While smartphones these days like the Galaxy S2 and iPhone 4S provide excellent point-and-shoot photos, they just can’t compare to a full-size DSLR. These mammoth beasts are the tool of choice for professional photographers, but you have to get some of the most expensive models in order to enjoy many of the features that are standard on a smartphone these days, like built-in spirit levels or automatic cloud uploading.
The Flash Dock is an interesting solution to this problem: a smartphone dock for your DSLR. Attaching via the universal hotshoe flash socket on the top of your camera, the Flash Dock lets you use your smartphone’s apps in concert with your DSLR. You could make sure you’re shooting straight with a spirit level app, use your camera’s softer flash instead of the DSLR’s built-in flash, or even edit your photos as they’re taken. If there’s an app for it, you can use it with your DSLR.
The Flash Dock is also good in combination with other DSLR peripherals like BlueSLR, which allow you to geotag your photos over Bluetooth, or the EyeFi SD card which will copy your photos over to your smartphone in real time. You can even use your phone’s built-in microphone to record audio while your video camera handles the video.
- Use your smartphone as an external flash
- Use your smartphone as a stereo microphone
- Use a spirit level app to get a perfectly straight shot
- Combine with EyeFi SD card to review and save each photo as they’re taken
- Combine with BlueSLR for automatic photo geotagging
So what do you think – would you like to try out the Flash Dock? Let us know your thoughts or questions via the comments below. You can also reach us on Twitter or Facebook as well.