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Pico eases time lapses with or without a smartphone

Photographers have many tricks up their sleeves. One of the best is using time lapses to create beautiful images. This consists of taking lots of pictures within a short or long amount of time to capture shooting stars, thunder storms, sunsets or any other very quick or slow moving eye-catching event.

Pico makes it easy to create customized time lapses. The device plugs into your smartphone and then the free app makes it possible to schedule the number, frequency and exposure of desired shots. In addition, the app allows for bulb ramping which makes it possible to change the light for shots going from day to night. Once that’s done, plug Pico into the camera which will obey the program.

If a program is unnecessary, you can use Pico as a simple intervalometer. To do so, press down on Pico and count the number of beeps. Each beep equals one second. When that’s finished, the camera will continue shooting at the desired interval until Pico is unplugged.

Pico plugs into the camera with different cables available that are compatible with 300 different camera models. Plugging into the headphone jack means that Pico is compatible with any iOS or Android smartphones running current or recent software. In addition, this product has a battery life of eight years.

Many cameras have interval options available, but all are difficult to use. Photographers are forced to use little screens and buttons to make their programs, with few options available to them. Pico makes programming a cinch and is small enough to live in the camera bag all the time. It’s unclear if the app saves past programs. If it doesn’t, the creators may want to consider adding such a feature. Backers will need to donate $50 for this product with an estimated delivery date of July 2015. Pico is hoping to raise $100,000 on Kickstarter.

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