Firing a D800 very remotely (over internet)?

[tashley]

I have an urgent need to work out if there's a way to do this: I would like to have a D800 set up in a foreign city studio environment, and be able to direct an assistant using FaceTime etc to get the lighting and so on as I want it, then be able to trigger the shutter release myself over the internet.

Does anyone have any bright ideas? I would be very grateful.

Thanks!
Tim

 

[pophoto]

Wow, Tim you have probably asked the question of the century here!

While no bright ideas here. Only thing I can think of is...
If the Capture NX or any Nikon software (even LR) can release the shutter via cable tethered to a laptop. Then it maybe a simple case of you setting up remote access to that computer, meaning you are controlling that foreign computer. Obviously lag time will be dependent on the connection speeds of both networks.

With remote access, you should have control over everything that foreign (remote) computer is connected to both software and hardware!

 

[TRSmith]

Interesting!

I'm completely guessing at a solution but if you are using Macs, you might be able to take advantage of the feature that allows remote access/login/control of the system. That's assuming first that you can trigger the camera via a laptop.

I confess to have never used it myself but understand it to mean that by logging in remotely, you see what the remote Mac sees/displays. Whether it would give you control of a tethered camera and allow actuation is a question. But if you have a couple of Macs, desktop and laptop for example, it might be worth a try.

Good luck!
Tim

 

[Shelby Lewis]

How about THIS ... can take basically any type of signal in order to trigger a camera. You could use the MC-30 mobile dongle and the CL-DC0 camera cable to use your phone to trigger the camera then maybe (I'm not sure if D800 is compatible) use the "call to trigger" function: https://triggertrap.com/call-your-phone-to-trigger/

Just a thought.

 

[tashley]

Hi guys,

I posted a Thank You for all tis a few hours ago but it has been eaten by a gremlin... so, thank you, great suggestions. I think the trigger trap that Shelby has suggested will be the one, and I've checked and it does work with the D800/e.

This could be a really very exciting project so I am utterly psyched to have received such great help!

 

[danielmoore]

Teamviewer to connect to the remote machine where you can see it's screen, which is running the capture program of you choice would be viable. With a stable internet connection lag would be very minimal. File transfer to your machine would then be possible as well, if slow to complete. I should mention, Teamviewer is cross platform and also that the remote screen view is highly compressed so making decisions based on that would be difficult at best.

 

[ausemmao]

Interestingly this is something that makes a D4x more likely rather than less. Nikon have an artificial distinction between the D4 and D800 that is...less than generous.
The D4 can be set up so that it can be completely controlled over ethernet or wifi (via WT5). That control is done via webapp, so as long as you have the IP address of the D4 on whatever network it's sitting on, you can access it via the web and have live view tethering control.

That sounds like something that really belongs on a studio camera, doesn't it?


To answer your question re: D800 though, you could (connection dependent) get a live view feed + full aperture/shutter/focus/other settings control. Camera Control Pro + remote desktop - connect the D800 to the laptop/pc in studio with USB, remote into the computer and you should have full control as if you were there.

(remote assistant control is not guaranteed and must be coordinated separately. Assistants may do things of their own volition, moving lights and such, or making coffee without first delivering to your remote location.)

 

[rclewis]

Assuming that the camera is tethered to a computer with internet access, you could use LogMeIn, which has a free version, to see the remote computer on your computer, and your mouse could trigger the camera.

 

[julianv]

You can automate the D800E with Nikon's Camera Control Pro (pay ware). If you have a Mac, you can also use Sofortbild (donation ware). All you need to hook up the camera is the USB cable that that came with it.

Then, as others have noted, you can establish remote access to the connected computer, using VNC or similar protocol, view the screen, operate buttons and menus, adjust camera settings, trip the shutter, etc. On a Mac, you could also use an AppleScript running on the remote computer to receive incoming messages from the net, and then relay them to the program controlling the camera. For example, you could take a shot by sending an email to the remote computer, or by clicking on a web page. The D800E could even be set up to run as a webcam (although you should not leave Live View running constantly, because of thermal issues). I suspect such linkups could be done via PC, too.

Sounds like a fun project.