DSLR remote for Iphone and Seagate FreeAgent Theatre HD

I very rarely post equipment reviews or endorsements on my blog. I don't get paid nor receive free products for such posts. I prefer to use my blog as an up to date distribution of my current photography work. But everyone once in a while you come across a product that changes your work flow and makes life easier. I've recently come across two such products that I thought were worth sharing.

The first product is a $20 piece of software for my
Iphone called DSLR Remote from On-One software. This little gem of an app is absolutely beautiful for still life and studio photographers.

It allows the photographer to control key functions of your camera via the Iphone and (almost)instantly displays the results on the phone. It's a wireless remote release for the camera that also allows you to adjust the camera settings (crazy good!).

Combine it with Lightroom's Auto Import feature and I'm taking shots with the Iphone and proofing them on my laptop within seconds. The set-up is easy. The software comes in two parts: the phone application and a free computer based 'server' application that reads the Iphone connection back to the computer. My Nikon is hooked up to the laptop via a long USB cable (I can't afford Nikon's clumsy WiFi adapter). Adobe Lightroom is configured for Auto Import based on the settings I pre-configured within the DSLR Remote server application. You must have the server application running prior to launching the Iphone app. Once you launch the app, it connects to your session with the ability to control your camera. Just when you thought it couldn't be any cooler is when you switch your camera to Live View. Now I'm seeing in real-time what my camera is seeing. How cool would that be for event photography? Set up a remote camera and pull out the Iphone to see if the shot is worth taking or not? Crazy!

I've just tapped the surface on the DSLR Camera Remote application. Now if it only worked with HD video capabilities of today's DSLRs.

The second piece of equipment that has made my life easier is the Seagate FreeAgent Theatre HD digital media player. In a nutshell, this affordable device allows me an ultra easy solution for showing my digital content on my flat-screen TV. All you do is copy your files onto a Seagate portable drive from your computer. Slap the drive into the drive bay on the media player and turn it on. It has a simple menu structure for navigating the files on the drive. I have put over ten years worth of family photos and digital movies on it. The family loves it. I have a copy of my portfolio on there too. I turn the portfolio on along with some nice music and it's like a have a constantly changing piece of art.

My only complaint with the Seagate FreeAgent Theatre HD is the clunky menu system. There are some rudimentary software flow and navigation issues. You can get your files to play, but sometimes you have to back out of the navigation to drill back down again. Other than the clunky menu, I have no real faults with it. It has all the outputs you need. I'm using the HDMI output. It's simple to put files on the drive and get them on the big screen. Lastly, the price was right too. I have a simple digital media player in HD format for my home theatre that allows me to easily display my digital archive. I'm happy.