Taking pictures wirelessly and displaying on laptop

Hey all!

I'm looking for some advice on taking pictures wirelessly and displaying them on a laptop instantly.

The idea is that there will be a Photo Booth with a background and some props. The camera will be setup on a tripod and in an appropriate position to include the entire background etc.
Obviously I don't want anyone having to stand behind the camera to take the picture, so my idea is to have a remote to allow wireless clicking. - assuming this is possible using the wireless adaptor?

My main question is, what's the best way of displaying the picture on a laptop/iPad the moment its been taken? Ideally, we'd have the laptop right under the camera, so once the picture has been taken, it automatically appears on the screen below, allowing the guests (the ones in the picture) to check it out and take a few more should they not like it.

Any suggestions/advice would be appreciated!

Many thanks!

UPDATE: I don't need to transfer pictures wirelessly to the laptop, only need to take the pictures wirelessly (using a remote etc.) I can keep the camera connected to the laptop whilst pictures are taken through the remote. Once the picture's been taken, it should be displayed on the laptop. (as soon as possible)

phpcat said:

Hey all!

I'm looking for some advice on taking pictures wirelessly and displaying them on a laptop instantly.

The idea is that there will be a Photo Booth with a background and some props. The camera will be setup on a tripod and in an appropriate position to include the entire background etc.
Obviously I don't want anyone having to stand behind the camera to take the picture, so my idea is to have a remote to allow wireless clicking. - assuming this is possible using the wireless adaptor?

My main question is, what's the best way of displaying the picture on a laptop/iPad the moment its been taken? Ideally, we'd have the laptop right under the camera, so once the picture has been taken, it automatically appears on the screen below, allowing the guests (the ones in the picture) to check it out and take a few more should they not like it.

Any suggestions/advice would be appreciated!

Many thanks!

Click to expand...

This is a tall order...

I think you could get close by setting up an external monitor using an HDMI cable... You could transfer the photos using an Eye-fi card but I don't know how you'd get the photos to display once they were transferred. Not too mention Eye-fi, typically, is very slow to transfer.


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phpcat said:

Hey all!

I'm looking for some advice on taking pictures wirelessly and displaying them on a laptop instantly.

The idea is that there will be a Photo Booth with a background and some props. The camera will be setup on a tripod and in an appropriate position to include the entire background etc.
Obviously I don't want anyone having to stand behind the camera to take the picture, so my idea is to have a remote to allow wireless clicking. - assuming this is possible using the wireless adaptor?

My main question is, what's the best way of displaying the picture on a laptop/iPad the moment its been taken? Ideally, we'd have the laptop right under the camera, so once the picture has been taken, it automatically appears on the screen below, allowing the guests (the ones in the picture) to check it out and take a few more should they not like it.

Any suggestions/advice would be appreciated!

Many thanks!

Click to expand...

I think that what you ask for would be possible, if someone were to write the right software. I have no doubt that the hardware capability already exists to do what you want.

The WU-1A adaptor basically turns the camera into a WiFi server. The camera supports being commanded to take pictures, to transfer those pictures to the device that is using it, and even to provide a live view on the device of what the camera is seeing.

I only know of extant software to access it from Android or IOS devices, but I can see no reason why software couldn't exist for any laptop computer that is capable of connecting to WiFi, if someone would write it.

Horoscope Fish said:

This is a tall order...

I think you could get close by setting up an external monitor using an HDMI cable... You could transfer the photos using an Eye-fi card but I don't know how you'd get the photos to display once they were transferred. Not too mention Eye-fi, typically, is very slow to transfer.


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Bob Blaylock said:

I think that what you ask for would be possible, if someone were to write the right software. I have no doubt that the hardware capability already exists to do what you want.

The WU-1A adaptor basically turns the camera into a WiFi server. The camera supports being commanded to take pictures, to transfer those pictures to the device that is using it, and even to provide a live view on the device of what the camera is seeing.

I only know of extant software to access it from Android or IOS devices, but I can see no reason why software couldn't exist for any laptop computer that is capable of connecting to WiFi, if someone would write it.

Click to expand...

I'm thinking I might have explained myself incorrectly. The photos themselves don't have to be transferred wirelessly and displayed. Since the laptop is always going to be below the camera, I can keep the camera/laptop connected via USB, so I was hoping the Nikon software might include some functionality to automatically detect a new picture and display it? I'd only want to click the picture wirelessly.

I am not aware of a cheap solution to this on any platform.

You can use a long USB cable up to about 12 ft (4 Mtr) and that works fine between your camera and a laptop running some control software.
NIkon Camera Control Pro works great and displays the images instantly. Warning make sure your camera model is supported before buying the software.

If you use longer USB cables you start to get drop outs.
Apparently you can get special powered USB tether cables up to about 25 ft. I haven't tried this but maybe someone reading this has.

The next step starts to get expensive
CamRanger certainly works and will give you exactly what you want but its £363 on eBay in the uk so not cheap. It does work with an iPad apparently but not tried it.

A two computer solution does work :-

I have used my wifes MAC laptop running nikon camera control pro connected via a short USB cable to the camera then used my own iMac to remotely control the laptop via WiFi and download the pictures to my iMac.
It works great up to the limit of the WiFi range which is approx 30ft (10Mtr)
But you can't use an iPad to do this.

Apparently a future release of IOS for the iPad will be able to do direct image downloads but don't hold your breath. Be interesting to see what the new MAC photo app will offer.

Hope this helps

phpcat said:

I'm thinking I might have explained myself incorrectly. The photos themselves don't have to be transferred wirelessly and displayed. Since the laptop is always going to be below the camera, I can keep the camera/laptop connected via USB, so I was hoping the Nikon software might include some functionality to automatically detect a new picture and display it? I'd only want to click the picture wirelessly.

Click to expand...

Well you could display what the camera is "seeing" by using Live View on your camera and tethering it to your monitor using an HDMI cable; that' easy. To release the shutter wirelessly you'd need a wireless shutter release, and those can be had for a few bucks on eBay, Amazon, etc.

Horoscope Fish said:

Well you could display what the camera is "seeing" by using Live View on your camera and tethering it to your monitor using an HDMI cable; that' easy. To release the shutter wirelessly you'd need a wireless shutter release, and those can be had for a few bucks on eBay, Amazon, etc.

Click to expand...

Thats a good idea I hadn't thought of that? Its probably the cheapest option by miles.

wornish said:

Thats a good idea I hadn't thought of that? Its probably the cheapest option by miles.

Click to expand...

Assuming it accomplishes what the OP wants, that is... And I'm not sure it is. The whole thing about displaying pictures as they're taken I don't think is going to happen. You can connect the camera to the laptop via a USB cable, that's all well and good too. Thing is, though, and I say this having not transferred photos via the cable in a long time -- doesn't connecting the USB transfer cable disable most of the functionality of the camera? I thought connecting the USB cable put the camera into "Transfer Mode" and greyed-out out most of the menus and what not. That being said, it's early over here and I'm still on my first cup of coffee...

Anyway... Hopefully the HDMI cable and wireless release will do the trick since that's a cheap fix.

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Horoscope Fish said:

Assuming it accomplishes what the OP wants, that is... And I'm not sure it is. The whole thing about displaying pictures as they're taken I don't think is going to happen. You can connect the camera to the laptop via a USB cable, that's all well and good too. Thing is, though, and I say this having not transferred photos via the cable in a long time -- doesn't connecting the USB transfer cable disable most of the functionality of the camera? I thought connecting the USB cable put the camera into "Transfer Mode" and greyed-out out most of the menus and what not. That being said, it's early over here and I'm still on my first cup of coffee...

Anyway... Hopefully the HDMI cable and wireless release will do the trick since that's a cheap fix.

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Can only comment on Camera Control Pro and that gives you control over just about everything. It has a live view mode which you can magnify just like on the camera and that even lets you either use the autofocus or even manually micro adjust the focus. The only thing it can't do is zoom a zoom lens remotely but everything else you can do.

The image can either be left on the card in the camera or a full size copy sent instantly back to your laptop. Even 40MB images transfer in a couple of seconds.

1. Purchase Lightroom
2. Purchase wireless trigger for said Nikon
3. Purchase long USB cable
4. Set up tethering by connecting USB from laptop to camera from Lightroom settings.
5. Pictures are displayed directly and transferred from camera directly into Lightroom for easy Post Processing.

Transferring images wirelessly takes a lot of time. Forget about it if you're shooting raw. A hard-wired system is much faster.

There's plenty of apps out there that can tether a laptop to a camera. digicamControl is the one I use. A lot of other stuff appears on the monitor, so you'll need a large monitor. You can still operate the camera like normal, and use the software's ability to transfer and display the image.

wornish said:

Can only comment on Camera Control Pro and that gives you control over just about everything. It has a live view mode which you can magnify just like on the camera and that even lets you either use the autofocus or even manually micro adjust the focus. The only thing it can't do is zoom a zoom lens remotely but everything else you can do.

The image can either be left on the card in the camera or a full size copy sent instantly back to your laptop. Even 40MB images transfer in a couple of seconds.

Click to expand...

skene said:

1. Purchase Lightroom
2. Purchase wireless trigger for said Nikon
3. Purchase long USB cable
4. Set up tethering by connecting USB from laptop to camera from Lightroom settings.
5. Pictures are displayed directly and transferred from camera directly into Lightroom for easy Post Processing.

Click to expand...

Correct me if I'm wrong, I wouldn't need the WU-1a wireless adaptor then would I? A wireless remote like the Nikon ML-L3 + either Camera Control Pro/Lightroom for the live display would be enough?

phpcat said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, I wouldn't need the WU-1a wireless adaptor then would I? A wireless remote like the Nikon ML-L3 + either Camera Control Pro/Lightroom for the live display would be enough?

Click to expand...

If your connected via a USB cable then you don't need the WU-1a.

Be aware that if you use Lightroom you have no live view and also a lot less control over the camera settings or focus but it does work.

wornish said:

Can only comment on Camera Control Pro and that gives you control over just about everything. It has a live view mode which you can magnify just like on the camera and that even lets you either use the autofocus or even manually micro adjust the focus. The only thing it can't do is zoom a zoom lens remotely but everything else you can do.

The image can either be left on the card in the camera or a full size copy sent instantly back to your laptop. Even 40MB images transfer in a couple of seconds.

Click to expand...

wornish said:

If your connected via a USB cable then you don't need the WU-1a.

Be aware that if you use Lightroom you have no live view and also a lot less control over the camera settings or focus but it does work.

Click to expand...

480sparky said:

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Thanks all! I'm just waiting the remote to arrive.

Unfortunately Lightroom and Camera Control Pro 2 are both not officially compatible with my Nikon D3200. Digicam works fine but its only for Windows, so worst case I'll have to boot into Windows to get this working. I haven't found any program for Mac which works with this model.

If any of you does come across a better solution to this, I'd appreciate it!

Thanks once again!

phpcat said:

Thanks all! I'm just waiting the remote to arrive.

Unfortunately Lightroom and Camera Control Pro 2 are both not officially compatible with my Nikon D3200. Digicam works fine but its only for Windows, so worst case I'll have to boot into Windows to get this working. I haven't found any program for Mac which works with this model.

If any of you does come across a better solution to this, I'd appreciate it!

Thanks once again!

Click to expand...

Seems that you are right. Neither Nikon or Adobe support tethered capture on the D3200 so your choice is limited.:apthy:

wornish said:

Seems that you are right. Neither Nikon or Adobe support tethered capture on the D3200 so your choice is limited.:apthy:

Click to expand...

Quite surprised they don't support it! I tried Lightroom anyway since the FAQs said the camera might work. Here's the irony, Lightroom detects the camera and lets me import photos, but if I click on the tethering option, then 'no camera is detected'.

phpcat said:

Quite surprised they don't support it! I tried Lightroom anyway since the FAQs said the camera might work. Here's the irony, Lightroom detects the camera and lets me import photos, but if I click on the tethering option, then 'no camera is detected'.

Click to expand...

What you say proves its purely a marketing decision, they consciously prevent it from working.

480sparky said:

Click to expand...

wornish said:

What you say proves its purely a marketing decision, they consciously prevent it from working.

Click to expand...

Quick question - digicam works fine with the ML-L3 remote, but I'm wondering if its possible to use the remote whilst having Live View on? I tried with and without liveview, and the remote only worked in the latter case.
Any suggestions? Ideally Id want to use the remote AND have live view on the laptop.

Thanks!

Thanks 480Sparky for the advice and video. Something I can use for a photo booth.