Alpine Labs has launched yet another successful Kickstarter campaign with their brand new camera remote: and it’s called the Spark. Why? Honestly I’m not sure, but if you’re one of the few photographers who has a camera that doesn’t have WiFi built in, then this could be a great product for someone like you. The Spark is being aimed at hobbyists, folks who shoot outdoors a lot, millennials with way too much money, and timelapse shooters (sort of.) Plus, it connects to your camera in a number of different ways.
In the video above (if you don’t see it, please visit our Desktop website or our mobile website vs our Facebook Instant article) you’ll see a demonstration of the Spark. It connects to your camera in a variety of ways. It can trigger your camera in a few ways including infrared, Bluetooth and use of cables connected to the camera. Infrared is great for night time and is also the most low power option; albeit archaic. The new Bluetooth 4.0 protocols though are pretty awesome and more and more cameras have been using it lately. It surely saves battery but is also just pretty fast.
What the Spark is offering that I haven’t seen from any first party app is a much easier way to do Timelapse photography–though the idea of holding a button down can surely get tiring after a while. First Party apps often integrate into the camera to let you see what the camera sees in order to judge composition, exposures, etc. The Spark doesn’t seem to do that; and so iif you’re a selfie lover, it returns you to the days where you have to shoot a selfie, see if you like it, shoot another, etc.
In particular, I’m not sure why you’d get this when Sony has a number of apps that you can install on the camera.
You can check out more information the the Alpine Labs Spark over at their Kickstarter. It’s already funded, so buying one shouldn’t be risky.