A Chinese company called Aputure, which specializes in accessories for DSLRs, recently released Gigtube LCD, an accessory which they claim is compatible with all the DSLRs from Canon and Nikon.
The Gigtube LCD can be used handheld or attached to your DSLR’s hot shoe. Its 2.5” LCD screen can be lifted up and rotated so you can see exactly what the camera LCD shows but in almost any position. The device is tethered to the DSLR through a 6-foot long remote wire. It is operated by batteries which are expected to last for around 3 hours. The Aputure Gigtube LCD is not available in the U.S. yet – the company is looking for distributors at this time.
Similar to Promote Control (see our post here) the big question once again is why they developed dedicated hardware which will drive up the cost of the device. Instead they could have released this on the iPhone as a software-only accessory, or an accessory that requires a hardware add-on for you iPhone. The price for the device is not set, but they could have sold it for quite less on the iPhone, since the complicated hardware would not have been required. Swiveling on the camera’s hot shoe? Include a plastic case for your iPhone that can be mounted to the hot shoe. Tethering? Try wireless bluetooth first – only if you cannot get it to work, develop an iPhone hardware add-on.
Accessories like these are destined to end up on the iPhone. I’m absolutely convinced that the iPhone / iPod Touch will become the platform of choice for all kinds of photo and video accessories. If not for the professional market, then at least for the serious hobbyists.
Promote Systems recently released Promote Control, an advanced remote control enabling you to remotely connect to your Digital SLRs, change settings, perform mirror lockups, do an HDR setup or remotely take photos. For $299, you get a piece of HW that fits in the palm of your hand, has a small b/w LCD screen and a few dials for selections and remote capture.
What does this have to do with the iPhone? A lot more than you think..
My first thought when I saw this product was: Why did they not release this on the iPhone or the iPod Touch? Upon closer inspection, probably 90+ percent of all its hardware requirement would have been met or exceeded by the iPhone. For some DSLRs, everything could have been done in software on the iPhone. For others, a HW add-on, now possible through iPhone 3.0, would have been needed to connect the camera with the iPhone through a shutter cable (or wirelessly). Thus, Promote Systems might have been able to save hundreds of thousands of dollars on hardware development cost and been able to offer this product at a $129 or even $99 price point.
Of course I realize that the iPhone was not where it is today when Promote Systems started the development of this product. But going forward, the iPhone and the iPod Touch, esp. if the latter will be released in the fall with the same or better camera than the iPhone, will deliver on almost all the HW requirements that this product has. And many other devices as well.
By no means do I want to pick on Promote Systems — in fact, this problem or opportunity is certainly being faced by a lot of hardware/software companies today. Do I rely on Apple’s HW and have the chance to bring out my product quicker and at a totally different price point or do I still need to make big investments to develop and design my own hardware? How much can I rely on Apple being my distribution channel and the lack of predictability that my app/HW will get re-approved in the future?
I’m not sure Apple is aware how much potential the iPhone 3.0 hardware interface has to disrupt industries other than the ones Apple targets. Nor how exciting or tempting the iPhone / iPod Touch could be as a hardware platform for many developers. But with that opportunity comes an obligation to Apple – as more and more companies stake their future on Apple or Apple as a distribution channel, the expectation will continue to rise that Apple will deliver, be transparent and provide a level playing field for all participants in these markets.
Two new buttons = huge usability improvement
If you have done long commutes over an extended time, you’ve probably grown tired of commercial radio or NPR and started to listen to “time-shifted radio”, a.k.a. podcasts. I certainly did. And I am about to upgrade my main podcast listening device from my iPod nano to the iPhone. Why?
Up until iPhone 3.0, the built-in iPod was useless for longer podcasts. Trying to go back 15 seconds or skip a section in a long, chapter-less podcast was next to impossible. The granularity of the slider bar was just not good enough. Additionally, operating that slider in a car was truly impossible. Thus, despite some of its shortcomings, the iPod nano remained my podcast player of choice.
What changed with iPhone 3.0? Apple added two additional buttons – rewind 30 seconds and play at various speeds (1/2x, 1x and 2x). Through these two buttons, navigation has become much easier. You can simply 2x whenever Leo Laporte goes on one of his Twitter detours. Or hit the 30 second rewind button, if you don’t get the Tappet brothers’ joke the first time. Even in the car I can find these buttons while my car bounces over one of the Bay Area’s potholes.
However, there is room for improvement. I wish the 30 second rewind button would be customizable, so I could set it to 15 or 45 seconds. The buttons could be made bigger (again, customizable), since I don’t look at cover flow when I’m in the car. Voice Commands could be added such as to rewind 15 seconds or forward 1 minute, even if there are no dedicated buttons on the screen. But as is, it is already much improved. And it became the new podcast player of choice in my car.
p.s.
It is a mystery to me why Apple did not put the same two buttons into their video player. Going back 30 seconds or fast-forwarding is definitely needed in a video player. Why did they choose to leave them out?
Now that my iPhone is working again after the initial “bricking” during the upgrade process, how does iPhone 3.0 perform?
In short, everything seems just a bit snappier and quicker, which is great news. On the photography side, the time to get the camera application loaded and ready to take a picture has been much improved. Once taken, the pictures takes a fraction less time to store. Similarly, all my other photo capture applications that rely on the camera app to take photos are equally improved in performance. The same performance improvement can also be seen when editing photos in Photogene (our pick for Photo Editing) or doing noise removal with NoiseBlaster (see our review). I did see a slighter improvement with photo filters such as PhotoFX (see our review).
Sadly, one application, ProCamera (our pick for Photo Capture), is not working any longer. As of this morning, the developer states on app’s site that an update is still pending Apple approval. Let’s hope it will be available soon. In the meantime, we will use the regular camera app.
