Sony camera app lets you trigger your camera with a wave of your hand
posted Thursday, April 23, 2015 at 4:57 PM EDT
Sony has released Touchless Shutter, a new app that allows you to trigger your Sony camera without touching it at all.
Rather than pressing the shutter button or using a remote trigger, you simply wave your hand in front of your camera’s eye proximity sensor and the shutter will fire. For those using the functionality in bulb mode for long exposures, you simply place your hand in front of the sensor twice to start and once more when you want the camera shutter to close.
Sony isn’t the first to utilize this method of triggering a camera — Known Canon firmware add-on Magic Lantern has long had a similar function that triggers the shutter using Canon DLSRs’ proximity sensor. But this does mark the first time the method has been used by an official program rather than a third-party option.
Touchless Shutter might seem like nothing more than a novelty, but there are a number of benefits to using a touch-free method to fire the shutter. The most obvious reason is to keep your camera as still as possible for long-exposure photographs. Rather than having to press the camera’s built-in shutter button, which could cause wobbles before it fires, a simple wave of your hand will get the job done.
The app is currently in beta form and can be used with a number of Sony mirrorless and compact cameras including the NEX–5R, NEX–5T, NEX 6, RX100 III, a7S, A7 II and more. You can find a full list of supported cameras and the installation instructions on Sony’s download page.