Just about anyone who's tried to take a self-portrait with a camera agrees: it's a hassle. Setting the scene, hitting the timer, then rushing into place only to find half of your head has been cut out is par for the course.If that sounds like you, a new feature that makes use of a smartphone or tablet PC as a remote viewfinder could help. One of the first cameras to offer this will be Sony's NEX-5R, which will be available in major markets in October. Instagram Camera Inching Closer to Reality.
The function, which Sony calls "smart remote control," is added to the camera as an application. With the WiFi-equipped NEX-5R, Sony includes the option for downloading applications from an online store, via a PC or from the camera's PlayMemories Store app. Users will also need to download a PlayMemories app to their handset. Sony says versions for Android and Apple's iOS will be available.
The base of the system is a peer-to-peer WiFi connection, so the camera needs to be connected with a smartphone or tablet before it can be used. A couple of button presses in the camera sets it searching for a compatible handset. In our test the process took about 10 seconds for the devices to automatically connect. Once done, the smartphone screen shows a more-or-less real-time video image that matches the camera's viewfinder. It doesn't include any of the text that is typically overlaid on the viewfinder and lags the camera's viewfinder by a fraction of a second.
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