The Triggertrap Wish and To-Do List

Turns out that the Kickstarter, Facebook and Twitter crowd are a creative lot, and there have been absolute tonnes of great ideas for how we can make the Triggertrap better. In this post, I’m collecting some of the ideas for future reference, and keeping track of the cool new features we’ve already implemented.

Got a wicked idea for something you wish the Triggertrap could do? Leave a comment and I’ll add it to the list!

Implemented ideas, written guides, and other awesomeness!

1. Create a guide for creating your own Triggertrap leads (Done)
2. Create a guide for using an existing wired remote with the Triggertrap (Done)
3. Add support for triggering flashes instead of a camera (Done)
4. Add support for more exotic cameras, including Ricoh (Done), Panasonic (Done), FujiFilm (Done), Canon’s CHDK (Done)
   
5. AUX specification for hackers (Done; Part of the User Manual)
6. The ability to flip-flop-trigger cameras – connect two cameras to Triggertrap, trigger them in sequence with overlap) – Done as part of the Lightning Trigger
7. How-to for Lightning photography (Done)
8. Add the option of an external power supply. (Done; Part of our standard specification now)
9. The option to trigger the focus / shutter pins separately – in case someone is triggering a camera that hasn’t had its focus manually set – Done as part of the basic spec
10. The Drunk Photo Booth – triggers the camera only when someone has a blood alcohol level above a certain threshold (Done)
11. A user-friendly guide to updating the software on your Triggetrap – Done
12. An easy way to connect multiple cameras to the Triggertrap. (Done – and you’ll laugh when you see how easy it is…)
13. Find a way to use the Triggertrap to trigger flashes from a camera that doesn’t support external flashes. (Done)
14. Speed test the Triggertrap – How fast is it? (Done)

Ideas for Triggertrap – Sort of implemented

1. Make the ‘trigger time’ configurable, so people can send a ‘trigger’ signal to the camera for longer durations of time. – Done, but currently only configurable by changing the values in source code.

Ideas for Triggertrap. Or: The Crowd-Sourced To-Do List

1. Motion sensor triggered camera
2. Add android arduino support to the USB port so that you could change the settings via a phone.
3. Add support for mechanical remote controls / ‘bulb’ type remotes
4. Create a way to trigger your camera from a button on your iPhone.
5. Hook it up to a clock, to take a photo at a particular time of day.
6. Add the option to power the device through USB. “There are external battery packs for smartphones with up to 9600mAh, that should last a while”
7. Would it be possible to trigger something before the laser beam or sound sensor activates? Example would be to open a valve to create a water drop and then take a picture of it in the air or when it hit a surface.
8. Use the Triggertrap to do water drop photography. I would suggest adding a feature to control the number of drops. Example: Drop 1, Size X, Delay Y, Drop 2, Size X, Delay Y, Drop 3.
9. A mode that will support continuous shooting via IR with cameras like D7000 that only support Single shot mode via remote would be useful!
10. Laser or sound triggered time lapse photography – I would like to see laser or sound trigger cause the time lapse to start. Say I wanted to take some pictures of animals at night, I setup the laser trigger for when they cross a path, but then I want to take a picture every 10 seconds for a few minutes to see what they’re up to.
11. A way to stop the laser beam after triggering to avoid having the laser beam on the photo
12. Mounting the TT on a tripod
13. Mounting the TT on a camera hotshoe socket
14. Add ‘alignment mode‘ for the laser giving feedback when the laser is correctly aligned
15. Trigger via mobile phone / pager
16. Trigger via walkie-talkie.
17. Create Automatic wide gamut exposure bracketing for exposures between 1/2 second to infinity and beyond. Okay, maybe not infinity, that’s a very long time indeed (idea source).
18. Bat Photography Mode – Trigger the camera for up to 10 seconds at a time, and trigger a flash when a laser beam is broken. When the beam is broken, end the exposure.
19. Use two sensors at once – use the light and laser sensors to trigger the camera only when two different beams are broken, for more precise location in space.
20. Use three sensors at once – use the light, laser, and AUX port for a third sensor, to trigger the camera when three laser beams are broken at once. Yes, this is insane, but WE ARE GEEKS, dammit, and it sounds pretty awesome.
21. Super Bulb Mode – press button to open shutter, press again to close. for unspecified time on bulb mode
22. Extreme Shutter Speeds – Dial in very long shutter speeds – 1 minute, 10 minutes, etc, to trigger cameras in Bulb mode for very long exposures
23. A hacker’s guide to the Triggertrap – How does the software in the Triggertrap work, and how can you hack it?
24. A guide to building your own Triggertrap Shield. From a pile of electronic components to a sparkly, working Triggertrap? Awesome!
25. Making the code to the Triggertrap available on Github – In progress.
26. A pheromone sensor! Put two people in front of such a sensor connected to Triggertrap etc, and if they’re in love they will have their photo taken. Kissing may help trigger the device. It can of course also be used for measuring how in love you are by setting thresholds differently: maximum sensitivity – marriage of reason, minimum sensitivity – Romeo and Juliet, turned off – Tristan and Isolde. Voila. (Idea by Per)