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This was such an exciting age, where cameras were hopefully embracing a General Purpose Computing vibe, excited to become powerful flexible API platforms open t

This was such an exciting age, where cameras were hopefully embracing a General Purpose Computing vibe, excited to become powerful flexible API platforms open to all kinds of use. Modern cameras have some APIs but they are very limited. Sony for example eventually built a neat Android compatibility shim that devices like the A7 ii (2014) could use to run Android apps on the camera's base OS. Latter they evolved a "Remote Camera API" with good wireless control, but which seemingly offers no on-camera programmability: a sharp turn. In early 2020, they announced a new updated Remote Camera API, which doesn't even support wireless connectivity to the camera. https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/app/sdk/en/index.html https://support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp/app/sdk/en/index.html There's such a story of the aughts that is untold, of how opening the floodgates to creativity & possibility was the believed path. Your platform won by enabling more developers than any other platform. Today, we're in such a darker sadder world, where platforms are all entrapment & enshittification, enshittification all the way down, where possibilities close & doors slam shut. The NX cameras were a brilliant hopeful exciting camera, but everyone wanted hockeystick growth & massive success, and I think we radically underrated how long it really took ecosystems to develop. NX disappeared almost as fast it came. But what a promising promising device series, especially the latter appearing Linux/Tizen devices. With NX300, it was Linux to the core, great extensibility (if not well exposed).

nine_k 4y ago
Flexibility is a liability (a larger space of configurations to support) and an impediment to market segmentation :(
totetsu 4y ago
I remember being amazed I could connect to the live video feed from my gopro3 over the wifi with just vlc, or trigger the shutter with an http request and a curl cronjob, back around that time. Jump to today and I got a used Sony RX10 III just to find sony had discontinued the app that your are supposed to use to control it wirelessly and there is no real alternative.
- rektide 4y ago
  The ZCam E1 I've been using for a while for videoconferencing has a pretty marginal Android app that worked fine on my Samsung S9, but which crashes on my new S22. The bitrot on these systems is just surreal. :/ There is thankfully a decent well documented API I can hit up. The wrinkle is, I've never gotten the device to actually pair with my network so far- I have definitely contemplated plugging in a usb-wifi card to my desktop explicitly for purpose of connecting to the camera. There is an API for connecting to another wifi, which maybe perhaps might be more successful than the in-camera control, which would be nice.
twoWhlsGud 4y ago
Indeed! And they arguably should have continued down that path - the workflow on "real" cameras still generally sucks much harder than it should. If they at least exposed decent API's you could at least scaffold around the limitations more effectively. Seems odd that not any of the major players were brave enough to really try that and see if it could be turned into a competitive advantage.
ge0rg 4y ago
I always wanted to look into the Sony Android API, but I'm too heavily invested into Samsung NX right now. Do you know what functions are exposed? Can you actually write a custom camera app for time-lapses, modify exposure and WB, or is it merely a "Share with" integration to post your photos to insta?
- terramex 4y ago
  I have Sony a5100 (from 2014) that can run Android apps and they have full control of camera, I used unofficial timelapse app for astrophotography. https://github.com/obs1dium/BetterManual https://github.com/obs1dium/BetterManual

nine_k 4y ago

Flexibility is a liability (a larger space of configurations to support) and an impediment to market segmentation :(

totetsu 4y ago

I remember being amazed I could connect to the live video feed from my gopro3 over the wifi with just vlc, or trigger the shutter with an http request and a curl cronjob, back around that time. Jump to today and I got a used Sony RX10 III just to find sony had discontinued the app that your are supposed to use to control it wirelessly and there is no real alternative.

rektide 4y ago
The ZCam E1 I've been using for a while for videoconferencing has a pretty marginal Android app that worked fine on my Samsung S9, but which crashes on my new S22. The bitrot on these systems is just surreal. :/ There is thankfully a decent well documented API I can hit up. The wrinkle is, I've never gotten the device to actually pair with my network so far- I have definitely contemplated plugging in a usb-wifi card to my desktop explicitly for purpose of connecting to the camera. There is an API for connecting to another wifi, which maybe perhaps might be more successful than the in-camera control, which would be nice.

twoWhlsGud 4y ago

Indeed! And they arguably should have continued down that path - the workflow on "real" cameras still generally sucks much harder than it should. If they at least exposed decent API's you could at least scaffold around the limitations more effectively. Seems odd that not any of the major players were brave enough to really try that and see if it could be turned into a competitive advantage.

ge0rg 4y ago

I always wanted to look into the Sony Android API, but I'm too heavily invested into Samsung NX right now. Do you know what functions are exposed? Can you actually write a custom camera app for time-lapses, modify exposure and WB, or is it merely a "Share with" integration to post your photos to insta?

terramex 4y ago
I have Sony a5100 (from 2014) that can run Android apps and they have full control of camera, I used unofficial timelapse app for astrophotography. https://github.com/obs1dium/BetterManual https://github.com/obs1dium/BetterManual