by Rob Van Petten

Some recent shoots got me thinking about the software side of Nikon—specifically, Camera Control Pro 2, a program that offers some pretty handy, straightforward image handling processes—like enabling quick and easy image import from your camera to an editing program like Nikon Capture NX 2 or Nikon View NX 2. Then, dig a little deeper, and you reveal a realm of creative, imaginative imaging options.

When your Nikon D-SLR is connected to your computer the program automatically pops up, prompts the download process and points to a destination folder; off you go to choose, sort and edit. Camera Control Pro 2 also does a number of wonderful things in a tethered or wi-fi mode. Connecting a USB or FireWire cable from the camera to your computer remotely activates every electronic function on your camera. You can fire the camera, modify exposure settings, access menus and change picture controls as easily as if you were hovering over your LCD rather than your laptop.

Camera Control Pro’s logical design and interface make it apparent where things are and what they do. There are no hidden windows that require you to memorize detours through a digital no-man’s land. I want my software simple—no hidden trapdoors, disappearing panels or Harry Potter subplots.

You can Live View what’s going on thanks to an option that allows you to see on your computer what the camera sees through its lens. You can show focus targets, delete less than perfect shots, adjust custom tone curves to fine tune your camera’s behavior, even shoot with more than one remote camera.

Want to do more? How about checking your battery, recording GPS coordinates, remotely recording voice and video or surprising the whole gang with remote party pictures? Or set up near flowers and catch bees without getting stung; shoot from difficult vantage points. Or achieve something very down to earth: thanks to Camera Control Pro 2, I can take multiple shots on the same set for a jewelry catalog. Just think of all the practical uses of this magic.

Or think of the not-so-practical uses—those creative, imaginative ideas I mentioned earlier. Right, the fun stuff…like capturing images of a snow leopard on a remote Nepal mountainside; or recording time-lapse images that document the moods of the moonlight while you’re sleeping soundly. Fanciful, sure; but based in technical reality. Your camera locked down and remotely controlled isn’t hard to accomplish.

The creative, liberating part of the program is that it can free you from holding the camera. Look at it this way: a 1/4-20 (tripod size) screw can be mounted to just about anything. With a D3S hood ornament on your Mercedes, the winding roads of your morning commute become a rolling studio. Or how about an opening refrigerator door as seen from a six-pack’s point of view? Or various domestic wildlife studies—like surveillance of your household traffic patterns in time lapse? Want to find out how you look from your TV’s point of view? Well, maybe not.

Camera Control Pro 2 is a program both practical and fanciful, the dream upgrade of an onboard webcam. I don’t know about you, but as I get more tech savvy, I know there will be more practical and probably more amusing applications for this very cool program and its ability to document from a distance.

You can view a selection of Rob’s images and access his weblog at www.robvanpetten.com.