SnapBridge?

[Dangerspouse]

I'm pretty sure this is gonna sound really dumb, but I'm throwing it out here anyway 'cause I figure it can't be any dumber than a lot of the other stuff I ask.

I just got my first smart phone. I know nothing about it. I didn't even want it, but my wife, and now my work, both insist I have one. Since I drive to work at 3am, my wife doesn't want me to be without a way of calling for help if I break down along the way. And my work just started some 2-step authentication thing which requires us to answer a text message to get into our work stations. (I did have little flip phone, but it was only 3-G and they recently discontinued service for that many G's - something I learned very abruptly when I tried to call my wife last week. Plus, it didn't do texting so I would have had to replace it anyway for work. Sheesh.)

So I went to the smart phone store and got a smart phone. They grandfathered in my old plan, which costs me 20-cents a day, plus 20 cents for every text message sent or received. So it's gonna cost me 40-cents a day Mon-Fri just to work. Bastards. But here's the catch: the phone is wi-fi only. The phone data service is turned off. Which is fine with me. I probably used my old phone 2 or 3 times a month at most, and I don't plan to use this one much more than that outside of work.

Except....

I remembered that Nikon has a phone program called "SnapBridge". I went to their website and it looks pretty cool. Apparently you can take pictures with your camera and then look at them on your phone, which has a bigger screen than the back Live View screen. I can see that being an advantage sometimes.

Is anyone here familiar with this program? Is it any good? And I guess my biggest question is: is this a wi-fi program, or does it rely on phone service data? If it's the latter, then this question is moot, since I wouldn't be able to use it anyway. But on the chance it's a wi-fi thing, I'm curious if it's a good thing to have.

Thanks!

 

[BF Hammer]

I only installed SnapBridge after I bought my Z5 recently. It apparently works by wifi or by Bluetooth to connect to the phone. It can also upload or view photos to Nikon Image Space but that will either work by wifi (if connected at the time) or by cellular data plan. My D750 does not do Snapbridge, the older Nikon WMU app is used instead. That can LiveView the camera remotely and be used as a remote control, and transfer JPG files to the phone for use by other apps. SnapBridge is more an evolution apparently where it does all that and also some more. I just have not gotten around to using it other than a verification test.

I have a suite of camera related phone apps. Nikon Image Space, WMU, now SnapBridge, the now discontinued Nikon Manual Viewer app also (disappointed about losing this one on future phones). Even my astro-photography go-to tracking telescope mount is controlled by wifi and an app on a phone or tablet.

So install and play with it. It means disconnecting from home wifi and connecting to directly to camera wifi in order to do that, which is a manual step that slows down the whole experience. Why I don't use the connected features of my D750 and Z5 much except for specific things.

On a side note, I highly recommend installing a PDF reader and saving the camera manual PDF files to your phone. Being able to look up a function in the manual quick when away from home just is so worth it. The table of contents are hotlinked so you just have to touch the entry to be taken to the right page. This was a more automated process in the past using Manual Viewer, but yeah Nikon had to kill support for their best app to have.

And another side note, I can tell you resist having to be a cellphone user. You can have full unlimited voice and texting with a very generous 5GB/month data for $20/month. The data amount is generous because you can join your phone to home and work wifi and not be using data when at those locations. Look at Tracfone or Consumer Cellular for details. I have been on Tracfone prepaid for 12 years, and I just buy a $20 service plan card once each 3 months and I get more minutes and texts than I use in that time. My employer provides me another cellphone for work use and that is on a Tracfone monthly plan where it charges $20/month to a CC for that unlimited voice/text +5GB data. I never run out of data, and I basically work from a car most of a day and am constantly sending and receiving emails and looking up stuff online. That includes scanning paper service reports after each repair job I do and emailing to dispatch. Pretty reasonable IMO.

 

[Clovishound]

IMO it may be worth your taking the time to play around with Snapbridge. I quick search shows that both your D5500 and D500 are wifi capable. This means you should be able to use remote photography with these cameras an your smartphone with Snapbridge. That means you can be some distance from your camera and see what the camera sees and actually take photos using your phone. There are a number of situations that this would be a real asset, depending on what kind of photography you do. I would not download pictures from you camera using wifi, as I believe that the files are truncated. I want full sized files, unless I am just wanting to view them as larger than the camera back image while in the field.

 

[Dangerspouse]

I only installed SnapBridge after I bought my Z5 recently. It apparently works by wifi or by Bluetooth to connect to the phone. It can also upload or view photos to Nikon Image Space but that will either work by wifi (if connected at the time) or by cellular data plan. My D750 does not do Snapbridge, the older Nikon WMU app is used instead. That can LiveView the camera remotely and be used as a remote control, and transfer JPG files to the phone for use by other apps. SnapBridge is more an evolution apparently where it does all that and also some more. I just have not gotten around to using it other than a verification test.

I have a suite of camera related phone apps. Nikon Image Space, WMU, now SnapBridge, the now discontinued Nikon Manual Viewer app also (disappointed about losing this one on future phones). Even my astro-photography go-to tracking telescope mount is controlled by wifi and an app on a phone or tablet.

So install and play with it. It means disconnecting from home wifi and connecting to directly to camera wifi in order to do that, which is a manual step that slows down the whole experience. Why I don't use the connected features of my D750 and Z5 much except for specific things.

On a side note, I highly recommend installing a PDF reader and saving the camera manual PDF files to your phone. Being able to look up a function in the manual quick when away from home just is so worth it. The table of contents are hotlinked so you just have to touch the entry to be taken to the right page. This was a more automated process in the past using Manual Viewer, but yeah Nikon had to kill support for their best app to have.

And another side note, I can tell you resist having to be a cellphone user. You can have full unlimited voice and texting with a very generous 5GB/month data for $20/month. The data amount is generous because you can join your phone to home and work wifi and not be using data when at those locations. Look at Tracfone or Consumer Cellular for details. I have been on Tracfone prepaid for 12 years, and I just buy a $20 service plan card once each 3 months and I get more minutes and texts than I use in that time. My employer provides me another cellphone for work use and that is on a Tracfone monthly plan where it charges $20/month to a CC for that unlimited voice/text +5GB data. I never run out of data, and I basically work from a car most of a day and am constantly sending and receiving emails and looking up stuff online. That includes scanning paper service reports after each repair job I do and emailing to dispatch. Pretty reasonable IMO.

Thanks very much for all this great info. I really appreciate the time you took to spell it all out for me in such clear detail.

I have to admit though, some of it went over my head. I mean, I only just learned the difference between cellular and wifi when I purchased the phone a few days ago. I didn't know one could disconnect wifi from one's house, and I'm kinda fuzzy on what Bluetooth is. But I'm sure I'll get up to speed soon, and this info will be useful at that point.

Thanks for the suggestion of the inexpensive plans, but even 20 bucks a month is more than I'm willing to spend for something I don't plan on using much, if at all, outside of my 1x/day work obligation. I really don't have any need for a phone except for that one work thing, so signing on to a plan that I'll never really take advantage of is probably overkill. But again, I appreciate the consideration of you letting me know, very much!

:encouragement:

 

[Dangerspouse]

IMO it may be worth your taking the time to play around with Snapbridge. I quick search shows that both your D5500 and D500 are wifi capable. This means you should be able to use remote photography with these cameras an your smartphone with Snapbridge. That means you can be some distance from your camera and see what the camera sees and actually take photos using your phone. There are a number of situations that this would be a real asset, depending on what kind of photography you do. I would not download pictures from you camera using wifi, as I believe that the files are truncated. I want full sized files, unless I am just wanting to view them as larger than the camera back image while in the field.

Well that does indeed sound like a cool feature worth playing around with. Thanks for the added info here, that was really good of you :encouragement:

 

[BF Hammer]

Thanks very much for all this great info. I really appreciate the time you took to spell it all out for me in such clear detail.

I have to admit though, some of it went over my head. I mean, I only just learned the difference between cellular and wifi when I purchased the phone a few days ago. I didn't know one could disconnect wifi from one's house, and I'm kinda fuzzy on what Bluetooth is. But I'm sure I'll get up to speed soon, and this info will be useful at that point.

Thanks for the suggestion of the inexpensive plans, but even 20 bucks a month is more than I'm willing to spend for something I don't plan on using much, if at all, outside of my 1x/day work obligation. I really don't have any need for a phone except for that one work thing, so signing on to a plan that I'll never really take advantage of is probably overkill. But again, I appreciate the consideration of you letting me know, very much!

:encouragement:

To digest things down: Wifi is a computer network done by wireless. You can connect a smartphone to the same internet connection as your home computer and bypass using cellular data. As for the camera, it can be joined to the house wifi, but typically it is used in a different mode where individual devices connect directly to each other as peers to each other. Bluetooth is a different kind of wireless connection similar to that. It sort of is a universal wireless format for data or audio transfer between devices. It would take the place of a USB cable or a audio cable. Bluetooth is typically very easy to pair to another device in comparison to trying to do it by wifi. It also has a much more limited range, by design.

 

[Dangerspouse]

To digest things down: Wifi is a computer network done by wireless. You can connect a smartphone to the same internet connection as your home computer and bypass using cellular data. As for the camera, it can be joined to the house wifi, but typically it is used in a different mode where individual devices connect directly to each other as peers to each other. Bluetooth is a different kind of wireless connection similar to that. It sort of is a universal wireless format for data or audio transfer between devices. It would take the place of a USB cable or a audio cable. Bluetooth is typically very easy to pair to another device in comparison to trying to do it by wifi. It also has a much more limited range, by design.

That really did distill it down, thanks! May take a bit before it all clicks, but this is a really good synopsis I'll keep on hand. Again, appreciated!

 

[hark]

For some reason, I couldn't get SnapBridge to work for me. A while back, I used whatever the other Nikon app was - Wireless Mobile Utility (or WMU for short). But because it was something I seldom used, I haven't touched it in at least 2 years now. Not sure if it is even available now.

As for smart phone service, look into Consumer Cellular (Target offers service with them and also sells their phones). They use towers for AT&T and T-Mobile , but their cost is less. And recheck your math. If you are going to pay $0.20 for every text sent and received, that might add up quickly. My first cell phone plan had an additional price per text which is how I know. And then there's the texts that are generated randomly like spam email. You'd have to pay for those, too, unless there is some way to limit texts to the people in your contacts.

 

[Danno_RIP]

I'm pretty sure this is gonna sound really dumb, but I'm throwing it out here anyway 'cause I figure it can't be any dumber than a lot of the other stuff I ask.

I just got my first smart phone. I know nothing about it. I didn't even want it, but my wife, and now my work, both insist I have one. Since I drive to work at 3am, my wife doesn't want me to be without a way of calling for help if I break down along the way. And my work just started some 2-step authentication thing which requires us to answer a text message to get into our work stations. (I did have little flip phone, but it was only 3-G and they recently discontinued service for that many G's - something I learned very abruptly when I tried to call my wife last week. Plus, it didn't do texting so I would have had to replace it anyway for work. Sheesh.)

So I went to the smart phone store and got a smart phone. They grandfathered in my old plan, which costs me 20-cents a day, plus 20 cents for every text message sent or received. So it's gonna cost me 40-cents a day Mon-Fri just to work. Bastards. But here's the catch: the phone is wi-fi only. The phone data service is turned off. Which is fine with me. I probably used my old phone 2 or 3 times a month at most, and I don't plan to use this one much more than that outside of work.

Except....

I remembered that Nikon has a phone program called "SnapBridge". I went to their website and it looks pretty cool. Apparently you can take pictures with your camera and then look at them on your phone, which has a bigger screen than the back Live View screen. I can see that being an advantage sometimes.

Is anyone here familiar with this program? Is it any good? And I guess my biggest question is: is this a wi-fi program, or does it rely on phone service data? If it's the latter, then this question is moot, since I wouldn't be able to use it anyway. But on the chance it's a wi-fi thing, I'm curious if it's a good thing to have.

Thanks!

it works great with my Z6. I have had it running since the beginning. Very easy to set up and nice to have my photos on my phone.

 

[Patrick M]

My tuppence worth. But first, here in the uk I get full phone 4/5G with Vodafone, unlimited data and unlimited text for £22 pm. One of their Red plans.

re SnapBridge. This now works very well over WiFi, but it’s use for me is limited … it’s extremely slow uploading a raw file from the camera. I prefer just to connect the camera to my iPhone/iPad using a cable.
it’s quite quick uploading smaller jpegs which is useful in the field occasionally.
The only things that are good are the uploading to Nikon Space….which I do on my home network occasionally … I always upload to my iMac 5k at home and have little need for Nikon space as a result.
The other use for SnapBridge is remote control aka WiFi tether. Taking a photo is a breeze with SnapBridge….it’s the only app I’ve found that does this seamlessly. Once the camera is set up, you can zoom, focus, change settings all quite easily. It’s the best and only use I really have now for SnapBridge.

 

[Dangerspouse]

For some reason, I couldn't get SnapBridge to work for me. A while back, I used whatever the other Nikon app was - Wireless Mobile Utility (or WMU for short). But because it was something I seldom used, I haven't touched it in at least 2 years now. Not sure if it is even available now.

As for smart phone service, look into Consumer Cellular (Target offers service with them and also sells their phones). They use towers for AT&T and T-Mobile , but their cost is less. And recheck your math. If you are going to pay $0.20 for every text sent and received, that might add up quickly. My first cell phone plan had an additional price per text which is how I know. And then there's the texts that are generated randomly like spam email. You'd have to pay for those, too, unless there is some way to limit texts to the people in your contacts.

Thanks Cindy! That was very interesting to read.

I'll look in to blocking messages from unknown sources. Those would be the only one's I'd get, besides work. I don't know anyone else, and my wife says she won't message me unless it's an emergency. So I'm sticking with my grandfather'd plan for now unless I find it really is ballooning.

Thanks again!!

 

[Dangerspouse]

it works great with my Z6. I have had it running since the beginning. Very easy to set up and nice to have my photos on my phone.

Good to know. Thanks Danno!

 

[Dangerspouse]

My tuppence worth. But first, here in the uk I get full phone 4/5G with Vodafone, unlimited data and unlimited text for £22 pm. One of their Red plans.

re SnapBridge. This now works very well over WiFi, but it’s use for me is limited … it’s extremely slow uploading a raw file from the camera. I prefer just to connect the camera to my iPhone/iPad using a cable.
it’s quite quick uploading smaller jpegs which is useful in the field occasionally.
The only things that are good are the uploading to Nikon Space….which I do on my home network occasionally … I always upload to my iMac 5k at home and have little need for Nikon space as a result.
The other use for SnapBridge is remote control aka WiFi tether. Taking a photo is a breeze with SnapBridge….it’s the only app I’ve found that does this seamlessly. Once the camera is set up, you can zoom, focus, change settings all quite easily. It’s the best and only use I really have now for SnapBridge.

I'm giving you extra credit for using the word "tuppence" :teapot:

Thanks Patrick, that's good to know. I don't have an iPad or laptop, but I imagine my PC can function in a similar fashion. I don't think my phone has much in the way of storage space, so I probably wouldn't be using it to store RAW files. But it's great to hear that using the phone as a camera controller works well. Thanks one function I'm really looking forwards to trying. Much appreciated!

 

[Camera Fun]

Have been playing with snapbridge and my z6ii. Both the wi-fi and bluetooth options look promising for some situations. However, I was disappointed to find that the wi-fi option wouldn't work with U1/U2/U3 modes; only with P/S/A/M.