TP-LinkN150 Wireless 3G/4G Portable Router with AP/WISP/Router Mode, Compatible with Select AT&T/Verizon/Sprint/T-Mobile USB Modems (TL-MR3040)

I bought this little gem after numerous tries at controlling my Canon dslr's from my android tablets, including writing my own software. There are other reviews on here that go into more detail on how to do that with this little wonder, so I'll just concentrate on the extra tidbits I found out.First, my needs. I do astrophotography, so my main interest is in doing large batches of long exposures (5-10min each). For this I need an intervalometer that can shoot in bulb mode. And, to keep things simple and lightweight, I like to use android tablets to control my cameras (currently T3 and T3i).There are tethered options on the android market, but only a few that do intervalometers in bulb mode, and none are free except one. That app actually isn't on the market but it is maintained by a guy who also has a similar app on the market called DslrDashboard, although that one does not do interval shooting in bulb mode. But the one that does is called qDslrDashboard and is also free and maintained by him on its own website. Why it's not on the android market I have no idea, but imho it's a superior product, since it does what I need.One of the options in that app is to connect wirelessly to a server which is then connected to the camera. That way the tablet is not tethered to the camera, which makes my setup more portable and flexible. One wireless server recommended that can be used for this purpose is this little tp-link mr3040. All you have to do is flash a firmware (also listed on his site, look for DDServer I think). Very nice and simple. I actually took me longer to find out my wireless password than to update the firmware lol.Now about the unit itself. It is very lightweight and reasonably small. I use it in local router mode only, without any 3g/4g dongles and ran a test last night to see how long the battery lasts controlling my camera, continuously shooting 5 min exposures. 9 hours later and it was still running, and the battery light was still green. The tablet was only about a couple feet from the router though, so maybe longer distances would drain it faster. But this is my shooting setup, so I am very happy about that.I did test the range last night, also using my tablet. I would have to say that indoors, through three walls, the range was roughly 30 ft or so. I think maybe outdoors may be better.Can't say anything about durability yet, only had it for a day. But it does the job for me so far.Oh, and another good thing, the battery is removable! Easy to replace if needed or carry a spare.

I bought this to connect qDSLRDashboard to a canon camera (7DmkII in my case) to allow clients to see their pictures as they're taken. For the price, it's absolutely great. Having said that, however, if I were going to run this in a "real" studio environment, I'd probably fork over the $$$ for an actual CamRanger because of the more professional look and feel to the software. Thankfully, this setup will more than serve my purpose for 1/10 the price.To do it yourself, just follow the instructions at qDSLRDashboard or, alternately, DSLRController if you're an android user. Be careful - each app has its own firmware and they are not compatible with each other. I chose DSLRDashboard because of the iOS, Android, Mac and PC apps. It gives me a lot of flexibility.Btw, the PC and Mac apps are free. The iOS and Android are about $10. Seriously, folks, if you get this working and use it (even on the PC or a Mac), buy one of the mobile apps just to support the developer. He's obviously earned it with the effort that has gone into this! It took a bit of tinkering and trial and error, but once working, it works very well. Here are a few hints to help the process...1) once you've flashed the new firmware and connected your pc to the TP-Link wifi, click the NETWORK button to connect in DSLRDashboard. I kept clicking the canon button to connect which didn't work. Click network and it should connect.2) if you are using the mobile app and make any changes to the TP Link router for any reason (settings, etc), you should probably kill the app and restart it to avoid errors and the such.3) I read a number of complaints about not being able to attach the TP to your hot shoe. I went down to Ace hardware and bought a 1/4-20 receiver, drilled a 3/8" hole in the TP bottom plate (it comes off easily to reveal the battery), and pushed the receiver through the hole. Just for overkill, I also cut off the edges of the receiver to fit inside the battery panel grooves so that it won't rotate when tightening and loosening. Now, I have a 1/4-20 receiver sticking out the bottom that I can use for a hot shoe ball joint adapter. See pics (I left a second receiver in the pic to show the whole piece)...4) my biggest issue was having to reconnect my phone to wifi (and therefore disconnect from the TP) to post or send a photo (or even check email for that matter). As it turns out, you can get an iPhone to keep its cell connection active while connected to wifi by giving the wifi connection a static IP address. It's easy...A. Settings | Wi-FiB. Click the info link next to the TP router name - you need to have already connected to it beforeC. Under IP address, click the "Static" buttonD. Give the connection a static address (I used 192.168.1.115 because that had been assigned to my phone by dhcp earlier)E. Give the connection a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0F. When you connect the iPhone to the TP, you'll see that it has no internet on the connection. You'll maintain your 3G/4G connection as well as the wifi connection to the TP. Setup Dropbox photo upload (or Amazon, iCloud, whatever) and every pic you take gets transferred. Just be careful of your data plan.Hope the extra info helped. I'll come back and edit if I come across any other tips.