MIOPS Smart Trigger Review – A Powerful and Versatile Gadget!

Introduction Turn the lights off or dim them, set up your speedlights, visualize the “crime scene” and let’s shoot… some High Speed photos with the MIOPS Smart Trigger system! Today we’ll be taking a look at a smart camera trigger system which is designed to help you capture beautiful shots, “freezing” the action of various high speed (or normal speed seen in slow motion) moments. Imagine breaking light bulb after being shot with a BB-gun (airsoft gun), the flame and smoke, the flying pieces of glass. Breaking beer bottles, the “pop” of a champagne bottle cap, cereal landing on milk, punching liquid nitrogen, and the list goes on. Well, it doesn’t have to follow that motive necessarily. The MIOPS Smart Trigger can do a whole lot more. It can be used to capture lightning strikes, as a trigger-trap to capture wildlife, an intervalometer to shoot timelapses, remote trigger with multiple modes controlled via your smartphone over Bluetooth connection, and the features do not stop here. Specifications MIOPS doesn't provide any kind of "specifications" (well, there's not much to mention in this case as specs). I'll gauge the device's weight by comparing it to my smartphone. Here come the numbers: Weight: less than 128g Dimensions (unit): 6.1cm x 9.8cm x 1.8cm (width, height, depth) Screen: 1.38" (diagonal) (square, 2.7cm by 2.7cm) - 8bit color (if I had to guess) Hot Shoe mount Battery Life: can't tell, never had it run out of battery during a photo session Durability: it is durable, although it isn't waterproof so take your precautions when playing with it! Packaging and Accessories The MIOPS Smart Trigger comes in a compact package (similar to a smartphone's package) which includes: The MIOPS Smart Trigger Rechargeable 1020mAh 3.7 Li-ion battery (BL-5C) USB cable (used for charging the battery & updating the trigger's firmware) User Manual The Camera Shutter Cable of your choice (to connect the MIOPS Smart Trigger to your Camera) Flash (Speedlight) connection cable (to use the MIOPS as a Flash trigger) You can order extra cables via their website of course! A Closer Look As you can see, the MIOPS Smart Trigger is a very compact piece of hardware. It's made mainly out of plastic and the buttons are made of synthetic rubber. It feels solid, perhaps even a bit "rugged", but like with every single piece of photography equipment, I would strongly suggest that you pay attention and take good care of the unit while using it. For example, it isn't waterproof, thus if you are going to use it near liquids or in the rain, make sure you cover it with something. On the side of the MIOPS Smart Trigger we have a rubber piece covering the input/output jacks, while on the bottom of the unit we have a standard hot-shoe mount with a tripod mounting hole on the bottom. We can easily mount the unit on the camera using the hot-shoe and if we want to have the unit closer to our "target" we can use a tripod (here's where we find a conflict, preventing us from using it straight ahead out of the box, the cables are rather short, we need to do some DIY in order to extend them). The other sides of the unit have no connectors or use, except the top side of the Smart Trigger which facilitates the laser receiver (this is where you need to be pointing your laser pointer to use the "Laser" mode). The screen is easily readable, it doesn't claim any image quality awards nor it is bright enough, but it gets the job done. The buttons are easy to use, but the middle two can become a little annoying for those out there with stubby fingers. Don't worry about it, you can use your smartphone or tablet to control the MIOPS Smart Trigger via Bluetooth, which saves you the trip to the unit as well. Like I mentioned before, the MIOPS Smart Trigger is... pretty smart, it can work with all kinds of camera brands and speedlights as long as you have the right cables to connect them. The cable and connector quality is great, what I would like to see however is more choices regarding the cable lengths perhaps some adapters or other kinds of plugs (I had to DIY my cables to extend them, and also DIY the plugs to be able to connect the MIOPS to my wireless speedlight trigger). I said camera brands and speedlights, because there are two ways you can use this trigger: Connect it to your camera and have it open/close your shutter Connect it to your speedlight/s (directly or via a wireless controller to trigger multiple flashes without resorting to "slave flash" optical trigger mode) and trigger the camera manually in Bulb mode. If you need help adapting your cables to work with your gear drop me a message, I'll gladly assist you in reverse engineering your connectors. Performance Before we jump into the various modes, allow me to tell you how you can control the Smart Trigger with your smartphone. You need an Android or iOS powered smartphone or tablet with Bluetooth connectivity and the MIOPS Smart Trigger app installed on it (downloadable from the Google Play Store and Apple's App Store). Once you've finished installing the app on your device, enable your Bluetooth connection and launch the MIOPS Smart Trigger app (needless to say that you must have the MIOPS Smart Trigger powered on for this to work!). On the first screen, you'll simply have to touch the screen where the MIOPS Trigger icon is shown and you're ready to rock. Using the app to control your trigger allows you to work more efficiently and hassle-free. It also gives you access to some extra features (remote triggering modes) that cannot be used without the application.Alright, let's see how we can use the trigger's various modes now: Alright, let's see how we can use the trigger's various modes now: Lightning Mode In this very self-explanatory mode, the MIOPS Smart Trigger will... trigger your camera every time a lightning strikes. You simply set your camera on a tripod with the trigger mounted on its hot-shoe and you dial in your settings in Manual Mode (for example 15s shutter speed, f/3.5, ISO 400) and you enable the trigger (depending on your scene, the sky conditions and the intensity of the lightnings you will have to play a little bit with the "Sensitivity" setting). Capturing lightning strikes isn't the only thing this mode is useful for. You can use the "Sensitivity" setting in order to have the trigger actuate your camera's shutter with lighting condition changes. Whenever the lighting changes it will activate and capture a photo. Sound Mode Sound Mode allows you to capture events that happen right after (as soon as) a sound is heard by the MIOPS Smart Trigger's microphone. Apart from the "Sensitivity" setting, in the Sound Mode we also have a "Delay" setting, adjusting the Delay setting does... exactly what it says, delays the triggering action by a user-designated amount of milliseconds. With the Sound Mode you can capture popping balloons, water drops, breaking light bulbs, various objects falling into water, etc. There's no limit in what you can capture using the sound mode, the only limit is your imagination. Time Lapse Mode Time Lapse is like playing a video at a very high speed, kind of like "time travel". It isn't just a sped up video. It is a sequence of frames (photos) taken at predetermined (invariable or variable) intervals. Once captured, they are imported into a program and then exported as a video sequence. Some cameras have a Time Lapse feature built-in, others do not. In any case, you can use the MIOPS Smart Trigger's Time Lapse Mode to capture time lapses. Within the Time Lapse menu you can select how many frames to capture, the exposure time and the interval. With these settings you can control the outlook of your timelapse (perceived playback speed and motion smoothness) Laser Mode To use the Laser Mode you need to purchase a regular laser pointer because the MIOPS Smart Trigger is only playing the "receiver" part of the laser sensor. With laser mode you can use the Smart Trigger to photograph objects falling into a liquid or hitting the ground, water or any other material splashing onto a human, colliding objects, wild animals, etc. There are settings to choose how many frames to capture and if you want to delay the triggering. As an example, you can set the camera and the trigger somewhere on your yard, place a "bait" (food) for a "target" wild animal (or your own dog for example) and place the laser pointer in the way where you expect the animal to go/through. HDR Mode With the HDR Mode you can... shoot HDR photos even if your camera doesn't support HDR mode or Exposure Bracketing. You simply choose the center value (nominal exposure), the amount of frames and the variance (exposure value changes) between them. This way you can capture all the Dynamic Range of a very high contrast scene, which is impossible to capture properly in a single exposure. You need to capture at least 2 frames at different exposure settings (simply because the camera sensor cannot capture the whole dynamic range of the scene). DIY Mode The DIY Mode of the MIOPS Smart Trigger allows us to use custom sensors. You can use a thermistor (thermal sensor) or a switch, or even a fan's RPM feedback to trigger your camera. Once again, the limit to what one can do with the unit is his own creativity (and technical skills). Apart from the Delay and Threshold settings, there's a "Sensor Mode" setting to choose which sensor condition triggers the camera. You can set it to trigger the camera when the electric current changes or specifically when it is rises or drops. Cable Release Modes In these modes, the MIOPS Smart Trigger acts like a smart Shutter Release/Intervalometer. It allows you to choose between taking normal exposures, predetermined exposures (specific exposure time), manually controlled exposure (press and hold keeps the shutter open until you release) and a sub-type of manually controlled exposure, Press & Lock which is useful for very long exposures, you simply press the shutter icon and "depress" it whenever you want, taking a long exposure without having to keep your finger on the "shutter" during the exposure. Mobile Dongle By purchasing the "Mobile Dongle" you can use the MIOPS Smart Trigger without connecting it to your equipment. Your smartphone will do the triggering instead. All the modes are available in Mobile Dongle "mode". Performance Before I give you my final thoughts regarding the MIOPS Smart Trigger, I'd like to show you some photos and time lapses I shot with it. the aftermath (shortly after) of a light bulb shooting! an airsoft gun bullet entering a body of water a rather tough water balloon, the BB couldn't penetrate it! not strong enough to withstand my screwdriver punch though! A very long exposure photo shot with the MIOPS Smart Trigger's Press & Lock cable release mode a HDR-ish photo shot using the MIOPS Smart Trigger's HDR Mode Last but not least, a time-lapse compilation video! Final Thoughts Price The MIOPS Smart Body with Cable-N3 is available from Amazon for Canon and Nikon for around $199.99. Conclusion I believe it's time to give you my final thoughts regarding the MIOPS Smart Trigger. Let's start with the easiest part; can you take these shots without it? Not all of them, at least not without spending a whole lot of time and light bulbs! High Speed photography is where this unit comes in very handy. You can try to photograph a breaking light bulb, but even if you do bursts, you'll have to ruin quite a few light bulbs to get a decent shot. Back to the trigger again, is it any good? Is it reliable and consistent? Yes, it is. It is pretty good and works reliable every single time and that's what we were all hoping for. Is it worth buying? The price is good, it does everything they claim consistently, but worth buying is pretty subjective. If you are a "home-grown", indoor kind of photographer, you'll love it and use it frequently. It is brilliant for still life, high speed, action and macro photography. For the outdoor photographer, it depends. If you have a high-end camera and the supplementary gear, you'll do fine without it. If you have a mid-end or entry-level camera without a full feature set, you have quite a few things to gain with the MIOPS Smart Trigger. Do I like it and enjoy shooting with it? Sure! I had a blast (pun intended!). Sincerely, if you find High Speed photography fascinating, go ahead and order it! You won't be disappointed. Pros Consistent & Reliable Plethora of features Android & iOS application Compatibility with nearly every camera and speedlight on the market Cons The "set" and "back" buttons can be troublesome for users with big fingers Short original cable lengths "If you are into High-Speed Photography you need to have a controllable environment, the MIOPS Smart Trigger is definitely the controller to go for. Shoot more, worry less, the MIOPS trigger will make HSS photo shooting fun again"