Camera remote controls provide truly great opportunities that an experienced photographer or videographer can use 100%. But even the most inveterate professional has misfires, no one is safe from them: somewhere the camera moved a little, the setting went wrong, or the space on the memory card ran out. All this can lead to unpleasant consequences in the form of lost footage, long hours of work in editors, unpleasant penalties and more.
All of this can be avoided with the Pixel Expert, a remote control capable of streaming video and audio from up to 200 meters away. The remote control consists of two elements: a receiver with a built-in display and a transmitter with an additional CMOS camera. Let’s take a look together at what this couple is like and what it will ultimately be able to give us.
Transmitter
The transmitter is necessary for the direct transmission of audio and video. The connection to the camera is carried out using two interfaces at once: the video output of your camera to transfer the image and the input to the remote control so that you can control the shutter release. You can install the transmitting part of the Pixel Expert both on a tripod and on everyone’s favorite “hot shoe”.
The image can also be transmitted without connecting the transmitter to the camera; for this, a CMOS camera with a lens is installed in the transmitter, which is capable of transmitting an image to the receiver. Thanks to this, you can get at least an approximate image even if your camera does not have a video output and LiveView mode. This option is also very useful if you don’t want to put too much stress on your camera, as using the video output increases battery drain and can expose the camera to quite a bit of heat.
Receiver
The receiver is needed so that you can receive an image from the transmitter, as well as control the shutter release (if you have connected the transmitter to the appropriate input). Using the button on the receiver, you can independently select the image source: the CMOS camera of the transmitter or the viewfinder of the camera itself. And the most interesting thing is that if the picture is broadcast from a CMOS camera, then you can manually scale the image on the display.
In addition to image transmission, Pixel Expert can also work with sound, which is recorded from the microphone built into the camera and transmitted using a transmitter. At the same time, you can play the sound on the receiver with different volume levels (ten divisions are available).
As for the shutter release, everything is exactly as you would expect: there is a button on the receiver that initiates the shutter release on the camera, and it works in a similar way to the camera, that is, an incomplete press initiates focusing, and a full press releases the shutter. In addition, you can work with several shooting modes, including continuous shooting, shutter-lag shooting (2, 5 and 10 seconds) and standard single shooting.
The receiver also has built-in memory where you can save pictures taken with the transmitter. You can shoot before shooting starts and 1.8 seconds after shooting. Viewing and deleting such images can be done directly from the receiver.
Pixel also equipped the receiver with the ability to select the transmission channel, so you can display the image from 4 transmitters of the Pixel Expert model at once. Videographers will certainly appreciate the ability to connect the receiver to an external monitor or TV.
Conclusion
Pixel Expert has a truly gigantic potential, judge for yourself: you can shoot wild birds and animals (both shy and dangerous), covert photography of people in a natural atmosphere, macro photography and stuff like that. In addition, this device will be a great addition to cameras without a rotary display (that is, to the vast majority of DSLRs), as well as cameras without Live View. At the moment, Pixel Expert is available in configurations for Canon and Nikon cameras, and the difference between them is only in the package. In my opinion, this is almost a must-have tool for most professional photographers and cameramen who shoot on a full-time basis.