The Snaperture Camera Multi-Trigger Has a Laser for Gauging Distance

In addition to the typical time intervalometer, Snaperture is a new camera trigger that combines all the popular ways of firing a camera shutter into one product using sensors that can react to light, sound, movement, and even distance.

Snaperture’s creator is engineer Joe Zanré who originally made the device for personal use, but after completing it saw a product that might have widespread appeal. Zanré tells PetaPixel that he is only providing 3D renders of the product at this time because the current functional unit he made for himself is not “photo-worthy” in his opinion since it was 3D printed, not injection molded like he wants to do for the final consumer product. However, he was sure to clarify that the product is complete and fully-functional.

Snaperture works by connecting to any camera the same way that a standard intervalometer would (via the remote input port) but in addition to having a timer (made possible by a built-in real-time clock), it can also use different sensors that can tell when an object has entered its frame of view. The sensors can react to light, sound, movement, and distance to the target object (using a laser, which tells the device when an object occupies a specific location), and what actually triggers the camera can be cascaded together.

The applications allow for pinpoint accuracy for capturing motion that happens in the blink of an eye, such as the popping of a balloon or a droplet of water falling into a pool.

Zanré provided a few examples of images he captured using the Snaperture:

According to Ephotozine, the water droplet photos were made using what will be an included accessory and necessary cabling. A water solenoid valve is controlled by the Snaperture device, with down to millisecond accuracy, to give you total control of variables to make single or colliding water droplet photos.

“This is already a fully engineered, fully manufacturable product, with meticulously developed software, and has been used to produce many stunning photographs, easily outshining those taken by current market offerings,” Zanré said to Ephotozine.

The original prototype incorporated a keypad and display to inputting trigger data, but Zanré removed that feature in the final device and instead carries out those commands using a smartphone app. Unlike other apps though, the Snaperture app won’t be the triggering device, only the data input device. This removes the possibility of latency between the device and the triggering mechanisms, and changes to Smartphone operating systems won’t affect the device’s ability to function.

Snaperture can also focus the camera prior to firing the shutter, which eliminates the normal need to tinker with manual focus. The device isn’t just a motion-based trigger either: it will also be able to operate like a traditional intervalometer using a time-based shutter trigger.

Zanré promises that the device is already complete, so his impending crowdfunding campaign is simply to ramp up production.

There have been multiple triggering products advertised over the years, ranging from the defunct TriggerTrap, to the Nero, to the Camptraptions trigger, but none of them combine all the possible ways to trigger a camera into one device. Additionally, the incorporated distancing laser in a working final product appears unique to Snaperture.

“There have been some failed Kickstarter campaigns in the genre of Camera Triggers because they could not produce the promised article,” Zanré writes in his product description. “Snaperture, however, is a completed, fully engineered, fully manufacturable product at this very moment, and no further development is required. In short, once the funding target has been achieved, there is absolutely no possibility of this product failing to be delivered, which is a rare claim from a Kickstarter campaign and a rare opportunity for backers.”

Zanré says the Kickstarter campaign will launch in January, and you can subscribe to an email list he has set up here to be notified when that happens.

(via Ephotozine)