# Canon wifi



## aa_angus (Sep 22, 2016)

How crappy is the wi fi in both the 5DIV and 6D?
I had it working for about 5 minutes a couple of times. Don't get me wrong, it's superb when it functions properly, but most of the time the camera says its connected, while the computer has no clue the camera is there. I've tried connecting via home wi fi network, and straight to the "camera" network. Does everyone else find this "feature" as inconsistent as I do?


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## tolusina (Sep 22, 2016)

I found 6D WiFi so erratic and undependable I now consider it dead weight.
I tether via USB, file transfer via card readers, USB Host/OTG.

It's especially disappointing when one considers how easy and mostly seamless WiFi connection is to Canon printers. I don't recall the setup procedure on either of Canon printers, likely because it was so painless.
While visiting family members with WiFi network connected Canon printers, once my phone and/or tablet connects to WiFi, printing is again, seamless.


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## Labdoc (Sep 22, 2016)

I have a 80D and a 5D MK4 downloading pics to a PC, remote control on wifi. After the initial setup (network password) it comes on every time. Only ever had a problem when both cameras were on at the same time. Probably not designed for that. I'm shooting raw and jpeg so it takes a while to transfer all the photos on both cameras with the big file sizes. 

I had some connectivity issues with a 70D, PC couldn't find the camera but these 2 cameras seem to work well for me. I haven't tried the NFC or wifi with my cell phone yet.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Sep 23, 2016)

The 5D MK IV has near field, so it sets up with a compatible tablet or smart phone easily. 

I find that Canon Wi-Fi works fine, as long as its setup correctly. Its a long difficult process that is poorly documented, and had me very frustrated more than once. Periodically, they seem to revamp the iMage website which brings down even transfers direct to a pc. You must have a image account and all the software up and running, and validate the camera on the image account. I have had it up and running now for about 5 months, so I expect another revamping and since I no longer remember all the hoops to jump thru, It will be frustrating to get it up and running again.

On the other hand, eye-Fi cards work great, configure it once, and you can move the card from camera to camera, save directly to your smart phone / tablet /computer or NAS, and it just works. It does not allow for remote control though.


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## aa_angus (Sep 23, 2016)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> The 5D MK IV has near field, so it sets up with a compatible tablet or smart phone easily.
> 
> I find that Canon Wi-Fi works fine, as long as its setup correctly. Its a long difficult process that is poorly documented, and had me very frustrated more than once. Periodically, they seem to revamp the iMage website which brings down even transfers direct to a pc. You must have a image account and all the software up and running, and validate the camera on the image account. I have had it up and running now for about 5 months, so I expect another revamping and since I no longer remember all the hoops to jump thru, It will be frustrating to get it up and running again.
> 
> On the other hand, eye-Fi cards work great, configure it once, and you can move the card from camera to camera, save directly to your smart phone / tablet /computer or NAS, and it just works. It does not allow for remote control though.



That's all good and well, but I shouldn't have to buy eye fi cards...since both of my cameras supposedly have wifi. Nor should I have to sign up to a third party account or website. O just want to transfer files wirelessly between camera and computer, which Canon advertises can be done easily. In my experience, it has worked maybe 4 out of 25 times. Even when I've had it working, I've saved the "SET", only for it not to work at all next time I try. Really frustrating.


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## tpatana (Sep 23, 2016)

My 5D4 it works reliably, after the first setup was done. It's not as easy as it looks.

Btw., is there way to set up laptop to view stuff I shoot? E.g. I can shoot normally, and the audience can have a laptop to see the pictures I'm shooting. Doesn't even have to be full resolution, but would be nice if it always displays last picture taken.

I believe Canon utilities can import photos as they are taken and open a third party editor or viewer.


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## aa_angus (Sep 23, 2016)

tpatana said:


> My 5D4 it works reliably, after the first setup was done. It's not as easy as it looks.
> 
> Btw., is there way to set up laptop to view stuff I shoot? E.g. I can shoot normally, and the audience can have a laptop to see the pictures I'm shooting. Doesn't even have to be full resolution, but would be nice if it always displays last picture taken.



Are you using a mac? Are you connecting to the camera via your home wifi network, or are you connecting directly to the camera's network?


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## LDS (Sep 23, 2016)

tpatana said:


> Btw., is there way to set up laptop to view stuff I shoot? E.g. I can shoot normally, and the audience can have a laptop to see the pictures I'm shooting. Doesn't even have to be full resolution, but would be nice if it always displays last picture taken.



Don't know if you can achieve it with Canon software, but you can easily achieve it using for example a simple website (so any other PC can easily connect) running on your PC which displays always the last photos, and to which other PC connects to. How you transfer the photos to the main PC shouldn't matter much, I'd use FTP because it is simple. You could also apply some transformations to the photo before "publishing it".


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Sep 23, 2016)

aa_angus said:


> Nor should I have to sign up to a third party account or website. O just want to transfer files wirelessly between camera and computer, which Canon advertises can be done easily. In my experience, it has worked maybe 4 out of 25 times. Even when I've had it working, I've saved the "SET", only for it not to work at all next time I try. Really frustrating.



The Canon iMage website is a Canon site, not third party. You must not only have a account configured and setup, but the site must be up and working to do any transfer to pc, even directly, and it is sporadically down.

Then, there are the Canon programs that must be installed and running on a PC. (I suspect Mac is similar, but a new OS often breaks Canon software).

No one said you needed to buy a eye-fi card, but, if the Canon Wi-Fi does not work as you had hoped, then you have a alternative. I use both, eye-fi for my 5D MK III and the Canon solution for my Wi-Fi enabled camera(I'm a glutton for punishment).

As bad as it is, my wife's Nikon camera provides no direct transfer to PC (just smart phone / tablet). Its a joke, as is their live view.

Samsung has a good solution, or at least reviewers say they got it right, otherwise, Canon is the 2nd best of a bad lot.


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## aa_angus (Sep 24, 2016)

Mt Spokane Photography said:


> aa_angus said:
> 
> 
> > Nor should I have to sign up to a third party account or website. O just want to transfer files wirelessly between camera and computer, which Canon advertises can be done easily. In my experience, it has worked maybe 4 out of 25 times. Even when I've had it working, I've saved the "SET", only for it not to work at all next time I try. Really frustrating.
> ...



That's interesting, since I have had it working flawlessly at one point WITHOUT signing up to that page..


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## tpatana (Sep 24, 2016)

aa_angus said:


> tpatana said:
> 
> 
> > My 5D4 it works reliably, after the first setup was done. It's not as easy as it looks.
> ...



PC, not mac. And I want this to work directly so I can use it any location.


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## tpatana (Sep 24, 2016)

LDS said:


> How you transfer the photos to the main PC shouldn't matter much, I'd use FTP because it is simple.



So this moves the pictures during the shoot automatically? How you set it up?


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## LDS (Sep 24, 2016)

tpatana said:


> So this moves the pictures during the shoot automatically? How you set it up?



Yes - you can select to transfer the images immediately as you shoot, or later. Details are in the Canon 5D4 WiFi manual. You need to setup an FTP server on the destination computer, of course. 

The Canon WiFi manual is incorrect in listing supported OS, because it only lists the Windows "desktop" ones on which the Microsoft FTP server can be installed. FTP is a fairly standard protocol, so I guess it will work with *any* decent FTP server on Windows, OSX/macOS, Linux, etc. etc. For example, you can install the open source Filezilla FTP server on Windows version for which MS FTP is not available, if needed.

Explaining how to configure an FTP server depends on which one, and you can easily find tutorials. Basically, you setup some folders on your systems to be accessible via the FTP protocol through the server - in this case the camera can copy the images to the destination folder.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) was designed exactly for this task, and have some advantages over HTTP especially when used on a local network (it does work over the Internet too, but often it is blocked for security reasons, and it will need to be secured otherwise everything is transmitted in clear). And unlike Canon web support, it doesn't send your images to remote cloud services.

Once the file are on the target system, then you'll need a way to display them to your audience. To support almost any user, the simpler way is to install (or create) a small web application that displays the last image on the connected browsers - I've no suggestion here, as usual it depends on what systems you're using, and what you want to achieve.

Such a setup requires some work, if you have questions, ask


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## Don Haines (Sep 24, 2016)

LDS said:


> tpatana said:
> 
> 
> > So this moves the pictures during the shoot automatically? How you set it up?
> ...


Also, FTP transfers are very bandwidth efficient...


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## LDS (Sep 24, 2016)

tpatana said:


> PC, not mac. And I want this to work directly so I can use it any location.



"Ad-hoc" mode (direct wifi between two devices) is usually less reliable than "infrastructure" (access point), usually because APs have better antennas to pickup signals (even weaker ones), and more powerful transmitters.

One advice is to use a channel which is not used also by nearby devices, to minimize interferences (I'm lucky my neighbors here all use the same default channel, so I have plenty of free ones  ). Try also placing devices so there are not big obstructions, and try to change their orientations.

Otherwise one solution could be one of the portable WiFi routers, they are not still as powerful as a full AP, but they may help to deploy a more reliable WiFi network.


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## Don Haines (Sep 24, 2016)

LDS said:


> tpatana said:
> 
> 
> > PC, not mac. And I want this to work directly so I can use it any location.
> ...



Also, look for WiFi routers that will accept an external antenna instead of the standard "included" antenna. You can get a higher gain Omni antenna or an even higher gain directional antenna and point it towards where you will be working. For example, I have a gazebo in my back yard that is beyond the range of my router, but by replacing the antenna with an external one, I now have reach. 

BTW, I have a pair of these at work for a 7 kilometer WiFi link.... http://www.l-com.com/wireless-antenna-24-ghz-30-dbi-steel-grid-antenna-n-female-connector You can do amazing things with the right antenna.


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## tpatana (Sep 25, 2016)

LDS said:


> tpatana said:
> 
> 
> > So this moves the pictures during the shoot automatically? How you set it up?
> ...



Thanks, I'll try that. Creating local web page that reads the last pic should be fairly easy, I might even be able to write that myself if I can't find one online with quick search.


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## PhotoGlow (Nov 1, 2016)

Yes, the wifi options on the 5D4 are rather confusing. I've downloaded the "Wi-fi (Wireless Communication) Function Instruction Manual and have tried working through it. I've also downloaded a FTP server app for my android tablet. 

On page 73 of the manual, it shows FTP mode with a choice of FTP or FTPS. However, when I follow the same steps, I don't' get that. I click on 'Communication settings, Built-in wireless settings, Wifi Function and then see the 5 icons. I click on the FTP icon twice and in the manual, it shows FTP and FTPS, with the option to enter settings. However, I see the 'Select a network' screen. When I go to 'Manual setup' I'm not seeing the FTP options shown on page 76 of the manual. I'm not seeing how to link the tablet and the camera together for FTP transfers. 

All I want to do is transfer jpgs off the camera onto my tablet as they are captured as I currently do with my eye-fi card. The Canon Camera connect app sadly does not seem to offer this, hence trying to get ftp to work.

I'm on the latest firmware version 1.0.2. Has anyone gotten FTP to work with the 5D4 and if so, how?


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## LDS (Nov 1, 2016)

PhotoGlow said:


> On page 73 of the manual, it shows FTP mode with a choice of FTP or FTPS. However, when I follow the same steps, I don't' get that. I click on 'Communication settings, Built-in wireless settings, Wifi Function and then see the 5 icons. I click on the FTP icon twice and in the manual, it shows FTP and FTPS, with the option to enter settings. However, I see the 'Select a network' screen. When I go to 'Manual setup' I'm not seeing the FTP options shown on page 76 of the manual. I'm not seeing how to link the tablet and the camera together for FTP transfers.



Are you already connected to WiFi before setting up the FTP connection? AFAIK you need to be already connected - that's may be the reason the camera display the "Select network" screen.

You will also need the FTP server IP address (i.e. "192.168.1.100") and port number (the default is 21, but it can be changed), the camera also support DNS name resolution, but that requires a DNS server, computer address registration, etc. etc. For simplicity, use IP address and port.

Also, forget about FTPS for now. It requires a proper digital certificate installed and configured for the server, and the Android app may not support it either. The connection will not be encrypted, but it is simpler to configured. Once FTP works, you may setup FTPS, if you wish.

I would suggest to check fisrt if the FTP server works using an FTP client from a computer (on Windows, you can use Filezilla - https://filezilla-project.org/, it supports other OS too). You will usually get better error messages.

Once you tested the FTP server, try to setup the connection from the camera.

Once the FTP connection works, in "Communication Settings" > "FTP transfer settings" you can setup what and when transfer. You could for example shoot RAW+JPEG and transfer the JPEGs only.


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## jeffa4444 (Nov 2, 2016)

Been using Wi-Fi on my 6D since 2013 one of the most useful features especially as a remote. Set-up correctly it works fine. 
Glad Canon are finally releasing the W-E1 for the 5DS/r and 7D MKII


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## melgross (Nov 2, 2016)

If you have an iOS device, this is really simple. None of the mess I'm reading is required. Get the app ShutterSnitch, and you can select the Canon 5Dmk4 directly from the setup menu. I'm not sure if the app is available for Android, but it doesn't hurt to check. This is a great app. I've been using it for years.


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