By combining the success from their previous two products – the Kickstarter-funded Triggertrap v1 and Triggertrap Shield for Arduino – the Triggertrap team announced a brand new product today; Triggertrap Mobile. The Triggertrap Mobile app introduces several triggering mechanisms that have never before been seen in a consumer device: For example, Distance-Lapse triggering enables the user to set up a camera to take a photo at regular distance-intervals (every 100 meters, for example). When they are assembled into a movie, it appears as if the entire journey was conducted at exactly the same pace. In Eased Timelapse mode, the Triggertrap Mobile app uses mathematical formulas to vary the interval between photographs dynamically. The result is that, in the assembled time-lapse video, it appears as if time speeds up at the beginning of the video, and slows back down at the end. In addition to the standard Timelapse, Distance-Lapse and Eased Timelapse modes, Triggertrap Mobile offers nine other triggering modes built in, including face recognition, a shock sensor, a motion sensor, a magnetometer, a sound sensor, automatic HDR bracketing with up to 19 exposures per set and configurable steps between each exposure, a HDR Timelapse mode and Star Trail photography mode. The full edition of the app costs $9.99 and there is also a free trial version available, with a reduced feature set.

Press Release

Triggertrap

LONDON, 30 APRIL 2012: With a dozen different ways of triggering your digital SLR camera from your iPhone, the Triggertrap Mobile app takes creative photography to a new level.

By combining the success from their previous two products – the Kickstarter-funded Triggertrap v1 and Triggertrap Shield for Arduino – the Triggertrap team are announcing a brand new product today; Triggertrap Mobile.

The Triggertrap Mobile app can be used on its own, in which case it triggers the iPhone’s internal camera, but its innovation really shines when you use the Triggertrap Mobile Dongle to connect your phone to your SLR or advanced compact camera.

Never-before-seen ways of triggering

With the Triggertrap Mobile App, users can use the world around them to trigger their cameras in lots of innovative ways. Most photographers are familiar with Time-lapse photography (which is also built in), but the Triggertrap Mobile App introduces several triggering mechanisms that have never before been seen in a consumer device:

Distance-Lapse enables the user to set up a camera to take a photo at regular distance-intervals (every 100 meters, for example). When they are assembled into a movie, it appears as if the entire journey was conducted at exactly the same pace. When driving on a highway, for example, the app would take photos more quickly as the journey progresses at speed, and more slowly when the driver gets stuck in traffic. If you stop for a break, the Triggertrap Mobile App knows, and simply stops taking photos whilst the car is stopped.

Eased Timelapse is the other huge innovation in the Triggertrap Mobile app. When doing a traditional time-lapse, a user would choose to take a photo, say, every 10 seconds. In Eased Timelapse, however, the Triggertrap Mobile App uses mathematical formulas to vary the interval between photographs dynamically. The result is that, in the assembled time-lapse video, it appears as if time speeds up at the beginning of the video, and slows back down at the end – perfect for creating beautiful effects! The Triggertrap Mobile App comes with 5 acceleration profiles (ranging from ‘mild’ to ‘brutal’; or known in the animation world as ranging from Quadratic to Quintic acceleration). The user can choose whether they wish to ease in, out, or both.

12 different triggering modes

In addition to the already mentioned Timelapse, Eased Timelapse and Distance-Lapse mode, the Triggertrap Mobile App has a load of other triggering modes built in, including facial recognition, a shock sensor, a motion sensor, a magnetometer, a sound sensor, automatic High Dynamic Range (HDR) bracketing with up to 19 exposures per set and configurable steps between each exposure, a HDR timelapse mode and Star Trail photography mode.

Finally the Triggertrap Mobile App has a Cable Release mode, which enables users to use the app as a traditional wired remote control, complete with Bulb mode (hold the button for long exposures), Timed Bulb mode (press the button to start an exposure, press it again to finish), Long Exposure mode (the user can select any exposure from one second to 60 minutes, and the app will trigger the user’s camera for that duration), and much, much more.

3 different shutter channels

The Triggertrap Mobile Dongle supports two different devices – usually configured as the focus and shutter on a SLR camera.

For advanced users, the channels can be renamed to whatever the user wants, and all channel settings can be configured independently of each other. By using different cables or adapters, it’s possible to use the Triggertrap Mobile App to trigger just a camera, a camera and a flash separately, or even two independent flashes.

Each ‘channel’ can be configured with a number of settings, including the delay before triggering, a delay after triggering (to limit the number of photos taken in rapid succession) and a shutter lag compensation. The Triggertrap Mobile App also offers a customisable ‘shutter pulse length’ – or the duration of the signal sent to the channel. For a flash, this can be very short (typically 20 ms), for a camera shutter, this needs to be a little bit longer (typically 150ms), and it can be configured to be much longer, to give the camera connected to the Triggertrap Mobile App enough time to focus.

The Triggertrap Mobile App comes with a Lag-o-meter built in, which is designed to measure the shutter lag on your camera. This is important, for example, if the user wants to utilise the built-in bulb or HDR modes. Shutter lag could cause discrepancies in the exposures in these situation; the Lag-o-meter and the built-in shutter lag compensation settings solve the problem.

The final ‘channel’ is the camera built into iOS devices, which can be used with many of the Triggertrap Mobile App triggers.

Free version

In addition to the $9.99 (or local equivalent) premium version of the application, Triggertrap is also releasing Triggertrap Free, which is available as a trial version.

The Free app includes three full modes from the Premium version of the app: Cable Release mode, Timelapse, and the Seismic mode, which uses the iPhone’s acceleration sensors to trigger the camera based on vibrations, bumps, or knocks.

Pricing & Availability

The Triggertrap Mobile App is available in the iTunes App Store (http://j.mp/tt-mobile) from 30 April 2012, and will cost $9.99 (or equivalent in local markets).
The Triggertrap Mobile App (FREE) is available in the iTunes App Store (http://j.mp/tt-free) from 30 April 2012.
The Triggertrap Mobile Dongle is available now, costs $9.99 and is available from the Triggertrap web shop on triggertrap.com/dongle . Camera connection cables are also available from the same site.

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