Sony announced the new Touchless Shutter APP (donwload at Playmermories). Sony says:
With this application, you can simply hold your hand over the eye sensor to release the shutter.
Now you can operate the shutter without touching the camera, thus eliminating camera shake once and for all. When bulb-shooting, hold your hand over the eye sensor twice to start and end the exposure.
Cool thing!
There is also another new APP called Lighting Painting.
47 Responses
sigh, id like this on my a77ii, good job they didnt put app support on the camera then… 😐
Just get the a77iii in 2017.
why an app, this should be in the settings as an option
maybe because it wasnt in it before…..
And now you get it and its free.
Its a freaking FREE app. I would have got it even if it was paid. 😛
Its just so useful for my shooting style.
Else they would have to give firmware releases to ALL their current and slightly older cameras.
New features for free are always good!
Call me dumb but I could never get this play memories thing working. I really like to have that remote app & time lapse app triggering from my Sony phone. :S
I hope they will soon make an app that give what other brands call “Catch-In-Focus” or “Trap Focus”.
It’s a function where focus is fixed but focus point(s) are active, and the camera takes photos when something comes in focus. I’m not sure that any current Sony cameras can do that.
I don’t mind if it costs a little. I purchased the Bracket Pro, and use it a lot for focus bracketing.
not invented by sony, but nice feature. and I was asking for it to bin in an a7rII an/or a99II… thanx sony! 😉
FYI, bulb mode only works on A7S and A7M2 for some reason.
Thanks for the heads up. Saved me the time to do the download.
Thanks! I was gonna get it for bulb but if it doesnt work on a7 ill just pass.
Bulb not work on A6000 manual mode either… once reach 30″ it stop
I have been doing this for years with a small Remote Control. I have an expensive one from Sony and a generic one that only cost a few dollars. Both work just fine. I find Sony’s implementation of apps to be very cumbersome. Having to connect 3 or 4 different cameras to my computer and then navigate through many pages on their confusing play memories web site, then suffering a poor download speed etc. They should take some lessons from Apple if they really see a future in an App style ecosystem.
You can also just download it straight to the camera via Wifi. Took me a couple of minutes.
I also have a remote control, but 1) you will have to take it with you and 2) the touchless shutter works while standing behind the camera whereas with the remote you need to point it towards the front of the camera.
I agree that it is a bit cumbersome to use it as an app, I would rather see this mode under the Drive mode selection. But than it would be less flexible.
The remote works also behind the camera. You can’t be to far away although. And don’t ask me, why it works. 🙂
Anyway, my remote is always next to the tripod, but a backup app I’ll appreciate.
The problem with remotes is that you need to take them along. I had taken my camera without a tripod on a trip and I saw one of THE most beautiful sunsets EVER !!!!
I placed my camera on a wall and wanted to take a few 2 minute exposures but alas no remote meant no long exposures and I missed out on that sunset. If I had this app then I would have probably got a shot or two that would have done some justice to that sunset. 🙁
you could do three long exposures and them add them in post
No, long exposure photography doesn’t work like that. Long exposures smoothen movement so it makes water look still, clouds look silky smooth etc. You can’t replicate that with stacking and or post processing.
In any case my point is very simple. You can leave/lose your remote at any time. Its something small and can get misplaced.
The app is a free app so doesn’t hurt to install and try.
At last on newer wifi Sony cameras you can d/l the app right from the camera. Makes it easy
I will give it a try on my A7II. I didn’t bother to put any Apps on it yet, since it was such a hassle on the the old A7r. Can’t imagine trying to input your credit card details to buy an app will be very easy on the camera though.
OK so I’m about 40 minutes in on this. A pain to get logged in on the playstation account. No touch screen makes it pretty cumbersome entering the long email & password. Can’t imagine what it would be like if I did not already have a playmemories account, and had to try to make one from the camera. This alone, should be enough incentive for Sony to include touch screen functionality on every camera. Got to my apps. Downloaded the Time lapse app, but the Light trails app that I previously purchased is not showing in the list. Tried to download the new touch-less shutter app, but low & behold, I need to update from Ver. 110 to Ver. 120 firmware. Now going through a painfully slow firmware download. In the mean time I downloaded the kernel patch to allow my Mac with the latest software to run Sony’s firmware updater.
Went on to Sony’s PlayMemories website while I am still killing time waiting for the Firmware download to finish (about 20 minutes to get halfway). and my Light Trails app does show up there, just not on the camera over wi-fi. Anyway so as I stated before, Sony’s implementation of a Downloadable App ecosystem leaves a lot to be desired, including region problems where certain apps are only available in some regions. Basically a big mess that needs some good Apple engineers to start from scratch.
The best thing is, because the eye sensor is so sensitive, you can take a shot from 3 miles away.
?????
The eye sensor is too sensitive, if you fold out the LCD screen and try to do waist level shooting it detects your body, thinks you’re holding the camera up to your eye and turns the LCD screen off.
It was a joke.
Cool, now I am waiting for them to make it possible to use the shutter release button to start and stop video recording in video mode, because that would be an even bigger evolution.
Have the beta version in use for a while. Works fine and replaces external trigger when photographing from tripod. First camera app I really use.
Neat. Except I can’t get the installer to run. I can download it and install the installer, but it’s not connecting with my A6000. The firmware upgrade seems to work fine. My other Apps seem to be recognized. Humph. I guess I’ll have to wait for Sony to sort this out.
Try an different web browser. Google chrome did not work for me. Had to use internet explorer.
You aren’t dumb. Sony has made the entire procedure needlessly painful. I too struggled a lot to figure out how to use it.
Can someone explain how is this better than normal remote control app on your phone?
Better Battery life because the WiFi EATS POWERRRR! And what if your phone battery is empty :O or just not have one.
Okay. So this works without the phone. That explains everything. Thanks.
The wifi remote app sucks. It’s laggy and drains battery. Also, it changes all your settings when you use it. It badly needs a revision. It’s almost unusable on iPhone 4s and a6000. I tried this new app and I like it. I’m not sure it’s much more useful than self-timer, though, which is more easily accessible.
An app, brilliant… What about electronic shutters? At least for the first curtain? Real cameras (C&N for the noobs) have had it for years…
Great! can’t wait to try this app!
I used Chrome just fine but the process could be streamlined.
Very Stupid App! One My Nex 5t doesn’t have a viewfinder two you can’t use this with the other Apps that would take advantage of this like the Time Lapse or Multiple Exposure Apps why can’t Sony have the wireless remote work with these apps I would prefer that option more!
Excellent application, very useful …
Has anyone managed to get this app installed on an A7r ??? Trying to install over WiFi I get a message that I have to update my software but all my software and firmware is up to date! If I connect via USB to my computer on the “play memories – Touchless shutter” page I cannot get past the “verify connection” page! FYIW I installed 2 other apps today with no issues via Wifi yet it won’t let me install this ‘shutter’ app ????
Its pretty diificult to get working each time i do it. So its not just you.
LG had this on their phone.
Panasonic has it on the GF7.
Nothing innovative about it.
I updated my firmware and downloaded the app only to find that it this app is limited to single shot and timer drive modes. Why do they put such limitations in their apps when they are available in the camera? I shoot brackets so this is of no use to me. Speaking of which, The Pro Bracket app is handicapped as well with only being able to shoot 3 exposures at a time. WHY? I need 5 exposures at 2 stops each to be usable for HDR. This app is far from being a “Pro Tool”. The limitations Sony designers put on their software is just plain strange. If their employees can’t do the job, find someone who can!
it’s a FREE app, so that’s great. worth having in case you forget your IR remote!
I had the hardest time too until I finally changed the password to something easy to type on the sony cameras, whenever I user special characters it would fail to type properly on the cameras.
you have to have the mm/dd/yyyy in a certain format for it to work also. Very finicky.