acquire a small Bluetooth remote shutter for your mobile device can be interesting and highly recommended. Especially if you are into night photography or simply want to take self-portraits in a more comfortable way. Now, if you don't want to spend more money, do you know that you can connect the Joycon of Nintendo Switch and use them together with the camera application on your smartphone?
What are remote triggers
When using the camera on your mobile phone, there are various recommendations to always obtain the best results. One of them is, together with the use of a tripod, that of having a remote Switch. A small gadget that allows you to trigger the camera app's shutter button when you're away from your phone.
This is ideal for different types of photography such as night, long exposure or self-portraits among others. Because thanks to a trigger you can make sure that the camera is not going to move when you tap on the trigger icon on the screen or press the volume button that is also often used on phones as a physical button to trigger the camera.
And it is that, in situations where the camera of your smartphone needs to capture more light or keep the diaphragm open for longer, any slight vibration would end up resulting in a blurred photograph, with trepidations and ultimately blurry and with lower quality than it really could. get.
So having one of these gadgets is not only practical, it is also the best thing you can buy if you like photography. In addition, they are usually very cheap and there are even small tripods for mobiles that already include them and can even be used as a selfie stick (selfie stick) like this one Xiaomi Mi Selfie Stick.
Use the Joycon as a remote shutter release
Now, let's say you don't want to spend more money on any accessories like this for whatever reason. Or that you simply don't have time to go buy or order one online, because you need to take a series of photos right now. In those cases, it is likely that you will be interested to know that the Nintendo Switch controllers could act as remote Switch.
To use one of the Nintendo Switch Joycon as a trigger, all you have to do is pair it via Bluetooth connection. A process that is as simple as you may already imagine and that will not take you more than a minute or two at most. The time it takes to unlock your smartphone, go to the Bluetooth settings and select the joycon when you see it listed.
Even so, the complete process and step by step would be the following:
- Make sure your Joycon has a battery
- Unlock your smartphone and go to Settings
- Enter the Bluetooth section and check that this connectivity option is also activated
- Now hold down the Sync button on the Joycon until the different indicator lights on the controller light up
- Back on your mobile phone, Settings> Bluetooth, search for the Joycon and click on connect
- Once selected, in a matter of seconds both devices should already be paired
- Ready? Well, you can start using it as a remote shutter release.
Now that the controller is connected to your smartphone, the next step is to start using it as the remote shutter release we're looking for. Of course there are some details that are important and you should know, because a good part of the experience will depend a bit on the phone itself and operating system plus customization layer you use.
What's more, there may be times when it doesn't work as such and the only action the remote performs once it's paired with the phone is the home button or back button. That is, depending on the device, the Joycon buttons will behave differently. So you'll have to try, but if it works you can remotely operate the camera with the press of a button and even have access to other functions with the rest of the buttons.
TIL you can pair a joycon with your phone and use it as a shutter button to take photos remotely. from Nintendo Switch
An example of this is Samsung, their smartphones allow use the X and Y buttons to make zoom in and zoom out (zoom in and out). So everything will be a matter of clicking to test if there is some type of action that is carried out when doing so.
For the rest, outside of the camera application these controls could also allow some integration with the operating system. Check if that happens or not. In the event that the answer is positive, then assess if it brings you any benefit or if, on the contrary, you have to be even more attentive so as not to mess it up with some fortuitous keystroke.
Is it possible to use other game controllers as a trigger?
Seeing that the Nintendo Switch controllers can be used as a remote trigger, surely you have wondered if you could also use the controller of a PS4 or Xbox One. After all, these are also Bluetooth controllers and can be connected to the smartphone via through said connection.
The answer is no, at least in the tests that we have been able to carry out, they are detected as an input device and the camera application does not respond to your keystrokes. Even so, it may also be something similar to what happens with the Joycon and some terminals, that its compatibility is more limited. Even so, since they are bulkier controls, it is likely that they will lose the appeal of the Joycon a bit, much more comfortable for when you want to take a self-portrait, for example.
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