So overall this is a useful device. However the current version of the mobile app has many problems, it often gets into an invalid state which requires several corrective steps and the user interface of the device is not intuitive. I made a video where I demonstrate the corrective steps, I hope it will save people time of figuring it out on their own.
COMPATIBILITY
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To be happy with this gadget you need to own the supported camera and the supported mobile device. My Canon camera was one of the supported models, my Galaxy 7.7 Tablet was not compatible, but my iPad Mini did work. Note that I included a photo showing a screen shot of the Google Play with incompatible message in case you want to check if your device is compatible prior to purchase. The photo collage can be located by following 'customer photos' link under the main photo.
The Satechi Smart Trigger is not compatible with all devices because it uses Bluetooth 4.0, requiring your smart phone or tablet to also use Bluetooth 4.0. The compatible devices using Bluetooth 4.0 are: iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad Mini, iPad 3, Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4, and Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
The Android store would not let me install the app as it flagged my device incompatible. iTunes App store did not find the application under iPad apps, but the app I found under iPhone apps worked on my iPad Mini.
PAIRING TROUBLESHOOTING
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The difficulty comes with pairing the device to the tablet. It is possible to get the app into a wedged state in a number of way with several different errors. I show several of the error conditions I encountered in the video. The solution to all problems is the following three step process, which I also include in my video.
✔ 1. You need to make your mobile device forget the bluetooth profile associated with Smart Trigger (under settings)
✔ 2. You need to delete the Bluetooth profile tag from within the app itself
✔ 3. You need to stop the app from running. This is accomplished by touching the home button twice, selecting Smart Trigger from the list of running apps and holding down the icon for a few seconds until the red minus sign appears, then selecting the red minus to stop the app.
These three steps clean up whatever went wrong in the previous attempt, and you can start again
✔ 4. Open the Smart Trigger App with the Smart Trigger receiver turned off.
✔ 5. Click on the scan menu of the Smart Trigger App, press the button on the receiver once. Sometimes scan starts automatically.
✔ 6. When the prompt to pair come up, select 'pair'
✔ 7. Now the *key* and yet not obvious step is that you are not done pairing when you select 'pair' button, you need to touch 'Smart Trigger' label that is displayed on the screen. Note that this text does not look like a button, it just text. On the left you will see 'Smart Trigger' text, on the right you will see a trash can. Do NOT touch the trash can, touch the 'Smart Trigger' text.
The 'Smart Trigger' label does not always appear on the screen, sometimes you just see a pictogram of the camera. If you don't see 'Smart trigger' label and you cannot touch it, the pairing will fail and you will need to start again with step 1.
✔ 8. When you touch the label the grey Connection Status icon turns red confirming that you have paired the device
✔ 9. Once you see the red indicator you can attach the cable that goes from the Satechi unit to your camera's remote control port.
Satechi recommends that the camera be set to Bulb mode and Manual Exposure. You can use Start Trigger when the camera is set 'P' mode and 'Timed shot mode' but the camera does not allow the use of Bulb Mode while in 'P', so you will not be able to use all of the features of Smart Trigger. You can only set BULB in the Smart Trigger App to the maximum exposure length allowed by your camera in 'P'. The same limitation applies to 'AV' mode. 'TV' mode is not compatible with the Smart Trigger.
Once the pairing occurs the app works fairly well until the next time you need to do the bluetooth pairing.
I should note that Satechi has some nice troubleshooting videos on YouTube, however each of the corrective steps is in several separate videos so it takes quite a bit of research to find all the relevant steps. I hope my video which has all the steps together will save you some research time.
FUTURE APPP UPDATES:
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I have reported the issues I encountered to the manufacture. They told me that there is work in progress on the next version of the app (as of May 23 2013):
Upcoming app updates will include fixing the issue with Bluetooth connectivity (the pairing process) and allowing users to select shutter speeds of less than 1 second.
Note that the Smart Trigger device mounts in the camera's shot shoe, so with the smart trigger mounted you will not be able to use the hot shoe for your on camera flash. Smart Trigger does not communicate with the camera, it uses the hot shoe for convenience, so in a pinch you can let Smart Trigger tangle and use the hot shoe for your flash.
WISH LIST:
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There is a future enhancement that I would love to see in the Smart Trigger (after the connectivity issues are addressed). I would like to have an ability to see through the app on the phone what the camera sees. This way I can adjust the composition when the camera is mounted in a way that does not allow me to see the viewfinder or LCD screen of the camera itself. With the availability of SD cards with WI FI capability this sounds like a real possibility.
I received Satechi Smart Trigger for testing, evaluation and review. I noted the positives and negatives of my experience, and I hope you will find the video and troubleshooting tips useful. I gave Smart Trigger 3 stars - I thought the mobile app rated 2 stars at this time and the device itself 4 stars. I will monitor the updates to this mobile app and once the pairing issues are fixed will re-evaluate.
You can find it on Amazon by following this link.
Ali Julia review ★★★☆☆
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