Review - Giga T Pro II remote control

[Overread]

Well I finally got my hands on a wireless remote control for my 7D.

First impressions from opening the box are as expected, its well made and light, though it has that slightly cheaper feel to the plastic and the buttons. The feel that if you treat it right it will last a long time, but it won't like you if you bash it around or expose it to extreme elements. For its price point this is to be expected of the unit and, as I said, its overall build is good enough for every day regular use.

The kit itself is comprised of 4 parts - one receiver - one transmitter and two cable connectors. These connectors work for different connection points on the camera body, in my case one for the 7D and one that also fits my 400D. These cables connect into either the receiver (for wireless control) or the transmitter for wired control (ie without the receiver). Note that these two cables basically enable it to trigger any modern canon DSLR and also the powershot G series from G10 and up

Usage - this area is a little bit more finicky in some ways and can throw you at first, but once you get your head around it its fine. First up shutter control. You control the shutter as you normally would using the remote, halfpress for AF and fullpress for taking the shot. However controlling the burst rate of the camera relies upon you setting both the unit and the camera.
If you want single shot both have to be in single shot mode - if you want a burst of shots both in burst mode - and if you want bulb both must be in bulb mode. Note that in the case of the 7D if the unit is in single shot, but the camera in burst mode you can (with fast shutter speeds) get two shots out of the camera instead of one. Timer mode on the unit is independent and is simply set from the unit itself.

Basic operation is thus a tiny bit more complex than on a wired remote (which I'll point out requires everything set on camera only) however its manageable.


The more complex time interval mode is a bit more fiddly to setup, but is actually quite powerful in the range of options you can select. In it you control:

Time before the interval series is to start - so you can activate the interval and have it start at a preset time (this is a count down not actual time).

Duration of the burst of shots - ie if you are in single shot this is 0 whilst if you want a small burst of exposures you set the time that the camera is to keep shooting for, not the number of shots (by using a fixed camera shutter speed you can of course calculate how long you need for x number of shots - remembering though to factor in processing lag and buffer limits if you're shooting longer bursts).

Duration between bursts - this is the interval part and lets you set a single time period between each burst/single shot.

Number of intervals - lets you set how many shooting periods you want in the series.

Number of complete cycles and time delay between them - yep all the above is a single cycle and you can set the unit to take a series of them with a fixed time gap between them.



All in all I'm pleased with the unit, it works well as a radio remote (I've admittedly only used short distances, it is rated up to 100mm on the box) and also has the potential to be a really great asset for time laps photography without needing a laptop on site (though of course one has to keep an eye on the number of needed shots and ensure that access is on site for additional memory storage as needed).