DSLR Controller

[Rick W]

Somewhere on this forum there was some discussion about using DSLR controller to display the LCD info on a separate Android device such as the Nexus Tablet. I had found with ML installed it wouldn't work and wrote about that. But it turns out the problem was the cable. ML and DSLR controller work just fine together on a Canon T3i.

[softimage69]

Works great with my 60D and my Samsung Galaxy S3 phone as well.   

[Roman]

What cable do you guys use?

The only cables I can find are USB to mini, or USB to micro...

To get this working I'd need a micro USB to mini USB.

I've used the DSLR controller / Canon software on my PC though, and I found that the latency + low framerate made it pretty useless for video stuff. You certainly couldnt use it to gauge focus pulls or anything.

Using my TV as a liveview monitor via HDMI output from the camera is super sweet though!

Wish there was a more portable battery operated solution that didnt cost the earth.

If Tablets had a latency free HDMI input, would be such a perfect solution for a field monitor.

[softimage69]

My galaxy S3 is getting around 10-15FPS when connected to DSLR Controller, which, for me, is fast enough. What you need is a microUSB OTG (on the go) cable that converts the micro output of the phone into a female USB port.  FOr this to work, your Android device must support USB Hosting (ability to connect a USB mouse, thumb drive, etc.). 

I am using this OTG cable....

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX39724

Hope that helps.

[dude]

does anyone use this app with a galaxy s2? i am thinking of buying one, because the s3 is too big.
does peaking work?
and how can you deal with the lower framrerate during shooting?
do you think the s2 will have a lower framerate than the s3?
thanks a lot

[softimage69]

Not sure on the FPS on the S3 vs S2. I know that my S3 handles DSLR Controller ligtly better than my 7" tablet, so my guess is that the S3 would perform a little better (newer CPU and the like). 

If you are planning on getting an SII or SIII, consider getting one soon as Apple is trying to ban the sales of these two Samsung phones....

[matute_mayolo]

I have an Sony Xperia Neo V And it works fine. But is not a 100% reliable, in video mode, when monitoring without recording it works very good, even with the filters working (have a pretty good ones) and without lag.. BUT, in the moment I press the record button, the speed slows down.. there is some lag, and sometimes (very oftern) the speed slows down a lot, and even it freezes completly. Oh, and when recording I can't use filters at all, that makes the app to freeze.

I guess that it's for my smartphone. It's not the best. A newer and more powerful maybe works better. And would be great.
It doesn't shut down the main display, wich is awsome. And you can transfer the signal trough wifi to another smartphone or tablet.
I have even connected via hdmi to an LCD TV, and have three monitors working at the same time 
With a powerful device, I think it is an very useful tool and must have.

[1%]

Works on my chinese GPS (usb host)... 6D does full 24fps over USB... but DSLR controller doesn't seem too stable. 600D + 7D seem to output around 20 only and slow down or die when recording raw (7D)

[Africashot]

It worked fine for framing & stills on my Nexus 7 & 5D2, when recording raw it freezes though, also I broke the adapter cable the first day I used it in the field (the plugs connectors seemed to have cracked on the inside) I should probably spend a little more then 2$ incl. shipping on that...

[Africashot]

Turns out the adapter cable wasn't broken but this seems to be a common bug the app developer blames on the Nexus 7, it will simply stop recognizing the cameras for seemingly no reason until you reset the language to English US (!?) and reboot the device (btw it has to be Eng US to work so you'll reboot twice, first to something other then Eng US and then back...)
This is so sever that it turns out not to work more often then it does, also the reboot fix doesn't work every time so once it is off there is no way to know when or if you'll be able to use it... making it completely useless and a waste of time in the best case or a great way to look like an idiot in front of a client n the worst. That is on the 5D2, with the 600D it worked only once and has never since...
The developers know about it http://dslrcontroller.com/guide-2013-nexus-7.php but it doesn't stop them of highly recommending the app to work with the Nexus 7. I had send them a friendly email twice, even more of a perspective of bug reporting since they are still in public beta, but there was no reaction... 8$ may not be a lot, then again it is a little too much for an app that simply doesn't work, especially for me as I only bought the Nexus 7 for using it with the app! I would really hope there would be a way to fix this stupid bug as the app itself otherwise seems great and can be really useful.

[chris_overseas]

What cable do you guys use?

The best cables by far are the ones available from Lindy. Have a look at the cables section here for more information: http://dslrcontroller.com/devices.php

[aaphotog]

A few quotes of mine from a few different threads

Its more than 15fps with a 5d3.
real time playback, or VERY close to it.
Nexus 7 DSLR controller

I dont get a lag that I notice. If you have a lag, go into your dslrcontroller app. Change from 15fps to 30fps. also, theres another option to speed up the menu. I own an ipad so I only bought the nexus soley for this purpose and have no other apps or memory hogging items on mine... maybe you do???

I paid 170 for a nexus 7
Like 7 bucks for a OTG cable
I believe 8 dollars for 'dslr controller' app
Works without issue.
Real time viewing. No long, no stutters
It just works!
Only problem is, since its usb as opposed to hdmi, you don't see what you see on the camer(ie recording raw in crop mode, you won't see the cropped image if you are seeing it on the cams lcd)
Other than that... NO ISSUES!
seems pretty cheap to me.
App has focus peak and controls for the camera(focusing, shutter, iso/f-stop/shutter speed / White balance settings);

[paulleavitt]

I just got it working on my Nexus 7 (1st Gen)! It's hooked up to my 60D on a shoulder rig, and I'm using it for my viewfinder. I Chainfire's recommended cable, which is a LINDY micro USB to mini USB (read, no adapters!) and it works great! I haven't done much experimenting with it yet, but it looks promising! The only feature that seems to be lacking is focus peaking. I noticed a few people seem to have it working (or maybe I'm calling it by the wrong name), how do I enable it?

[aaphotog]

I just got it working on my Nexus 7 (1st Gen)! It's hooked up to my 60D on a shoulder rig, and I'm using it for my viewfinder. I Chainfire's recommended cable, which is a LINDY micro USB to mini USB (read, no adapters!) and it works great! I haven't done much experimenting with it yet, but it looks promising! The only feature that seems to be lacking is focus peaking. I noticed a few people seem to have it working (or maybe I'm calling it by the wrong name), how do I enable it?

Do you mind posting a photo of the setup? I'd like to see how you've got the nexus situated on your rig

[Datadogie]

And did you know if you have two android devices ( for me S2 and ASUS transformer 101 ) you can go WIFI with a fair bit of lag.

[melia]

Live preview gets disabled when I try to shoot raw. It's just blank/black. I got 5D3 and 7D with Nexus 7.

As far as I can see some of you guys are able to shoot raw vid with LP on dslr controller. Any tips around this?

P.S. I'm sure it's not about cables because LP worked as soon as I disabled raw_rec/mlv_rec.

By the way same happens with ML controller app so it should be ml related bug

[vnguyen972]

Live preview gets disabled when I try to shoot raw. It's just blank/black. I got 5D3 and 7D with Nexus 7.

As far as I can see some of you guys are able to shoot raw vid with LP on dslr controller. Any tips around this?

P.S. I'm sure it's not about cables because LP worked as soon as I disabled raw_rec/mlv_rec.

By the way same happens with ML controller app so it should be ml related bug

I got the same problem, have you found a way to get it to work?

[garry23]

I have promote remote and CamRanger. Plus, I just got a Dell Venue 8 Pro. This allows me to tether to my 5DIII in the field and control the camera from the Canon EOS Utility.

Of course my dream is to control ML as well.

[Brawl]

I have not any tablet. For work I need to buy one LCD (maybe lilliput), do you suggest me to buy the tabled insted of the lilliput? thanks.

p.s. how do you rig it to your tripod?

[Africashot]

The lilliput will do a better job, the tablet is only a workaround, I have a nexus 7 with 5d2 and it doesn't work 90% of the time for one reason or the other. You need a friction arm or similar to mount it, ironically most mounts and friction arm solutions already amount to more then buying a tablet or even monitor...

[Brawl]

The lilliput will do a better job, the tablet is only a workaround, I have a nexus 7 with 5d2 and it doesn't work 90% of the time for one reason or the other. You need a friction arm or similar to mount it, ironically most mounts and friction arm solutions already amount to more then buying a tablet or even monitor...

bad news I'm afraid it doesn't work propely (it's not a free app after all). do you have nexus 7 first model or the 2013 model? I yesterday while serching info on this app over internet I ear somewhere that it should work well with the first nexus so I'm surprised (I do not know how does it work with the second generation of nexus 7 so yesterday night I contacted the seller of the app to ask about it).
My problem is that my budget is really small at the moment and I cannot go wrong with my target.
Also there is another problem, there are so much (for my opinion) models of lilliput monitor and (maybe is this) I'm really tired about serching on the web "which to buy". to be honest I have done a research to try understand which model of lilliput to buy for my 7D but I was more confused that before, and from what I have understand people do not know exactly which model is the best for a specific camera (in my case it's a 7D).
I wish something chep, high resolution, and that I can watch in full screen without loose a portion of the image (I know that some models crop the image, so there is some kind of hidden part of the picture not displayed on the LCD).
I would be really grateful for any advice and sorry for OT at this point.

[sqd]

I'm sitting here, trying to get this to work, but it won't :/ Maybe I'm missing something.

First things first:
5D3 with ML 2.3 build Feb 03 2014
Samsung Galaxy S3 and also a Cube android tablet (tried both)
Latest version of DSLR Controller

To connect the devices, I use this in my android device:

Then a normal USB male to mini USB (just like the one that comes with the camera) to the 5D3.

So I've tried the devices mentioned above and two different cables, but DSLR Controller won't find the camera. What am I doing wrong? Am I supposed to have an adapter like that on the other end instead of the android device-end?

[engardeknave]

http://dslrcontroller.com/devices.php

[odlan]

My setup is a 5d mark iii + Nexus 4 with dslrcontroller and TP-Link MR3040. I can control my camera wireless. It would be very useful to control ML..

[eyeland]

8$ may not be a lot, then again it is a little too much for an app that simply doesn't work, especially for me as I only bought the Nexus 7 for using it with the app! I would really hope there would be a way to fix this stupid bug as the app itself otherwise seems great and can be really useful.

+1

[Africashot]

I have been fiddeling with this a bit further; since updating to 4.4.2 the system on the nexus seems to at least connect to the tablet each time and also reconnect when it crashes without needing to reboot.
By now I am pretty convinced the weak point of this all is the cable connection starting with the Nexus 7 plug, the slightest wiggle  will break up the connection, this is why I'd be interested if this workaround offers a viable solution: http://nofilmschool.com/2014/01/dirt-cheap-wireless-monitor-hacked-tp-link-mr3040-router-will-help/
Anyone here who has tried it?

[engardeknave]

Yes, I use this all the time. I made a thread about it. It's much better wireless.

[jose_ugs]

DSLR controller working w/o any issues on an Asus MemoPad FHD 10" when recording the regular h264. I got it to work a few times with MLV, and by work: real live feedback while recording... but only for about 10seconds. Then MLV drops a frame. I think i managed to do the same with raw_rec, but again: dropped frame after some seconds...
All other attempts: i get a frozen frame from before the recording starts... and it stays like that until i stop recording and open Canon's menu, for example.

@a1ex / @g3gg0 any clues? This is with the latest nighlty... i think i had it working properly some time ago (live preview on tablet while recording raw/mlv)

[Africashot]

Hm, never even considered this could work with RAW, it would certainly be awesome if there was a way to make it work!

[jose_ugs]

I played some more today and tried to use my LG G2 Android smartphone (4.4.2) but to no avail... As soon as you hit record, the DSLR controller's view freezes.
Then i switched again to my tablet and i actually managed to pull off a few shots with live monitoring on it. Too bad... i believe those were random.
There are some settings @ DSLR controller Liveview that i played with: Renderer quality(Performance, Quality) and Renderer framelimit(15,24,30)... I tested all 6 combinations, not helping...

[eyeland]

I don't understand why it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Upon my first test of the bleeding 1.2.3 ML, DSLR controller was fully functional for a several shots, then suddenly, it went"back" to freezing all the time as I used to experience on 1.1.3..
I guess this is something that would be best looked into by chainfire? (the dslrcontroller dev)
Edit: Forgot to specify that I am using nexus 7 and that whereas Monitoring .raw and .mlv doesn't work, h.264 works just fine.

[jose_ugs]

I've asked him for help already... let's hope he has the time to look this up.

[chris_overseas]

I mentioned it earlier in this thread but I'll say it again since it could well help solve your stability problems:

Make sure you have decent cables

I had similar issues with three different Android devices (Nexus One, Galaxy Nexus, HTC One) until I bought a Lindy cable. Since then DSLR Controller has been far more reliable for me. Another big benefit is that you can connect your Android device to your camera with just a single cable, rather than having to chain together a standard USB cable plus an OTG one.

Details for the Lindy cables are at the bottom of this page: http://dslrcontroller.com/devices.php

[jose_ugs]

So what you're saying is you have it all stable and singing when it comes to pairing an Android device and MarkIII ML RAW? And it's all about the cables?
Because if that's the truth: i'm on my way to Lindy's site

[chris_overseas]

So what you're saying is you have it all stable and singing when it comes to pairing an Android device and MarkIII ML RAW? And it's all about the cables?
Because if that's the truth: i'm on my way to Lindy's site

I'm just referring to stability in general. Prior to getting the Lindy cable I had problems with DSLR Controller hanging, crashing, not finding the camera, losing the connection, and other similar behaviour. Most if not all of those issues have now gone away. I'm a photographer, I don't shoot video, so can't comment on using with with RAW specifically. If I find some time later I'll give it a try though and see what happens. It's quite possible you're seeing a bug specific to RAW recording there (and/or the 1.2.3 firmware build).

[jose_ugs]

Thanks Chris, please report back if you test it.
I have tested something myself and i think i have at least figured out a way to make it work for a little while... i hope this will be of use to a developer who can help...
Wire the tablet.
Make sure the tablet is On and not asleep.
Turn the Canon On with all the settings you wish already set up, i am using presets.
DSLR controller should start automatically.
At this point a healthy set-up should result in a live view from the cam.
Press record on the cam, and not the app. Dont go for further settings on the cam as this appears to mess it up later...
So for me... this works, but only for a number of seconds, 10-30 sometimes....
Then i get a dropped frame, which wont happen if i am not using the tablet!
The next time i start recording without switching the cam Off first, i get a still frame/image on the app... phuhhhhhh

[chris_overseas]

I just tried and it's unstable with RAW video for me too, much the same as you describe. I tried dropping the resolution (to 1280x720 24fps) but that didn't seem to help. I didn't play with any other settings beyond that.

[rebelj12a]

Ok saw this on the XDA forums, had to stop in here. The problem is I believe the implementation of the DSLR Controller only interfaces with the Canon side of the firmware code. Thats the problem.

Magic Lanterns side is entirely separate with RAW recording. Magic Lantern bypasses the entire Canon recording process, and reads and writes directly to the CF card in RAW format. That's why you can switch off the liveview and gain faster read write times.

Unless Chainfire specifically updates DSLR Controller with a fork that addresses the Magic Lantern System specifically and not just the canon system you can probably expect this to continue.

Right now whats happening is DSLR Controller is attempting to pull and signal the Canon Firmware, which is currently being bypassed by magic lantern for speed and stability, since magic lantern hooks that code and pulls it into the code they've created, then it also pulls the power to send that signal and code over usb 2.0 to the phone. Resulting in code that shouldn't be working and hasn't been debugged, running concurrently along with magic lantern. Its like its trying to do double duty here not to mention the data squeeze trying to send image over usb 2.0 v_v I can practically hear the digic processors screaming their terrified screams.

Hah but anyways. You've basically got the phone addressing the old firmware hooks meanwhile Magic Lantern may or may not have taken them and integrated them into their programming and hooked them into other processes differently than the stock Canon Firmware, causing miscellaneous errors and system slowdowns. Especially with RAW.

RAW needs alot of processing power, every ounce of it that the DIGIC processor in the Canon cameras can give. All I can say is try dropping the resolution, liveview off, cf card tweaks (im a little behind on the most current builds but i think they still apply), external audio recording, as cropped as you can make the sensor, and you may get some stability with the least amount of dropped frames but I wouldnt hold my breath on that one.

Also ive heard mixed things about leaving the SD card in and having magic lantern run from that, or leave the SD card out for the Mark III have to experiment with that one. You'd honestly just be better off getting something like this and calling it the day.

http://www.atomos.com/ninja/

Sorry for the info dump. Theres just really alot to it and its difficult to explain in a way thats understandable in few words.

The next time i start recording without switching the cam Off first, i get a still frame/image on the app... phuhhhhhh

Btw I do see that as pretty clear evidence that Magic Lantern is taking over the Canon Firmware processes as soon as RAW starts.

[jose_ugs]

uh uh uh... @rebelj12a, thank you for the insight i'll try different resolutions, this never came to my mind, and will report back...

[Alexia 92]

Good evening. I bought dslr controler application yesterday. Everything works fine
Except when I turn on the magic lantern firmware. With firmware it shows a black screen. Tell me which settings in the magic lantern need to be set to fix it. Sorry for my English. Thank you:)
Camera 5D mark II
Device Sony Z