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Pulse aims to bring advanced wireless control to your DSLR

Brittany Hillen | Published: Dec 3, 2015 at 19:31 UTC

Pulse, a project currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, aims to bring wireless control to many Nikon and Canon DSLRs. The device consists of a wireless controller that attaches to a camera’s hot shoe and plugs into its USB port, connecting to Android and iOS smartphones over Bluetooth. Alpine Labs, the company behind Pulse, is looking for funding to bring Pulse into production.

Pulse offers a wireless range of up to 30.5m/100ft, and a variety of functions are offered through the mobile app including a remote trigger, shutter speed control, time-lapse, video recording, and exposure ramping, as well as a thumbnail-quality image preview. Due to Bluetooth Low Energy data limitations, live previews are not available.

Measuring 40 x 60 x 17.5mm/1.6 x 2.3 x 0.7in the device is small, and is compatible with more than 60 cameras - nearly all of which are Nikon and Canon DSLRs, with the exception of the Panasonic GH4. Sony cameras, unfortunately, are not compatible due to Sony's tethering restrictions. Pulse hopes to add support for other brands down the road. Up to three cameras with Pulse controllers can be operated at once from a single smartphone.

Alpine Labs is offering Pulse through its Kickstarter’s campaign at the discounted rate of $74; the expected retail price will be $99. Shipping to backers is estimated to start in April 2016 and will be available globally.

Via: Kickstarter

Comments

Total comments: 32

A few reasons why IMO this is awesome:

As I mentioned in another comment, the main advantage of a device like this is that you do NOT have to be connected to the device 100% of the time. So you can turn off / sleep your phone during a 4-5 hour timelapse sequence, and only check up on it as needed. All the other wireless and wired apps out there usually either don't do timelapse control at all, and/or they must be connected to the camera at all times. When you're in the backcountry for days, this is a show-stopper.

The cables are replaceable. I've lost count of how many timelapse triggers I've thrown away with nothing wrong other than the cable port got just a little iffy. A huge waste.

Lastly, keep in mind that this isn't meant to be a full-blown Camranger. If you're thinking of this device as a full-fledged tethered shooting tool, you're getting it wrong IMO. The Pulse, like AlpineLabs existing Michron, is meant to be focused more on simply triggering your camera.

0 upvotes

I hate to pile on, but I don't see how this device improves on anything that's already available. I suppose if someone saw it in isolation and didn't know about other options they might be impressed. Still, I don't think I'd give up $75-$100 for one.

2 upvotes

It (and the existing Michron from Alpine Labs) offer two HUGE things that traditional $30+ timelapse triggers have failed horribly at, IMO:

0 upvotes

1.) Replaceable cables. I have lost count of how many timelapse trigger devices (intervalometers) I and my friends have had to throw away because the cable port just got a tiny bit loose and unreliable. It's a huge waste to have to toss a whole trigger just because the cable is starting to short out. Now, with the AlpineLabs devices, all you need to do is carry a spare cable, and you're good to go for any adventure.

This may be something that a few other smartphone-enabled trigger apps / devices already offer, but by-and-large it's still a very new thing in the market. Almost all of my astro-landscape / timelapse friends I know are still using the crappy old style triggers.

Also, one huge thing is that this device doesn't need to be permanently connected to your phone to run. You upload the instructions from your phone to the trigger, and then unplug / turn off your phone. Yet you can still monitor the progress from your phone too. To me, that's huge.

0 upvotes

2.) Battery life. All existing triggers that take AAA batteries are annoying as heck, because if you use rechargeable Eneloops, (like any responsible consumer ought to be) ..the voltage is too low and even when fully charged they will read as half-dead in the trigger. This means you have a much worse indicator as to when the trigger is going to start dying. With the Michron this is a complete non-issue, and with the Pulse it's got at least a 24hr charge.

Again, this may be something that a few other new triggers offer, but by and large almost everybody is still using AAA battery triggers. There used to be more button-battery triggers out there, which are awesome cause they'll last for months / years, but those are harder and harder to find.

0 upvotes

Not exactly Matthew. I use the SMDV RFN-4 for Nikon and it allows you to replace the USB cable at wish or when using another camera system. I use this trigger for my Nikon SLR and my Sony a6000. Two cables, one trigger. It also uses one AAA battery in the remote and one AAA in the receiver. Works flawlessly.

0 upvotes

My eBay cheapo wired triggers for Canon and Fuji both have detachable cables. But the trigger + cable costs around the same as a spare cable by itself, so it's not much of an actual benefit.

In terms of battery life, I haven't used the intervalometer function on either trigger much, but my Fuji trigger is still working several months later on a set of eneloops.

Maybe you just need to be looking at the less than $30 triggers rather than the more expensive ones?

0 upvotes

I feel bad for the developers of this product reading these comments. :-(

1 upvote

I don't think they care though. ;-)

7,549 backers
$655,250 pledged of $50,000 goal
7 days to go

0 upvotes

I've bought several of such devices in the past, that allowed me to shoot via wifi, or let me transfer my files via wifi.

In the end it has always been cumbersome, slow and after a few times of use it doesn't get used anymore.

They all ended up as 'junk'.

For tethered shoots a USB cable works faster.
For transfering files to your computer taking out the SD or CF card is also much faster. And how often do you really want to have your DSLR files on your mobile without any editing to them?

Don't let yourself fool you into thinking you need such device.

Comment edited 22 seconds after posting

1 upvote

For the price, this makes even less sense than the "photography winter gloves" featured yesterday, and that's saying something.

1 upvote

Aw, poor Sony... not compatible with this add-on because of "tethering restrictions." I guess we'll just have to continue to use the built-in 802.11 wireless support that does much more. ;-)

3 upvotes

I "liked" your comment as you're right, Sony cameras are miles ahead of DSLRs as far as WiFi operation is concerned.

That said, Sony's "tethering restrictions" are very real.

I shoot images from metallurgical microscope, and I hate it that I had live view with 5DII (but actual shooting was cumbersome, click-blackout-clunk-click... hated it), and now I don't have it with a6000!

Metallurgical microscope is a tall beast by itself; plus there is C-mount adapter on top (with another C-mount/SonyE attached to it). To see camera screen, I have to flip it UP, then rotate the camera 180 degrees... So I end up looking at the mirrored image (left/right and upside/down). Not a huge deal, since I'm not shooting people here... But I do have to mentally adjust for that when I'm moving specimen with levers.

Plus, there is an issue of screen size. The whole point of microscopy is to see details, right?

So yeah, I can live with "tethering restrictions", but they are still PITA.

Comment edited 4 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

Fair enough, and I still have and sometimes use 5 older Sonys that don't tether at all because they predate 802.11 support... my NEX-7 being the most annoying. It's just that complaining about USB restrictions in going to a short-range wireless repeater is a little silly.

BTW, I know it's a tad odd, but I'd use 802.11 control with a current Sony on a microscope -- see https://developer.sony.com/develop/cameras/

0 upvotes

DSLRDashboard and a TP Link MR3040 says hi.

3 upvotes

I know. That costs $35, has live view and full control over the camera. You can download full size RAWs and JPEGs to check your settings. It even has timelapse integration that adjusts exposure based on the light level.

If a superior solution already exists, why would they continue with the project? Their time would have been better spent making their own version of DSLR dashboard and getting it into the apple app store.

Maybe they could have found a little router that uses wireless AC to speed up the transfers. That would be amazing.

1 upvote

Without a live-view, this is indeed useless.

1 upvote

NICE!!

0 upvotes

useless

0 upvotes

Is this really the original culmination of over 4 years of products and development, and now over $600k funding?

This doesn't offer a live-preview, so how is it actually useful at the 30m range? What would you actually use it for?
It should have been a Wi-Fi connection, not Bluetooth! A low-power connection is completely unnecessary especially with a DSLR - assuming accessories can be powered through either the USB port or the Hot Shoe. Then you could have live-preview, and transmit full-resolution images where you could check for technical perfection, which I assume you should if you're using $1000's in DSLR equipment and taking the time to go out to remote locations where this might be useful. A better product would have been a Windows or OSX and mobile application with such live-view over Wi-Fi so it could tether to a laptop or desktop, and maybe a Wi-Fi dongle that plugs in via HDMI or USB if you just want to bring an external monitor.

A desktop app is all I I don't have.

1 upvote

I agree with you on the necessity of wifi link. But I don't think the device could draw power from either usb port or hotshoe. for USB, cam is a client device not a host and hotshoe was never designed to afford any power transfer. The clip-on flashes for the small mirrorless comeras all rely on proprietary port to power.

0 upvotes

Yes, I think the only power draw would be through the Flash Circuitry already in the camera, and I doubt that small flash units such as for the EM5 and GM5 have a battery among all the cicuitry and capacitor already contained in those units. The Olympus takes advantage of a secondary port but the Panasonic does not. I wouldn't know about the USB port... they're likely unpowered as you said. But still, the battery wouldn't have to be big to power a Wi-Fi transceiver on its own and would not have to be in place of the low-power Bluetooth, just a compliment.

Comment edited 6 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

On the contrary, anything that gobbles up power is extremely BAD when you're in the backcountry without access to a wall socket. If bluetooth can do wireless info transfer with less power than wifi, then I'm absolutely on board.

The lack of specific bells / whistles for whatever certain folks need is always going to be an issue with every device; but from the standpoint of actual usability / functionality, this is still a huge step forward.

0 upvotes

A lot of the features or selling points of this accessory can already be managed in camera - I always thought DSLR's were prepared in this regard...

The maximum draw of WiFi at upload from a Motorola Droid phone is 479mW. The tiny Li-Ion battery in the GM1 is 4.9Wh... So you could theoretically get 10 hours of direct uploading of data to your mobile on such a battery. A slimmer battery such as the 3.6Wh of the LF1 would still net 7.5h. But naturally you will not be transmitting a constant stream of high bit-rate data. It is not as if the product does not have the space available on the underside for a battery. I guess it will just be another 4 years of retail and development before they think of that! This is hardly as innovative as their previous products, especially since they also have the same functionality so really it is nothing new for them. The app, software and circuit boards were essentially already there and now they are $600k+ richer.

0 upvotes

I guess I'm just surprised that you see it that way. The Michron and Radian are great tools, but the new generation of wireless control and feedback is a significant boost to functionality.

It is true that you can do a few things already through built-in wifi, or in-camera even; Nikon DSLRs have had a built-in intervalometer for about a decade now, and many including the D750 have built-in wifi. However the built-in wifi that Nikon offers is hopelessly rudimentary, it is basically live view and a shutter release, nothing else. Also, the built-in interval timer is limited to existing shutter speeds, so on super-dark nights when you want to do a timelapse with 60 sec exposures, (or dynamically ramp your exposure during a timelapse) you're outta luck.

Being able to wirelessly monitor a timelapse, even see thumbnail images and change exposure, is huge. But, that's just me, I understand that what I do is rather specialized... (http://www.astro-landscapes.com)

0 upvotes

I like the wireless one that attaches to my 9 pin connection. That leaves my hot shoe available.

1 upvote

This one doesn't use the hot shoe either. You can let it hang down or fix it somewhere else. The hot shoe is just a convenient place to fix it when you aren't using flash.

2 upvotes

What Pecolpan said. The hotshoe is just a nice place to put the device so it doesn't dangle. You're still gonna need a 10-pin or other cable.

The AWESOME thing is, now these devices don't have the cable as a PERMANENT part of the device, like most previous cable triggers (intervalometers) have. So if the port on the cable starts getting iffy, you can just toss it and get a new cable, instead of having to throw away the whole device.

0 upvotes

Or, if you are using a Canon camera, you could buy the DSLR Controller app and a cheap USB OTG cable for about $10 total and have far more capability. Or, just use the WiFi capability built into your camera. Or, use an inexpensive remote release.

I don't see the advantage of using a $99 device that needs to be recharged when there are far cheaper, more capable, and more convenient options.

3 upvotes

If you don't see the advantage, then that's OK, but you probably have never been in the backcountry for 5+ days straight, doing timelapse work.

In other words, in certain conditions it is a real show-stopper to rely on such power-hungry things for camera control. Most all other camera control devices require that the phone be connected to the camera for the entire duration of the timelapse, which will completely drain your phone after just a few sequences.

Being able to un-plug your phone after this thing starts, and ONLY check up on it every now and then, is the biggest plus of using any external device like this.

And for any situations where recharging the device itself is a problem, Alpine Labs already has the Michron device, which has a (standby) battery life that is best measured in months or years.

0 upvotes