Foolography Community

This feature request is to have the ability to remotely trigger the camera with a Bluetooth Low Energy interface cell phone remote. An image is attached showing an example remote. These remotes use the standard cell phone protocols for connecting remote Bluetooth shutter releases. Being able to pair a simple, inexpensive Bluetooth remote would make Unleashed more functional. This would be helpful in daily photography when one doesn't want to pull out the cell phone, unlock the phone, start the app and then take a picture, such as in typical landscape and seascape photography locations. It would also be helpful in environments when using a cell phone is impractical, such as in extremely cold arctic conditions with -10 to -40°F temperatures.

Nikon's current higher-end Z bodies don't have the ability to use a Bluetooth remote while their lower-end Z cameras do. I teach landscape photography workshops throughout the USA and lecture widely, and from experience I know that many of my students would like to have a small wireless remote option for their cameras. I've seen all sorts of devices that students have bought to make this happen. None are as an elegant solution as the Unleashed would be if it offered this option. They would buy the Unleashed if it was compatible with an external Bluetooth trigger. The Unleashed would also be added to the suggested equipment list for my workshop participants, and I think you'd get a higher pro adoption rate, especially from pros that switched from Nikon DSLRs to Nikon Z cameras. Small wireless remotes that were powered by the camera are available for the round 10-pins on the D850 and other pro cameras, but all the current wireless remotes for the Z rectangular 10-pins involve clumsy cables and units that sit in the hot shoe. The only exception is Nikon's own unit which is significantly larger than the Unleashed and doesn't work with many L-brackets. With Unleashed offering an external trigger, it would be unique in the marketplace of small, external triggers.

We're actually working on that already!
We had already implemented support for one, but it turned out not to stick to the Bluetooth Standard correctly, and since our Bluetooth chip is very, very strict about it, the device would keep crashing when connecting to the Unleashed.
We're currently working with the manufacturer to get a new version that we're planning to offer as an add-on in the near future. We're confident we will have it available by the time we will be shipping the new Unleashed next year, and will offer anyone to purchase it in our pledge manager shortly before shipping, or of course in our online-shop.

(the problem is that most of these smartphone trigger don't actually use Bluetooth Low Energy, but rather Bluetooth 3.0, that was a lower energy version of Classic Bluetooth, specifically designed for Keyboards and other Interface devices that would remain connected but unused for a long time. These smartphone remotes are usually keyboards with just a "volume up" button that will then trigger the smartphone camera.)

That's good to hear. Will it work with the current version of Unleashed as well?