The Little App That Couldn't

Do you want to be frustrated and angry? There's an app for that... And I have it on my tablet. It is supposed to control my cameras from a remote location - letting you see what the camera sees and then firing it of whenever you wish. It was invented either by the maker of the camera system or Beelzebub and I know which way the smart money is betting. It has worked - I made it work once. It also doesn't work - because subsequent tries have foundered on the complexities of linking the things together. They can be separated by three feet and yet fail to recognise each other. All systems are go, and then refuse to. Say what you will of the dear dead days of cable releases and pneumatic tubes, they worked most of the time and any failure was mechanical and fixable. In any critical situation I revert to a Hähnel Captur set that gives me a reliable radio link between a hand controller and a receiver on the camera. I cannot see what the camera sees, but it will fire every single time when required. I've got a Fujifilm fitting on mine but all the other major makers are catered for as well. As it runs from standard AA cells I can depend on fresh batteries all the time. If you think you will never need this sort of remote triggering, think again. There will come a day when you need to set a camera up on a pole - or back in an audience - or looking at yourself in a big group shot. The use of the self-timer is only a crude 10-second lash-up - you need a reliable remote.