Hi all,

New LRT user, first time poster here.

After much searching around, I found that there is no qDslrDashboard for my iOS devices from the App Store. No new news there. I've been to that forum and it's been several months since the last "I'm working on it" post.

I installed the qDslrDashboard app on a laptop, but what a drag having to lug that around and power it up for long time-lapse sequences. And forget about taking that on lightweight road-trips.

So what's the best alternatives to qDslrDashboard for a iOS phone or tablet? I can do without AUTO Holy Grail -- I just need access to the camera settings and need to see a histogram to know when to make the camera setting changes.

Note: I've done a bunch of experimenting on the camera itself (Nikon D850). I can change settings and see a histogram only at intervals of at least 6 seconds, but that of course doesn't allow me to do holy grail sequences with faster intervals.

Thanks much for any input,
Chris

PS: I paid for the more expensive pro version of LRTimelapse due to all the mention of qDslrDashboard solving all of my sunset/sunrise time-lapse sequence problems (as well as the additional extra features), so it was really disappointing to find that I don't get to use it.

The developer is expecting qDDB to be available soon again for iOS also. Ich you want to use it now, I'd recommend to go for a cheap android device, you can even buy one used. Shouldn't be more then 50 bucks and you'll be good to go.
I'm not aware of any other free or cheap solution, if you don't want to go for a stand alone device like the timelapse view. But that would be much more expensive and is rather slow also - so no really short "darktimes" like with qDDB.

You should be able to do the raming manually on the D850. Make sure to use an external intervalometer and not the one that is build in the camera. Best would be to use one with a "hacked" cable, see: https://lrtimelapse.com/news/intervalometer-hack/
This will allow you the shortest dark-times.

And BTW: LRTimelapse Pro, that you paid for is an individual Software, that is not related to qDDB. I'm not the developer of qDDB, I have only put some ideas into it.

Thanks for the reply Gunther.

I know that you're not the qDDB developer. It's possible that it's not even their fault (but is instead Apples problem with strict App Store policies). But it's still disappointing -- I hope that gets fixed soon.

Thanks for the link to the intervalometer hack, but my camera uses the 10-pin rather than the 3-conductor jack. I have the Nikon MC-36 and hesitate to cut into that $160US unit, but I can get a cheaper meter on Amazon such as this one that I would be willing to hack into. Do you know if the cable is still just 3 conductor? (I doubt it uses all 10 pins.)

Or perhaps my camera can use a remote via the USB port -- I don't know. Please let me know if you think it does, because that opens up the choices for even cheaper remotes such as the Pixel you mention on your intervalometer hack page.

For anyone else looking for solutions, my research also found this Tether Tools Case Air Wireless system, complete with Android / iOS apps. The advantage here is this being a commercial concern that you pay more money for, so there's more support because of it. The downside is of course the cost! Another downside for me is non-user replaceable batteries, since it has built in rechargeable batteries. HOWEVER, I don't know anyone that's tested it for black time with short intervals, though one would think that it would work something like qDDB.

By the way, I also picked up your time-lapse e-book and it is proving to have lots of invaluable information in it. I've already learned a lot I didn't know before. If only I read this before all those cold and lonely winter attempts of day-to-night time-lapses in aperture-priority mode!

Thanks, Chris

Don't use the USB port for triggering.
It doesn't matter if 10 pin or whichever connection, the cameras use only 3 wires for triggering. Get yourself a cheap Pixel TC252, it has a removeable cable from the Nikon 10Pin connector to a micro TRS (default camera cable) that you can replace for 5 less than bucks.
I don't know that tether tools thing, but from my opinion all of those solutions are not aimed towards time lapse photographers. They just don't know what we need. Mostly the transfertimes will be too slow for serious timelapse work.

Before you pay that much money for something like that, I'd rather go for a cheap andoid tablet.

Thanks for the reply Gunther.


I ordered the Pixel interval timer, but I have a problem: when I set the LONG parameter to 0 (which is what I do on my Nikon intervalometer to be able to see the shutter speed on the camera), the Pixel fires the shutter twice per interval. It seems it is sending two signals to the camera and each is firing off the shutter if it is a fast shutter speed (1/20 of a second or faster).

Have you (or anyone here) ever run into that? Is there a solution?

Thanks,
Chris

Set the camera to single shot, not continuous when recording timelapse.

Yeah, that was it. (*sigh*)

Thanks much. Now it's time to cut and solder.

Chris