Android questions

[markdfink]

I've been testing Helicon Remote and really like the focus and exposure bracketing I can do using my Acer Win7 tablet. However, I'd really like the portability of an Android for field work. Since I have a Droid 2 Global that is stuck at version 2.3.4, I can't test with it. (Time to upgrade?) Here are a few questions that I have.

1. What Android phone do you recommend for best compatibility?
2. I think I read that GPS coordinates can be embedded into the image files if the phone has GPS. Did I read that correctly?
3. Do I need to be running Live View once I set up the focus bracketing and/or exposure bracketing? It really drains the battery on the camera quickly.
4. Is there a way to set the closest focus point manually, then tell Helicon Remote to just go out to infinity without clicking through all the steps?

Thanks for any suggestions,

Mark

[Stas Yatsenko]

Hello Mark,

Any Android phone with USB host and Android 4 should do. We're not familiar with the market well enough to make recommendations. According to our statistics, Samsung Galaxy S2 and S3 are the most popular at the moment.
As for your other questions:
2. That's right.
3. Camera must activate live view to move focus, so it is needed for focus bracketing. For exposure bracketing/time lapse alone you don't need it.
4. It is not possible because Remote doesn't know where infinity is, so you'll have to set both near and far points manually.

[ajahearn]

Continuing on #2, does the GPS information transfer also work for RAW file formats or only JPG?

[Stas Yatsenko]

If you're shooting RAW images, geotag will be saved into XMP sidecar file. So it works regardless of what format you're shooting in.

[guest]

Can you get GPS data in EXIF if you leave the images in camera, or do you need to download them to the tablet?

[Stas Yatsenko]

You need to download images.