Shutter-Speed-Tester for the iPhone

[C_Remington]

So, obviously, I'm not catching on and am having a hard time reading "the peaks"

Here are one of my results. What am I supposed to be looking at??? do I have too much background noise?

[Ken Lee]

You may find it helpful to release the shutter with a cable release, and pre-squeeze it - as close to actually triggering as possible - before recording with the app.

Try not to record the sounds made by the cable release, or sounds emitted by the shutter after it fires: don't relax the cable release either, since that introduces yet more clicks.

If you place the iPhone right on the lens itself, it will sense the vibration as directly as possible, rather than through a table via the air from a distance.

[Ken Lee]

For the record, I now recommend the app on the "Technique" page of my web site. See http://www.kenleegallery.com/html/te...eShutterTester

One suggestion I would make is to not distinguish between so-called "old" and "new" shutter-speeds. When looking for 1/5, 1/10 etc I almost didn't find them until I clicked on the old/new button by accident. Why not just place them in the same single list of speeds ?

[Lukas]

Wow, quite a discussion going on here
There was a short break, but now the phototransistor-plugs are available for sale again: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ShutterSpeed...-/251303004538

Thanks for the recommending, Ken !
The problem with those old and new values is, that the speed-table (were all the measured data is listed) has a fixed size (so that it fits to the iPhone screen). If you mix old and new values, it would be hard to put den all in one single table.

@C_Remington: I guess you have to try around a little bit, as Ken suggested. As the measurement is acoustic, the position of the iPhone as well as all kinds of background noices affect the measurement.
Try zooming in a little bit more, and position the two bars at the two highest lines in the signal.

[Ken Lee]

The problem with those old and new values is, that the speed-table (were all the measured data is listed) has a fixed size (so that it fits to the iPhone screen). If you mix old and new values, it would be hard to put den all in one single table.

In that case, perhaps different text would be more descriptive, like Modern Speeds (1/8, 1/15...) and Decimal Speeds (1/5, 1/10...)

[Lukas]

Ok, I will think about this in one of the next updates

[Tin Can]

Lukas, did you see the Android LF framing and lens app posted here a few days ago? A great idea also.

Ok, I will think about this in one of the next updates

[fecaleagle]

Just to report in, I received my photo-plug, and it works perfectly with both the iPhone and my computer. The bad news is, because the device is powered by the iPhone or computer via the "common electrical" contact of these plugs (and not by a battery), standard stereo extension cables will not power the plug. I am buying one of these extension cables, because they are purported to work with the iPhone remote/volume controls on standard iPhone headsets, and I assume that the volume/remote signals are sent over the same line that powers Lukas' plugs. Again I will report back with the details when I actually have this thing working with an extension cable, but it does work beautifully when plugged directly into the iPhone or my computer, I just need about six feet of cable to make it ideal for me to use.

[Tin Can]

I put that in my Prime cart, I will wait for your report.

Thanks!

Just to report in, I received my photo-plug, and it works perfectly with both the iPhone and my computer. The bad news is, because the device is powered by the iPhone or computer via the "common electrical" contact of these plugs (and not by a battery), standard stereo extension cables will not power the plug. I am buying one of these extension cables, because they are purported to work with the iPhone remote/volume controls on standard iPhone headsets. Again I will report back with the details when I actually have this thing working with an extension cable, but it does work beautifully when plugged directly into the iPhone or computer.

[fecaleagle]

I put that in my Prime cart, I will wait for your report.

Thanks!

Hey Randy and others,

I just received my Ledhill extension cable (with support for volume controls/swipe readers/shutter-speed testers). It's only four feet long, so a hair shorter than optimal, but it works beautifully with my computer... I have a newer Dell laptop that accepts a 4-conductor 3-ring jack plug, but everything is functioning as expected. The trick, as I expected, is to get a cable that has support for the volume control/etc., because that appears to be the electrical signal line that powers Lukas' shutter speed plug.

I will test it on an older computer with a dedicated (3-conductor 2-ring) line-in jack in a couple of minutes, but here she is in action.



If anybody would like a detailed tutorial on how to use one of these with a computer and measure the readings, I'd be happy to post a follow-up.