Android is like a Swiss knife. It runs on your smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, microwave ovens, cars and much more. That's not all. There are areas where Android can do what you never before expected. One such area is controlling your DSLR cameras via your Android devices.

The question arises; why would you want to control your DSLR with your Android device? There can be many reasons, as I identified in my case:

1. You want to extend the functionality of your camera.
2. You want to minimize physical contact with the camera while doing HDR or macro shooting.

There are quite a lot of Android apps which provide extended features and capabilities. Here are the top three apps that I like:

Helicon Remote
This is one of my favorite app as it offers the most features and works well on tablets as well as smartphones. It also supports auto-screen rotate so you can use the desires mode -- landscape or portrait depending on your needs. The app works with both Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras. Some of the key features of the apps include:
- Time-lapse shooting
- Bracketing
- Control over StackShot macro rails

The app allows you to change/modify every aspect of your shoot including aperture, Ev, shutter-speed, ISO, f-stop and other such components. This comes in handy as you won't have to touch the camera (rotate the dial) during a shoot. You can change anything from your Android device without touching the camera.

Two features that I am interested in are Time-lapse shooting and bracketing. Especially bracketing, as my Nikon D7000 only supports upto 3 bracketed shots but with Helicon app I can take upto 15 shots with customizes/automated exposure settings. I will be writing a detailed review of the app in the next article. In addition, we are starting a series of articles on how to manage your DSLRs using Android apps. You can check out the app in the Google Play Store and if you want me to cover some specific area let me know in the comment section below and I will try to cover them in the next articles.

CamCap Android App
This app allows you to operate your Nikon or Canon DSLR camera. The app just like Helicon allows you to control your DSLR from your Android device. Two cool features that I like about this app are:
- Bracketing mode
- Time lapse models

As expected, the app also allows you to change shutter spped, aperture, ISO, Ev, White Balance, color temperature, Metering, pictures style and quality of the picture taken.

Two limitations of this app are that it only works on Android tablets and not smartphones. It will be better if the app supports all screen sizes and also supports auto-rotate. But since the app is still in Beta mode we can expect such support in future. Check out the app on the Google Play Store and let me know what features you would like to see in the app. I am exploring the app and will be writing about it in the future articles. If you have any questions let me know in the comment section below.

Remote Your Cam USB Pro BETA
This is the third app on my list, but unfortunately it doesn't offer any additional feature such as bracketing or time lapse shooting. It does offer control over other aspects of your camera such as  Shutter speed, Aperture priority, ISO sensitivity, White balance, Color temperature, Exposure compensation, Exposure metering mode, Picture Style, Auto focus metering mode (Nikon only) and Setting the focus point (Nikon only).

This app comes handy when you are someone who wants to change settings during a shoot and don't want to touch the camera. I hope the developer will add more features to the app, especially bracketing and time laps.

You can check out the app here.