Woo-hoo! After Haje launched his Kickstarter appeal to get the universally awesome universal camera trigger, Triggertrap, going, over 720 of them have been snapped up by gadget-hungry photographers the world over. Yep, that groovy little device that’ll let you control your camera by just about any means you can think of will hit production later this year.
How does it work?
The device comes with a light sensor built in, which doubles as a laser sensor: point a laser-pointer at the Triggertrap to trigger your camera, or set it up so the camera triggers when a laser beam is broken – much like the laser maze in Hollywood blockbuster Entrapment. It also has an audio sensor, enabling you to trigger the camera when it registers a sound – like clapping your hands, the sound of a bowling ball hitting the pins, or somebody slamming a door.
Triggertrap also has a built in time-lapse photography functionality. This means that you can take a series of photos over a long period of time. When these photos are shown in quick succession in a video, it makes events that normally take hours or days (such as a flower wilting, or the sun coming up) appear to happen in minutes.
In addition to normal time-lapse photography, Triggertrap has a nifty trick up its sleeve: non-linear time-lapses. Instead of, say, five minutes between every shot, the Triggertrap can be configured to increase or decrease the interval between the shots. When you play the resulting video, this makes it look as if the scene you are photographing speeds up or slows down.
The Auxiliary port on the Triggertrap makes it possible to trigger the camera using external sensors, paving the way for many other creative photography projects. Suggestions so far include mounting a camera in a car and triggering it when you press the car horn; placing a camera in the fridge and take a photo every time you open the fridge; automatically take a picture of everyone who walks down the red carpet at a movie premiere; or police completely automatically taking a photo of people coming and going at a suspicious address.
From idea to reality
It’s taken Haje 18 months to get Triggertrap this far, from the simple idea of a laser trigger, to a fully developed product, with the help of lots of the lovely photographers via the Kickstarter website.
The project was launched with a goal of US$25,000 on 29 June 2011. Three weeks later, with only a week left to go until the funding is complete, Triggertrap completely destroyed its funding goal: 708 fans have pledged more than $60,587 (£37,100), in return for more than 700 Triggertrap devices.
Dozens of e-mails with great customer suggestions have already arrived with the Triggertrap team. Functionality like using the Triggertrap with flashes instead of a camera; the ability to trigger when a sound stops (as opposed to when it starts), and a feature that lets the user trigger the camera manually are all the result of suggestions and feedback.
Because the Triggertrap is open-source and built on the Arduino platform, it is easy to implement additional functionality through a software update, even after the Triggertraps have shipped to the customers.
They’re shipping in October
The Triggertrap is shipping in October, and can be pre-ordered for $75 + $5 shipping via Kickstarter until 31 July 2011. After that, the price increases to $125.
For more information about Triggertrap see http://Triggertrap.com