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Remote view and shoot device for DSLRs is useful as well as cool.
Here at PDN Product Reviews Central, we have an admitted weakness for wacky gadgets. So when a test unit of Hahnel's Inspire LiveView Remote Control arrived in the mail, we got a little wobbly In the knees.
The device uses wireless CHz technology to send live footage and images from your digital SLR to a remote 3.5-inch color LCD screen so you can view it and trigger the shutter from up to 180 feet away. Sports or nature shooters would be the obvious targets for this remote photography system but it was also just plain cool.
The Inspire LiveView Remote Control Is available for Canon or Nikon DSLRs. The Canon version I tested consisted of a Receiver that attaches to the hot shoe of the camera and the handheld Transmitter with the 3.5-inch LCD screen. (It seemed more logical, at least in my mind, to swap the Receiver and Transmitter titles of the devices since you were, in effect, transmitting from the camera to the remote LCD but that's a minor quibble.)
Ideally, the Inspire is used with a digital SLR that has a LiveView function and an AV socket so you can see what the camera is actually shooting - including screen setting info - on the remote LCD. The camera I was using, a Canon 60D, had LiveView and an AV socket...