Transferring photos by wifi on a LUMIX TZ200

OK I admit I'm not a beginner to photography, but I am new to the world of compact cameras.

Having recently bought said LUMIX, I am totally failing in my efforts to transfer pictures from the camera to my desktop PC by way of my home network.

The 'instructions' in the manual are so convoluted that they seem useless to me.

I basically cannot see how to tell the LUMIX the PCusername/password/folder name as it seems to assume I want to connect to the home wifi, rather than the PC.

Any advice welcomed, or the location of a decent tutorial on the subject.

Thanks

I'm no expert on networking, but anything that uses WiFi cannot directly connect to other devices. AFAIK. Bluetooth is the protocol for connecting devices directly.

Maybe spend a bit more time with the manual? I have a lot of spare time so I'll check the manual online and see if I can make sense of it, unless someone else solves the issue first.

I'm no expert on networking, but anything that uses WiFi cannot directly connect to other devices. AFAIK. Bluetooth is the protocol for connecting devices directly.

 

Maybe spend a bit more time with the manual? I have a lot of spare time so I'll check the manual online and see if I can make sense of it, unless someone else solves the issue first.

I'm not really trying to connect directly, but via the home network, and the manual seems to indicate that's no problem. The in-camera menu shows an option to 'transfer photos to PC' which is what I'm trying to do.

The way it usually works is by 'WiFi Direct' i.e. no network is involved and the receiving device (PC, tablet or whatever) connects directly to the camera via WiFi. Also files are usually 'pushed' from the camera to the device, rather than 'pulled' from the device. This nearly always involves an OEM App or software supplied by the camera manufacturer being installed on the receiving device.

Sony, for example, has an app called 'Play Memories' and Nikon has a flakey piece of software called 'WMU'.

Afraid I've no experience with what Panasonic has to offer by way of transfer software, but I'm pretty sure it'll work in much the same way.

Obviously the computer/tablet/phone can only connect to one WiFi server at a time, and connecting to the camera will automatically disconnect from the home router.

Going via the home network would involve setting up file sharing and opening shared folders, etc., with consequent need to enter paths, folder-names and passwords from the camera. Since the camera doesn't have a keyboard, mouse or any other sophisticated text input device, such a procedure would be painfully slow; hence the easier route of a WiFi Direct setup.

Even easier is simply using a USB cable connection from the camera, or removing the memory card and fitting it to a card-reader.

"Even easier is simply using a USB cable connection from the camera, or removing the memory card and fitting it to a card-reader."

Thats what I was hoping to avoid. I find it a bit of a fiddle (maybe my sausage fingers) opening the USB cover and plugging in a USB cable.

(also the USB cover seems very flimsy and liable to break after a while).

I guess I'll do it via the memory card from now on.

I am totally failing in my efforts to transfer pictures from the camera to my desktop PC by way of my home network

I'm currently challenged to understand / reproduce your setup. - Your desktop is a radio silent box wired to a WiFi + Internet Router?

1. Did you install the Panasonic Software?
   
2. Can your desktop tell the Router to behave like an ordinary WiFi module and connect to the Camera playing hotspot? (I don't have such a router, so I have no clue. - My Laptop is wired to my older one and if I want to use WLAN with a smart device I fire up Connectify Hotspot)
   
3. If your desktop happens to have it's own WiFi module use that to connect to your camera. (I only dabbled with Canon's WiFi app so far and was lucky to find YouTube tutorials about it. - Thanks to those: No problem.)
   

Reading from the pulled out card seems to make most sense (to me at least). If it takes long enough for you to fall asleep, you won't wake up next to a camera with depleted battery. - Switching the camera's WiFi off again, once you got your files, sucks. OTOH the tech comes in handy when you are in the field with just a smart device (that is unlikely to handle an USB OTG cardreader) and have plenty of power and options to recharge everything.