The Selfie Cam set up tutorial (for Android)

                                                      by Harvest Lee

click to enlarge any pics

Hello Today I shall past on my knowledge and experiance in setting up a simple Selfie Camera, by tethering a 10 inch tablet on top of a DSLR so your Models can see themselves before and during the picture being taken. Be warned it is Heavy between 10-12 pounds.

Software

On the google playstore look for DSLR controller or click this link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.chainfire.dslrcontroller&hl=en

Its still in Beta so early adapters such as you can me can get it for $8.00. It will go up to I'm guessing $20-$30 in the near future.

Hardware

I'm using a Canon EOS 60D with a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 for this tutorial. The growing list of compatible Cameras and Tablets can be found here http://dslrcontroller.com/devices.php

Materials

-the Otterbox for your tablet          $90 after shipping and handling on ebay (most expensive for a reason)

-MagicArm                                  $40 from Senal Camera (2nd floor SouthCenter Calgary)

- OTG to Female USB cable         $4.00 Memory Express (startech brand)

Installation

The reason I use the Ottobox is, aside from it being the most heavy duty that I could trust my tablet with, Is because it offers that third plate that I call the blast sheild that makes it possible to install the arm and hold everthing together without damaging or rubbing against the tablet. 

Take a 7/32 drill bit and drill a hole on the Blast sheild right below the second "t" on the Otter Careful not to  damage the control stand on the other side, you should have just enough space if you extend the stand out first to avoid it.

Remove the washer end on the ball end of your MagicArm and attach it on the other side after putting the end through.

Fold up the stand in the middle and your mount is set. The tablet still has enough room to attach itself on to the blacksheld back to back nice and tight. Make sure to attach your tablet to the blast sheild upside down so you'll have room for the cable and space to rest on top of the camera. 

Attach the horseshoe to the top of the DSLR and tighten rings of the MagicArm. Do some light cable management and plug them in as follows.

Settings

After installing and updating your DSLR controller app it should automatically sync with you Camera as soon as you turn it on. I found when I first used it was that it needs to be on Manual for it to work with the big M on the top left corner, you will have to take pictures with the Liveview on because your eyeviewer has been  rewired to the tablet for your model to see, and because the Arm is doing to be bumping against your head if you do. 

In order to Pan the image for those vertical shots you'll  need to flipp the X-axis. the result is your model will be looking through the tablet the same way they look in the mirror. Otherwise when you go vertical your tablet will go upsidedown, so personally I leave my x-axis flipped.

Just press the Gear icon on the bottom right corner select Mirroring and choose your desire preferrence, in this case x.

All the other controls can be done from the photographer's side, but to use Full screen just press the Gear and select it.

There you have it, a realatively inexpensive more effective Selfie Cam of higher quality.

Common mistake I've found while field testing at Otafest Aurora was that when I go vertical, Its actually a tighter shot than I though and on the photographer's screen it shows where the cut off is like small movie brackets. Of couse I can't forget that its still a Camera with attention that needs to be made for F-stops shutter speeds and ISO. Fortunately the tablet and and the preview screen both will show that picture as you adjust it for brigher or darker. 

I Highly recommand the second battery handle for your DSLR if you are running this, and plan to last a full 10ish hours in an outting. the tablet dosen't seem as battery drainning as the camera was. Of course I always sleep the Tablet and turn off liveview of my camera between shoots to conserve power. 

Some interesting things worth mentioning, When I'm in an area that has a Shaw Wifi-go I had no problem uploading photos to my cloud via the tablet, which is a nice just in case if I ever run out of memory. Also the camera seems to process the photos much faster for reviewing on the tablet than without, most likely due to my Tablet being Quad-core compared to the single core camera cpu.