Photography News Issue 42

Photography News | Issue 42 | absolutephoto.com

77 First tests

TetherTools’ CaseAirWireless £180

Specs

Price

£180 In the box

Case Air Wireless, 3x USB leads (2.0 Mini-B 5-pin, 2.0 Mini-B 8-pin, USB 3.0 Micro B), lanyard Connection Wireless hot-spot Mounting Hotshoe or lanyard Range 45m Charging Via USB connection Battery life 6-9 hours App compatibility iOS, Android, Mac, Windows Size 67.3x40.1x14mm Weight 50g Contact tethertools.com There was a tiny amount of lag, but not masses of it, and the novelty of setting up and shooting remotely relieves this, at least in the short term...

Above The Case Air is a really compact unit with good battery life and impressive working range.

Most photographers don’t shoot tethered; that’s to say with a tablet, phone, PC, or TV screen linked to their camera to aid in composition, focusing, exposure and review. And why would they? Modern camera screens are large, clear, and many offer touch inputs and magnification for precise adjustment. So where does that leave devices like Tether Tools’ Case Air Wireless? Well, there are occasions when tethering is very useful; like complex still-life or product setups; when you don’t want to disturb a wildlife subject; or you’ve set up in a place that’s tricky to keep going back to if you want to change settings. It’s also helpful when shooting for clients, as they can quickly review your shots via a bigger screen. The Case Air Wireless works by creating its own wi-fi hotspot and control is claimed at up to 45m away. To make a connection you switch the unit on, then go into the wi-fi settings on your computer or mobile device, selecting the ‘Case_Rxxx’ signal, and entering a password (written on the unit’s underside). Each unit has its own ID, so you can use multiple devices if required. From there, plug it into the your camera’s USB port (there are 2.0 Mini-B 5-pin, 8-pin,

and USB 3.0 Micro B leads included), launch the app, hit the eye icon and it provides a live-view image. This means the same unit is compatible with a huge range of cameras. The Case Air can either be mounted on your camera’s hot shoe, or, as it’s fairly light it can be left to dangle at the side using an included lanyard. There’s also a 1/4in thread formounting it to an accessoryholder. No claims are made for its durability when it comes to water, so it’s worth playing it safe there, and covering it with a plastic bag if you’re in the rain. Once you’re sync’d, you can remotely change all basic parameters, like aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white-balance, and exposure compensation. The shooting mode (aperture-priority, shutter-priority etc), is also up for grabs, along with metering, image quality, drive mode, and more. All are accessed with a tap from the app’s main shooting menu and another tap takes you back to live view. A smaller shortcut lets you control ISO, shutter and aperture alone for quickness, and another flyout menu lets you overlay a grid, histogram or focus peaking. There are also bracketing, HDR, time-lapse, and focus-stacking options; the latter handy for product and macro shots.

Focus can also be set, either by touching part of the scene, which adds a small green reticule to the focus point, or manually via ‘forward’ and ‘back’ arrow icons. Both methods work OK. The Focus Adjust increments of the manual route can be set to Small, Medium and Large; I used Small the most, but if working with smaller apertures it wouldn’t have been so necessary, and the speed of the Medium or Large settings becomes useful. Double-tap the display (or double- click on desktop), and you’ll get an enlarged view for critical focusing. The main frustration here is that the magnified view can’t be moved with a swipe; instead you need to use arrow icons. It’s clunky and feels about 10 years out of date. The touch AF isn’t the fastest, but on the D810 I tested the Case Air Wireless with, it wasn’t much slower than the regular contrast AF in live-viewmode. The interface has a battery indicator for the camera, too, and I found that the D810 was a lot more thirsty than usual when controlled in this way, so extended shooting will require spares. The Case Air’s battery level is shown by an LED on the unit itself; it would be handy to see it in the

interface, too. It lasted well though, offering at least six hours of use in between charging via USB. In general, therewas a tiny amount of lag in controlling the camera, but not masses of it, and the novelty of setting up and shooting remotely relieves this, at least in the short term. The lag increases as the distance from the Case Air to the device grows, so while the range is impressive, the live view is stuttery from about 40m. Beyond the quoted 45m, at around 60m, it was still usable, but the view really chugged. Camera control still worked fine though. I found the free CASE Remote app (v2.410) better on iPad than iPhone, where there’s no auto rotate, although both crashed on occasions. The signal would sometimes flicker before cutting out, but I found this improved when working outside. The desktop version was pretty much flawless, I found, and the best to use. Via the desktop app, you can integrate theCaseAirwithLightroom (and other programs), and this was easy. You just need to set it to Auto Download, then pick a folder on your machine to use. Back in Lightroom, via the File > Auto Import settings, you can set up a watched folder, and see the images drop right in. KS

Verdict

Despite minor grumbles, the Case Air worked very well. The range and amount of functions are impressive, allowing you to shoot in ways that would otherwise be impossible. You can also sync to Lightroom easily. Ultimately the decision to buy will be based on whether your needs entail this, as it’s not cheap, and many cameras with wi-fi functions already offer free apps that cover many of the Case Air’s functions.

Pros Range, features, ease of use Cons Not cheap, app could be more user-friendly, no weather sealing