A few months back I wrote a post about the possible use of android devices as a Camera monitor slash controller for your Canon DSLR. It only took about 3 months for the guys over at dslrcontroller to almost make it a reality. I say almost because the video record mode isn’t working quit yet in the beta version, but i’m sure it’s only a matter of time. The device list is limited right now and the controller software is still in beta, but the design is as promising as I expected.

On the current supported tablet list are the Motorola Xoom ($429), Samsung Galaxy Tab ($339), Asus Transformer ($379), and the Acer Iconia A500 ($340). The Samsung Galaxy Tab is probably the sleekest looking and feeling out of the tablets I’ve played with, plus you can get it in a smaller form factor then the rest of the models on the list.

The Acer and Asus models don’t require any special adapter cable, but the Motorola Xoom, and Galaxy Tab require special adapters. You can pick up the special adapters for the XOOM for about $10 on amazon and .

If you feel like a DIY project you can also make your own adapter.

The app is a very affordable $8.60 on the Android market place. Also having all of the control options that the EOS utility has to offer rolled into a single monitor could be an amazing feature for many people.

To top all of this off, most of these tablets have display resolutions of at least 600 x 1024 with some of them sporting 1280 x 800 (720p) screens. This easily keeps up with, or out paces many of the other monitor options on the market. The prices are also much lower then most of the higher end monitors out there. As soon as they get the video mode working, you’ll be set. Now someone just needs to come up with an easy way to adapt these monitors to a camera rig.


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Field monitor, Field recorders, Filming, Follow Focus, Memory cards, Photography