Ad Astra Observatory

Howdy,

I’m sending this message because you inquired about a Nintendo camera
controller, (probably). I’m sorry I haven’t gotten back to you about

the DS camera controller thing, I’ve been inundated with requests, so
I can’t answer each email individually just yet. I’ll be contacting
you shortly with an update on the testing phase and let you know when
I’ll be able to make them available. I’m close to shipping, I just
need to do an intervalometer test of a digital clock for a few dozen
hours to make sure it’s not dropping any shots. Once the DS program is

ready, I’ll be contacting you to see if you are still interested.

As a quick reminder of what we’re talking about, this program / camera
cable can act as an intervalometer (timer or time-lapse device), high
dynamic range exposure tool, and because the software will be
updatable by downloading new versions, I’m open to adding new features
if feasible. Some suggestions have been Panorama calculator, moon/sun
rise/set based triggering, taking pictures based on the time of day,

astrophotography and aerial photography-specific features, and
anything we all come up with as we go along. (I’m currently writing a
DS program that reminds me of all of the custom function settings on
my camera, for example.)

The device will NOT read your images (although a few of you have
suggested this might be possible via wi-fi / eye-fi.) It’s not a do-it-
yourself project, We would supply you with everything you need for

your specific camera.

Supported cameras will include the entire Canon and Nikon DSLR range.
I’m sorry I can’t work with Sony and Pentax, etc. because I simply
don’t have access to that gear.

A little about myself, I’m a photographic technician for the visual
effects industry and I’ve had the good luck to work on-set for Star

Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Pirates, and some other movies.
This Nintendo DS endeavor is not meant to be a business, it’s a
project to make the gear we need to do our jobs as photographers
better in the field. Of course this could all be done with a computer,
but sometimes less is more and like iPods were to mp3 players, it is
my hope that a clean, simple and easy device will actually be more
useful because it will free you to concentrate on the creative aspects
of photography.

-Steve