Wireless USB

<p>I've recently been playing around with capturing images by tethering my D7000 to my Mac with a USB cable. Works well and I wish I'd tried it before.</p>

<p>What I'd like to do now is get rid of the cable and I imagine wireless USB is the way to go. I'm a little confused about this at the moment though: do wireless USB adaptors simply replace the cable by plugging an adaptor into the Mac and another into the camera? If so, they'd be totally transparent to both camera and Mac, yes? No?</p>

<p>Any pitfalls and can anyone suggest any devices which won't break my rather small bank? I'm in the UK.</p>

I recently (last week) purchased one of the Eye-Fi X2 Pro cards (http://www.eye.fi/products/prox2). I must tell ya, it's one of the coolest piece of gadgets I've bought. Not only does it transfer wirelessly to your computer, but also iPad. I'm going to bring my iPad to every photoshoot now. It's so great.

In fact, you can purchase it from Amazon for less than $100 http://www.amazon.com/Eye-Fi-Class-Wireless-Memory-EYE-FI-8PC/dp/B002UT42UI

<p>That's not what I'm after. I'm after something which will let me remotely take pics with the camera but without the USB lead.</p>

You mean like a remote trigger for you D7000?

<p>Eye Fi does exactly what Peter wants: transfer the images captured by the camera wirelessly to a near-by computer.</p>

<p>Tam, he really does mean "wireless USB". There's little boxes out there that attempt to packetize the whole USB protocol and send it out over a 2.4GHz link.</p>

<p>Peter, because USB is a very low level protocol, there are dozens of different message types with different packet lengths, different latency requirements, etc. and all the different wireless USB implementations work absolutely horribly in a "multipurpose" situation. There's a few that can detect and go into different modes optimized for a few common protocols like mass storage, but for a more obscure protocol like PTP, the wireless USB systems fall down flat. Because they unpack and repack USB messages into their own message packet sizes, they're unpredictable as to latency, and this tends to "blow up" any "control" type application. They suck up power while delivering very slow performance compared to more well though out protocols like WiFi.</p>

<p>I don't know if Nikon's latest "generic" WiFi unit works with the D7000. I've used the dedicated unit with D2X, and it's amazing.</p>

<p>Thanks all and to Joseph especially for understanding what I was on about. I know there would be loads of problems implementing USB wirelessly, cheaply anyway. That's one of the reasons why I asked. I couldn't find any definitive answers anywhere I looked.</p>

<p>Be nice to be able to tether the D7000 wirelessly, all the same using USB or otherwise. Whether Nikon's WiFi unit would work or not it's rather pricey for me: think I'll have to stick to using wired USB for now, methinks :-) If I do happen to come across anything which works I'll let you all know. Ta!</p>

<p>The Nikon wireless system - if it works with the D7000 is designed to be a one way transmitter of data to the host. It is not designed to be a remote trigger for the camera. </p>

<p>There are several remote triggers for the nikon on the market - but none that I'm aware of that do both a trigger and a send of the data back to the host. </p>

<p>Dave</p>

 

<p>I've been using the free Sofortbild and Aperture to capture stuff. Both work well for different purposes. In the blurb about Sofortbild on the website it says:</p>

<p>'Control your camera <em>remotely from your Mac</em> via USB or through wired or wireless LAN using a wireless transmitter.'</p>

<p>which I find intriguing. Must email the author and ask what he means.</p>

<p>Peter,<br>

Is this what youre looking for : <a href="http://www.cablesunlimited.com/Specifications/specI4098-7.pdf">http://www.cablesunlimited.com/Specifications/specI4098-7.pdf</a> <br>

( Page 12 of this PDF is about using this device with camera's ..</p>

<p>Thanks ... it might well be what I'm looking for although, as Joseph said, these things are a bit temperamental so I'd have to be damned sure of it before committing any money :-)</p>

<p>You might want to talk to this guy then ... :<br /> <a href="http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1025&message=37833037&changemode=1">http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1025&message=37833037&changemode=1</a></p>

<p>Or this one :<br>

<a href="http://petetek.blogspot.com/2009/05/50-wireless-tethering-solution.html">http://petetek.blogspot.com/2009/05/50-wireless-tethering-solution.html</a></p>

<p>Hi Peter,</p>

<p>I have created something similar to what you are looking for.<br>

I use the wireless USB dongles integrated into a battery grip to remote trigger my Nikon D5000 using Lightroom.<br>

The photos are immediately imported and I get a preview and I can work on them immediately on the PC.<br>

<a href="http://www.wirelessnikontether.com/2011/02/wireless-usb-tether-battery-grip/">http://www.wirelessnikontether.com/2011/02/wireless-usb-tether-battery-grip/</a></p>

<p>One thing, I notice you are using a Mac, the Cables Unlimited wireless USB dongles are PC only right now.<br>

There are not any drivers available for Macs that I know of at the moment.</p>

<p>A side note, I am working on integrating a wireless USB setup into the D7000 battery grip the MB-D11.<br>

I will post more to the various forums when my next project is done.</p>

<p>Thanks<br>

Neal</p>

 

<p>... and behold there is hope :-) Thanks. Seems some enterprising soul needs to write some Mac drivers then.</p>

<p>Thanks, C.P.M.</p>

<p>It appears that after a decade of off-the-chart hype and disappointment, that someone actually managed to make some wireless USB stuff that actually worked. Although the power requirements do still seem to be a problem.</p>