Viewing Cameras

Inspecting and viewing individual cameras

Smart Shooter provides two windows for working with cameras beyond the Camera Controls window used for configuring settings and triggering (see Camera Control): the Cameras window for a tabular view of every camera the app knows about, and the Live View window for the real-time preview of what a single camera is seeing.

Cameras Window

The Cameras window shows every camera that the app knows about, in a table format. This includes cameras currently connected as well as cameras that have been seen before. Each row corresponds to one camera and shows its name, group, status, settings and other identifying information.

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The window is useful when working with several cameras and you need detailed information about each one in a single place — for example, to check that all cameras have the expected aperture setting, or to identify a camera that has lost connection.

Filtering and Sorting

The Cameras window has a filter row at the top of the table that lets you narrow the visible rows. You can filter by:

  • Group — only show cameras in a particular group

  • Status — only show cameras with a particular connection status

Column headings can also be clicked to sort the table.

Right-click Actions

Right-clicking a row opens a context menu with actions that apply to the selected camera. The most commonly used are:

  • Rename — set a custom name for the camera (stored against the serial number, so the name persists across reconnects)

  • Set Group — assign the camera to a named group, for use with the Camera Controls window’s Limit to group checkbox

  • Connect / Disconnect — control the connection to the camera

  • Identify — flash an indicator on the physical camera to help locate it

Selecting multiple rows before right-clicking lets the same action be applied to all of the selected cameras at once.

Live View Window

The Live View window shows a real-time preview from a single camera. This is the most common way to compose a shot, check focus, or verify that a scene looks the way you expect before triggering the camera.

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A Live View window can be opened for any connected camera that supports live view. The controls inside the window let you adjust focus, toggle a zoomed view for checking critical focus, and reposition the zoomed region.

Multiple Live View Windows

Smart Shooter supports up to four Live View windows open at the same time. This is useful when you are working with several cameras and need to monitor them side by side — for example, to confirm that each camera is pointing where it should be.

Each Live View window can be configured independently. So one window can be showing a camera at full frame while another is zoomed in to check critical focus.

Tip

Live View can place noticeable load on the camera and the USB connection. If you are working with several cameras, consider only enabling Live View on the cameras you are actively framing, and turning it off on the others.