Recently I purchased the Nikon MC-EU1 wired remote control for my Coolpix 5700 to improve my low light picture taking.
Prior to this purchase I used to put my camera into timer mode for taking slow shutter pictures to prevent camera shake from the button press etc. This used to be very annoying as taking a picture involved:
1) Position Camera
2) Test focus using half shutter press
3) Engage timer mode by pressing the button on the side 3 times
4) press the shutter once for 10 second wait or twice for 3 second wait.
This was time consuming and heavy on the battery as the LCD was used a lot more than it really should have been.
Since buying the remote matters have improved a lot:
1) Position Camera
2) Adjust zoom with the remote if needed
3) Press the shutter on the remote halfway to confirm focus
4) Press all the way to take the shot.
This is a massive improvement in my life.
The MC-EU1 can control the zoom of the camera though I find it is a bit difficult to make small adjustments as there seem to be some lag between a press on the remote and the action actually happening. It also have various time delay modes, I have not tried these yet but various reviews I read complain that the shorted delay is 120 seconds and this isn’t always optimal.
My next purchase will no doubt be a spare battery as you end up using the LCD all the time, and I think the USB port on the camera take some extra power aswell, so be aware that the amount of pictures you usually take will decrease when using the camera a lot in this kind of setup.
London Eye – click for larger view
