Have you ever wanted to scan a document be it a photograph or a page off a magazine and have it transferred to your iPad immediately (or an iPhone if you prefer working with small devices)? No? Well, neither have I — at least not something that I have a need for very much. If on the other hand you had wanted to print from your iOS device you can with one of a number of Canon’s wireless AirPrint compatible photo printers. I recently upgraded from the already amazing photo lab quality PIXMA iP6700D to a PIXMA MG6370 you see here.
I installed Canon’s mobile printing app on my second generation iPad and wireless AirPrint communication is established within seconds. Because I work with very large image files, I have the printer connected to my desktop PC (or laptop) via USB for speedy transfers and leave wireless turned on for the two iPads in the house. The upside of this is that either my family can now easily scan documents when I (their go-to tech guy at home) am not around. Never thought wireless scanning can be this cool.
Yes, you read that right. Your Samsung Galaxy S3 smartphone just got smarter with the help of a free app called AirDroid. You can now very easily download large number of high resolution images stored on the phone, stream MP3 and HD videos to your Windows PC browser. I’ll spare you the introduction to the App itself and jump right into the app’s screenshots — nothing more convincing than a visual tease.
“The AirDroid Android app should be compatible with most Android devices running Android 2.1 or later. The Web Desktop should be compatible with most modern web browsers, including IE 8 or later, Chrome 12 or later, Firefox 3.6 or later, Safari 5.0 or later. Support for mobile browsers, like Safari on iPad, is experimental.” — AirDroid
Along with some nice configurable settings, I particularly like how you can predefine a password instead of having to enter a randomly generated especially if you’re going to use this app several times a day.You can use AirDroid to send/receive SMS (text messages, if supported by the device), install/uninstall apps, transfer files between Android device and computer/tablet, and manage contacts, photos, music, videos, and ringtones, etc., all in a web browser.Here’s a actual screenshot of my desktop with user friendly interface to manage my phone’s picture Gallery – choose a single image or batch download many (multiple images are automatically zipped)Just for kicks, I streamed a HD Gangnam Style Live Concert video from the phone to my Dell 27-inch LCD and the QuickTime playback was buttery smooth. While the video was playing I attempted to multi-task by playing an MP3 track and viewing the photo gallery simultaneously – all possible.
When you step outside your one-flash comfort zone to explore creative lighting opportunities, wireless radio remote triggers are really the only things that matter when it comes to getting work done. My first wireless investment was a Canon ST-E2 infra-red transmitter that works well indoors but fails miserably outdoors. Because I work with two 5D Mark II bodies and I own not one but two ST-E2 for obvious convenience. Over the years, I found myself shooting a mix of indoors and outdoors that involved great distances and larger venues, I needed something better. I first went with the PocketWizard Plus II a much reputed non-TTL wireless trigger that works flawlessly but quickly got tired of its inherent inconvenience.
Mounted on the 5D Mark II is a Phottix Odin transmitter and a Speedlite 430EX II mounted to an Odin receiver strapped to the side of the tripod. The visible cable is a PocketWizard camera shutter trigger connected to a PW Plus II unit.
With the Phottix Odin Wireless TTL Flash Trigger for Canon the pair of ST-E2s are officially retired and collecting dust until they find new owners. Although I have very little use for the Plus II, I’m keeping them as a camera shutter trigger — the Phottix and PocketWizard work beautifully together like that. It’s always good to find ways to revalidate the original investment in them. An assignment where the Phottix Odins were used to light up Radisson Hotel’s main entrance.
A close-up view of the PocketWizard camera shutter trigger cable connected to a PW Plus II unit. Ever since I adopted the Phottix Odin TTL trigger for flash while the Plus II duty is limited to camera trigger for now.
If you’re wondering why I hadn’t gone the PocketWizard MiniTT1 and FlexTT5 TTL route let me just sum it up in a few words. I have never come across a company that tries so hard to make a gadget so incredibly difficult and confusing to use like PocketWizard has with their Canon ETTL-II compatible triggers. I followed initial developments of the Mini/Flex until it began to look less and less promising — at one point PocketWizard even blamed Canon Speedlite’s Radio Frequency noise when things didn’t pan out well which incidentally is a true story. Things took too long before PocketWizard decided the best way to counter this is to wrap things up in the literal sense of the word. Phottix, on the other hand, worked on a solution quietly and rolled out an incredibly user-friendly product they named the Odin.
PocketWizard CM-N3-P cable connected to the Canon 5D Mark II N3 remote terminal.A even closer view of the PocketWizard CM-N3-P camera trigger cable with Pre-Trigger switch.
SHIMWORLD 