During Photokina 2016 we had a chance to see Manfrotto’s digital director in action which was recently updated with some new versions.
Manfortto’s Digital Director is a very interesting product that was announced about a year ago. It combines hardware (including a processor inside the back of the tablet holder) which connects your tablet to your camera (Canon/Nikon) and allows you full (and very advanced control over your camera in both stills and video shooting.
So what is new with the Digital Director in Photokina – quite a few things actually both in the hardware and the software:
- In terms of hardware there are now versions for iPad Pro 12,9”, iPad Air 2, iPad Air, iPad mini 4, iPad mini 3 and iPad mini 2 models and a sun shield as well as a range of frame inserts that convert the physical structure of the device to take different form factors of a the different iPad models.
- In terms of software the app now includes depth of field preview, an intervalometer and time-lapse controls.
- Users can also download Raw images to transfer via Wi-Fi web server, e-mail and FTP, and send processed and resized JPEG files directly to social media.
As for pricing, the Manfrotto Digital Director cost just under $300.
The only drawback that we have found (and probably the reason why we are not going to review this product in the near future) is the fact that it only works on iOS based tablets (it was a mutual project with Apple) so Android users are basically left out.
This video is just one of over 20 videos and interviews that we took during the show (many more to come in the next days and weeks) and you can find them on our special channel on Youtube and on this link on LensVid.
Full disclosure: Manforotto was our sponsors for Photokina 2016.
Iddo Genuth 
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