Use iPhone as Camera

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bperrella
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Joined: Wed Sep 14, 2016 2:44 pm

Use iPhone as Camera

Postby bperrella » Wed Sep 14, 2016 2:57 pm

Hi! I'm a new user in the process of setting up a booth for my wedding. First of all, thanks for making your app free to try with watermarks before purchase. This is hugely helpful compared to other apps that don't allow you to test out your equipment before buying.

I was thinking it would be great to use an iPhone rear camera instead of a DSLR. This would be a good feature for users who don't have a wifi DSLR, but who also don't want to deal with the sub-par image quality from the iPad front camera. I have seen apps such as "AirBeam" that transmit a camera signal from an iPhone to an iPad over wifi, so it should be possible.

Not suggesting that guests use their own iPhones, just that I can use a single iPhone in place of a DSLR. For example, I would install the "transmit" app on my iPhone and then place it on a tripod instead of relying on the front-facing camera.

Thanks!

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tim
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Joined: Fri Apr 03, 2015 5:14 pm

Re: Use iPhone as Camera

Postby tim » Wed Sep 14, 2016 3:00 pm

Hi,
Yeah, I have been mulling this over also. It's not going to be a feature I can build soon because it's a lot of change, but I am thinking about this.
In the meantime, you could use the iPad's rear camera instead (it's better quality). It's just weird that you can't see the live-view...
thanks for the idea!

tamus84
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2017 1:08 pm

Re: Use iPhone as Camera

Postby tamus84 » Mon Mar 20, 2017 3:57 am

+1 from me for this idea.

Since the rear cameras of any apple product is more better than the front cameras.

Since I already have an iphone, it would make sense to somehow connect it to an ipad and use as a "camera"

Please do this idea.

Thanks
Tam

shanos
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2017 3:25 pm

Re: Use iPhone as Camera

Postby shanos » Sat Apr 22, 2017 5:51 am

What would be cool is if someone designed an adapter that clips on to the phone and uses a couple of mirrors to capture the front facing image on the rear facing camera (sort of like an old school periscope).
The slight degradation in quality due to using the mirrors should still leave a far superior image given the higher resolution of the rear camera.
I am guessing a special mode might need to be added to the app in order to flip the image to the correct way up etc.
I might post on the 3d printing forum to see if anyone is up for making a quick rough design I can try.

Regards Shane

shanos
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Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2017 3:25 pm

Re: Use iPhone as Camera

Postby shanos » Sat Apr 22, 2017 5:43 pm

I am speaking with a guy on another forum for 3d printing, to see if he can design something that can be printed and accept something like 3cm x 3cm acrylic mirrors.
He is having a play with it at the moment and will be using a bit of Android software called Ray optics to hopefully get the angles right.

I will let you know what comes of it, looking forward to firing up my davinci xyz and printing a few samples out.

shanos
Posts: 11
Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2017 3:25 pm

Re: Use iPhone as Camera

Postby shanos » Fri May 05, 2017 5:52 am

just in the process of printing the first mock up so we can see how it works, will post up pics when its done (3d printer will be going for some time yet)

aluminumwelder
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Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2015 11:31 am

Re: Use iPhone as Camera

Postby aluminumwelder » Sat Jul 15, 2017 7:59 am

Well i guess it never worked? Any feedback?

tamus84
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2017 1:08 pm

Re: Use iPhone as Camera

Postby tamus84 » Sun Jul 23, 2017 9:49 am

any new developments on using an iphone as the camera?

what about the periscope idea of the rear ipad camera?

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tim
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Re: Use iPhone as Camera

Postby tim » Sun Jul 23, 2017 1:56 pm

I know it isn't what you are asking for, but in v4 due out shortly guests can use their iphones to add photos from their camera roll to their collages, then print their collages via the ipad.
Please write a review for Wifibooth on the Apple App store! Indie developers like me really need people like you to review their apps. Instructions on how to write a review: http://goo.gl/w8NsDI.

techcurious1
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Joined: Mon Dec 04, 2017 4:24 pm

Re: Use iPhone as Camera

Postby techcurious1 » Mon Dec 04, 2017 4:38 pm

This seems like a "fun addition" but not practical.
I know it isn't what you are asking for, but in v4 due out shortly guests can use their iphones to add photos from their camera roll to their collages, then print their collages via the ipad.
This topic seems dead but I feel like this would be easier to implement than you believe. You already have the ability to connect the iPhone to the iPad and use the iPad camera why not have a toggle that lets you switch the behavior? Instead of using your current check to determine app is on iPad and which is iPhone have a toggle in the app that lets you set camera v.s. trigger as a setting. The functionality people are asking for already exists just backward. When an I phone connects to iPad it defaults to the trigger function but there isn't any real reason, I assume, that you couldn't have the Ipad default to the trigger mode as it seems like one app running on both with some trigger subroutine. I'd rather see a trigger button and and the resulting pics on the ipad facing the people anyway. The live view just ends up with people looking at the ipad instead of the camera.

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tim
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Re: Use iPhone as Camera

Postby tim » Mon Dec 04, 2017 4:45 pm

No, the functionality doesn't exist for the remotely-connected app on the iPhone to be driven by the iPad. That's a lot of work - it would take in the neighbourhood of a month or so to build.
I'm not saying it cannot be built, it's definitely a neat idea that I've been toying with for a while.
There are just a bunch of other features that are ahead of this in the pipeline.
The trick will be scaling up development so that the pipeline moves faster, i'm working on it, hard, I promise ;)
Please write a review for Wifibooth on the Apple App store! Indie developers like me really need people like you to review their apps. Instructions on how to write a review: http://goo.gl/w8NsDI.

Rat128
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Joined: Thu Feb 22, 2018 7:29 pm

Re: Use iPhone as Camera

Postby Rat128 » Thu Feb 22, 2018 7:40 pm

I plan to use Wifibooth for my wedding and don’t own a supported camera. I was hoping to use an iPhone as the camera with my iPad but realized that wasn’t supported yet after some testing. Is connecting two iPads supported so I can have one facing each way?

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tim
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Re: Use iPhone as Camera

Postby tim » Thu Feb 22, 2018 7:54 pm

Sorry at the moment this is not supported.
One thing that works well is if you get a tripod-stand for the iPad, so that it is facing you while you take the photo from the front camera, then you can see the live video feed during the countdown -- so guests know where to stand.
Please write a review for Wifibooth on the Apple App store! Indie developers like me really need people like you to review their apps. Instructions on how to write a review: http://goo.gl/w8NsDI.

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tim
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Re: Use iPhone as Camera

Postby tim » Mon Sep 17, 2018 2:53 pm

Good news: this feature (using the iPhone as the iPad's camera) is coming soon!
If you're still interested in this feature, let me know ASAP and i'll get you a beta build so you can try it out and give me feedback.
Please write a review for Wifibooth on the Apple App store! Indie developers like me really need people like you to review their apps. Instructions on how to write a review: http://goo.gl/w8NsDI.


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