It can get frustrating to have to haul around a laptop if you want to extend the capabilities of your DSLR for stuff like HDR intervalometer-based shot bracketing or remote shots in bulb mode but Steve at PanoCamera has a solution: he’s hacked his Nintendo DS to handle those sorts of little tasks for his Canon DSLR.
He’s been able to get the DS to do all sorts of stuff, including adding a ‘Clapper’ function:
The fun begins when you start to harness the play value of the DS in conjunction with the DSLR. This audio-based camera trigger function, for example, was trivial to add in, because of the DS’ built in microphone. One such device I found on the web sells for $350. As you can see I need to add a few niceties to this function, like the shot duration and an option for delaying the shot after the sound is recognized. I’m still in beta. I’ll be trying baloon-popping-fun photography soon.
Steve mentions that he’s considering converting more DSs for sale.