Accessible camera for quadriplegic

Hello dpreview,

I am a c5 quadriplegic man, who wants to get into photography. But do to my paralysis, I can move my arms, but not my fingers. Im looking for a dslr or mirrorless camera that I can easily control with the back viewfinder. The camera will be mounted to my wheelchair. Im looking for an entry level camera. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks Craig

Where I work ( A disabled school) I've used a combination of Manfrotto magic arms with camera plate attachment a clamp to fasten to chair, the child could release the shutter and focus by camera cable or dedicated release, it varies by ability with some only being able to a compact camera and some DSlr. Dx controls use to make a special environment control system for operating devices including a camera, but it's been a while since I've been involved in wheelchair modifications.

This is a good source for ideas.

Maybe the Yi M1.

Thanks for the help! The Yi M1 looks like a small improvement over my iPhone 7 plus.

The Yi M1 should be a big improvement in quality over an iPhone. I don't know about accessibility.

You might find good success with a camera tethering. That's where the camera is connected to a computer — perhaps a small Windows laptop — and the tethering software takes over the controls of the camera.

I know that good tethering software exists for Canon and Nikon cameras, but I'm sure for others too. While a camera manufacturer probably has its own software, you can also download free or inexpensive tethering software.

Thank you for the tethering idea. I think that would work great indoors. But not so much outdoors. There is not enough real on my lap for a camera, a mount to hold the camera & a laptop.

Here is the mount i will be using for the camera.
mountnmover.com

Thanks for the help

gimp90 said:

Hello dpreview,

I am a c5 quadriplegic man, who wants to get into photography. But do to my paralysis, I can move my arms, but not my fingers. Im looking for a dslr or mirrorless camera that I can easily control with the back viewfinder. The camera will be mounted to my wheelchair. Im looking for an entry level camera. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks Craig

Click to expand...

Hey, how about something like the Olympus Air A01?


It's m43 mount. But you control it with a cell phone / tablet?

So the camera and lens could be mounted on your wheelchair, and the cell phone / tablet could be mounted near your arm?

And if you get one of those Panasonic lenses with the motorized zoom feature, maybe you could control the zoom from the cell phone / tablet?

And there is a developer kit available to write custom programs for it for your phone to interface with the camera?


Just a random thought.

But when this camera came out, I thought it was a pretty cool idea.

But I haven't seen one in the wild around here yet.

Take care & Happy Shooting!

Wow i didn't even know Olympus was in business. This camera looks very interesting!

Thank you for the tip!
Craig

gimp90 said:

Wow i didn't even know Olympus was in business. This camera looks very interesting!

Thank you for the tip!
Craig

Click to expand...

+1

The camera looks pretty interesting.

I'm interested in it thinking . . . where can you stick this camera and remote control it. Like on the front bumper of my car and stuff like that.

But with an open source way to control it from your phone . . . if you know a programmer, then who knows how customized a solution you could come up with.

Take care & Happy Shooting!