooting in any other program, but automatic HDR merging is only available in conjunction with Photomatix Pro.

Cons

• No file browser. They filmed the episode, closed the program - everything previously filmed in it will no longer be possible to watch.
• No thumbnail view, only rewind and forward within the current photo shoot. In parallel with the program, you also have to open a photo browser (for example ACDSee Pro 4) in order to navigate through the footage.
• No photo zoom within the active window. You won't be able to look pixel by pixel.
• Price. The program is by no means free - the Windows version of DSLR Remote Pro costs $175. By the way, Canon releases its own programs that are completely free for DSLR owners (for example, ZoomBrowser EX); but these programs only allow you to do a small part of what the DSLR Remote Pro can do.

Resume

• I shoot a lot of objects, and it’s extremely convenient for me to control the camera from a computer: I don’t have to constantly move the flash drive back and forth, copy something, open... I took it and immediately saw the result on the large (compared to the camera screen) laptop screen , and the files are already neatly placed in the desired folder. Beauty!
• Personally, I'm not willing to pay $175 for this. I have Lightroom 3, which allows me to do almost everything, except shoot HDR, of course.

© Compilation of the review, all photographs in the article, Konstantin Birzhakov, May 12, 2011
Based on materials from the official website of Breeze Systems
The author of the review cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of information taken from open sources.
Any reprint only with the written permission of the review author.

In this material, I will give as an example instructions for shooting with a camera connected to a computer. But first, a few technical details...

Most likely, your USB cable available at your household does not exceed 1.8 m in length. To avoid the fate of Friday humor on Youtube, trying to “freely” move with a tethered cable of this length, you will have to lengthen it. To do this, it is best to purchase a “USB-female - USB-male” extension cord, through which you should connect the cord from the camera, and if you try, you can probably find a solid and long USB cord that can be used to connect the camera directly to the PC.

Next, what is worth paying attention to... Data transfer via USB is not an endless thing, so do not be upset if, after connecting a 10-meter cable, you find that the computer does not see the camera. To prevent this from happening, be careful with the cord, check its braiding and filters at both ends. True, this is not a guarantee that the long cord will successfully fulfill its mission. Therefore, if I were you, I would rather limit myself to a 5-meter cord, which certainly will not let you down. This is what a USB cable looks like with a winding and a filter:

There are also products in an opaque shell:

The next subtlety... If you own a Nikon camera, make sure that PTP mode is activated on it, and not Mass Storage, that is, an information storage device. In this case, your computer will “see” the camera only as a flash drive. If you have a Canon camera, then there may be differences. For example, the 5D MkII model will always be detected in the mode we need. So, if you have connected everything, but the camera is not yet visible, then you should open the instructions for the camera and read what is written there about connection types.

So, we're done with the technical side. Now a few words about photography in Aperture, Lightroom and Capture One.

Aperture and Lightroom have the same steps, so I'll summarize the steps:

In the File menu, go to Tether>Start session (in Aperture) and File>Tethered Capture>Start Tethered Capture (in Lightroom):

We will see the settings window:

In these windows, we need to set parameters for shooting, enter metadata, and in Aperture we also need to select a preset for processing (in Lightroom, presets are determined during shooting). From this moment, your entire structure is considered ready to start shooting. This is what Tether Capturing looks like in Aperture and Lightroom:

And here it is, after a couple of frames taken. By the way, you can activate the shutter button both on the camera and in the program itself:

Finally, I’ll add that in Lightroom, in the control panel, you can select a preset to use for the frame you just shot:

For Capture One, the steps look a little different, this is probably due to the fact that the program is mainly intended for medium format cameras, which are usually used in studios, and are usually connected to a PC. Tether capturing is located on the main control panel:

That is, you can start taking photographs “without leaving the cash register”:

In the case of Capture One, it is worth paying attention to one subtlety: if you once make some adjustments to a certain image, the same default settings will be applied to subsequent frames you take, so in order to avoid mental self-flagellation of yourself and your photographic abilities, check the converter settings.

Looking at the following illustration, you will notice that the third photo has the same BB as the second:

And one more touch to the collection of information about Capture One. Most recently, the creators of the program introduced a client for iOS, which provides the ability to display just taken photos on the customer’s iPad/iPhone, sending them via Wi-Fi.

The target audience of such universal tools includes numerous advanced users who regularly use non-standard camera settings and therefore consider proprietary applications to be not yet perfected.

As an example, consider the program DSLR Controller(available on Google Play). It has been in beta testing for quite some time, which does not prevent it from coping with the task. In addition, despite this status, the application is paid, but you can check the compatibility of your mobile device and camera for free using a subsidiary solution - “Remote Release” from the same developer (available on Google Play).

So, DSLR Controller is designed to control Canon SLR photographic equipment via the built-in Wi-Fi module or USB port. If everything is clear with the wireless connection, then in the second option, setup will require the “correct” USB cable and the gadget’s support for USB host mode, but in most cases root rights are not needed. By the way, on the developer’s website there is information that the missing Wi-Fi in the camera can be replaced with the TP-LINK TL-MR3040 wireless router, which is also available in Russia.

The DSLR Controller program displays on the smartphone screen all the information necessary to control the camera, in particular, data on shutter speed and aperture, and a histogram. It is important that there is a “Live View” option if the camera itself supports it. The application also allows you to adjust the focal length when the AF mode is selected on the camera, sensitivity, white balance, etc. You can also program time-lapse shooting. If there is support for video recording, then this option will be available in the application.

The remote control, into which the program turns a smartphone or tablet, not only replicates the control of a DSLR camera, but also expands it. For example, it is possible to use remote manual focus (R-MF), and you can increase and decrease the focal length using buttons on the screen. At the same time, the area currently in focus will be highlighted on the display. True, the operation of such “manual focus” entirely depends on the type of motor in the lens.

Among other interesting features, we note saving pictures to an Android device instead of the camera’s memory card and “tracking” focus. In the future, the developers promise to work on shooting scripts.

Similar tools can be found for other popular camera models - for example, Helicon Remote is suitable for Nikon devices.

User reviews

An excellent program for printing photos on documents! Very convenient photo markup, beautiful interface - everything you need. Changing the clothes in the photo works just fine.

Nikolay Biryukov, Moscow

I tried different programs for preparing photographs for documents, but settled on the development of AMS Software. Why? Firstly, the program is very accessible, even the staff does not need special training. Secondly, all the necessary capabilities are present. Thirdly, excellent user support.

Arkady Mikhailov, Novosibirsk

The Canon virtual remote control from AMS Software allows you to solve a number of current problems in automating the photo business, including preparing photos for documents. The Canon camera control program from a computer allows you to:

• Photograph, by clicking on a button in the program. In this case, the operator can be with his back to the client or even in another room. The image will be immediately saved to your computer and displayed in the program window.
• Take photographs in the usual way by pressing the camera's shutter button. However, done the image is instantly transferred to the computer and opens in the program. This way, you can save a lot of time by starting image processing immediately after taking a photograph.
• Open photo for processing in any graphic editor. Immediately after taking a photograph, you can open the image for editing in an external program, such as Adobe Photoshop.
• Automate process of preparing photos for documents. The module for controlling a Canon camera from a computer is included in the full version of the program.

The program runs on operating systems Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Windows 7,8,10. Can also be used on laptops.

Canon Camera Virtual Remote supports the following camera models.

Canon DSLRs:

• EOS-1D Mark II
• EOS 20D
• EOS-1Ds Mark II
• EOS 350D (Kiss Digital N/REBEL XT)
• EOS Mark II
• EOS-1D Mark II N
• EOS 30D
• EOS 400D (Kiss Digital X//REBEL XTi)
• EOS-1D Mark III
• EOS 40D
• EOS-1Ds Mark III
• EOS 450D (DIGITAL REBEL Xsi/Kiss X2)
• EOS 1000D (DIGITAL REBEL XS/KISS F)
• EOS 50D
• EOS Mark III
• EOS EOS 500D (Kiss X3/EOS REBEL T1i)
• EOS 7D
• EOS-1D Mark IV
• EOS EOS 550D (Kiss X4/EOS REBEL T2i)
• EOS EOS 60D
• EOS EOS 1100D
• EOS EOS 600D