Okay, just thought I'd share something I've discovered and have been playing with the last few days.
Several years ago, I made a big transition from using Canon cameras to Nikon(at least for digital). I've stuck there until a recent foray into Fujifilm, but that's not overly relevant now. As another side note too, lately I've gotten back into playing with/trying to use early DSLRs, and especially the Nikon-based Kodaks(history lesson aside-Kodak "invented" the DSLR basically by grafting their sensors and electronics onto Nikon and then later Canon camera bodies, initially without Nikon's knowledge but later their blessing) and often...well...the only thing that really does a great job with their files is Kodak's software.
That's all not the point of this post, though.
Since the D4 was released in 2012, Nikon has installed an ethernet port in their flagship level cameras. I bought a D5 a few months ago(released in 2016) and honestly didn't pay much attention to that at first, but I started wondering what all it was capable of. The obvious use of course was for transferring files off the camera, and I played a bit with it but found it sort of clunky. With the default set-up, I could see a use for it in a studio situation as it will transfer files in real time as you take them, but it's not really that useful for transferring files already on the memory card(from what I found you need to select and transfer individually, and can't do it directly from a program like Lightroom, plus it's not as fast as a good CFExpress card in a USB-C reader).
In this, though, I found that there's a built-in tethering/control app through the HTTP server in the camera. This was actually quite a revelation. Back with my cheap Canon Rebel XS(entry level DSLR), I could use Canon's free tethering software to connect and control the camera over USB. It wasn't perfect, but I used that a LOT and was disappointed to find that it's $200 software from Nikon to do the same thing. Also, there were versions of the Canon software to control my Rebel XS that ran in OS X Leopard, but the software that would work with my D800, my first good Nikon DSLR, was I think too new for that. I just shelved the idea and worked out a new workflow that ultimately was actually better for me.
Still, though, I couldn't help but get excited over camera control over ethernet, and I found it actually worked quite well. The beautiful thing, too, was since it was a web browser app, I reasoned it should be at least somewhat platform agnostic.
With that in mind, I had a few minutes this morning to play with it and decided I'd pull out my TiBook and try. I hooked it up-really nothing fancy, just a simple(not crossover) ethernet cable from the camera to the computer-and started up the HTTP server in the camera. For those of you who may have one of these, here's the general step-you can find this control through Menu->Setup(wrench icon)->Network. Once in network, select "Choose Hardware" and be sure it's set to wired. "Network Connection" should of course be set to "on." For "Network setting" you will need to create a profile, use the wizard to create an HTTP server, and set a user name and password for the camera. I named this profile "D5 HTTP" but you can call it whatever you want(and can also create/modify the profile by connecting the camera to a computer via USB and running the Wireless Transmitter Utility https://downloadcenter.nikonimglib.com/en/products/168/Wireless_Transmitter_Utility.html ) . Be sure this profile is active, then connect the camera and computer together and wait for the server to start up and provide you with an IP address.
Initially I tried this in Leopard Webkit, but it did nothing when I typed in the IP Address and hit enter.
TenFourFox worked perfectly, though
I decided to get really adventurous and try it in OS 9.
Unfortunately that was a no-go in Classilla. When I typed in the IP address, I was prompted for the camera user name and password, but then received this error
Now, the real question-what use is this?
I'd say honestly I did this more as a proof of concept. It is a way to get high resolution JPEG files onto your PPC Macs. RAW files are a different story. I'm not aware of any way to directly process a file from a D5 in OS X Leopard(you MIGHT be able to get it to work with D4 files-don't know and don't have a D4, so can't try).
AFAIK, the only Nikons with ethernet ports are the D4/D4s, D5, D6, and Z9. I'm not sure if the Z9 retains these same features, although I would expect it would. The D6 does work pretty much the same as the D5 in this regard so I would expect it to work but again haven't tried.
I would also expect it to work with the UT-1 adapter, but I'm not going to spend $500 on one just to try...
One last thing-the camera does have an FTP server mode, so presumably you could transfer images to any device using that. Again, though, I don't see a ton of utility for older cameras as the question then becomes for me what do you do with the files once they're there.
Several years ago, I made a big transition from using Canon cameras to Nikon(at least for digital). I've stuck there until a recent foray into Fujifilm, but that's not overly relevant now. As another side note too, lately I've gotten back into playing with/trying to use early DSLRs, and especially the Nikon-based Kodaks(history lesson aside-Kodak "invented" the DSLR basically by grafting their sensors and electronics onto Nikon and then later Canon camera bodies, initially without Nikon's knowledge but later their blessing) and often...well...the only thing that really does a great job with their files is Kodak's software.
That's all not the point of this post, though.
Since the D4 was released in 2012, Nikon has installed an ethernet port in their flagship level cameras. I bought a D5 a few months ago(released in 2016) and honestly didn't pay much attention to that at first, but I started wondering what all it was capable of. The obvious use of course was for transferring files off the camera, and I played a bit with it but found it sort of clunky. With the default set-up, I could see a use for it in a studio situation as it will transfer files in real time as you take them, but it's not really that useful for transferring files already on the memory card(from what I found you need to select and transfer individually, and can't do it directly from a program like Lightroom, plus it's not as fast as a good CFExpress card in a USB-C reader).
In this, though, I found that there's a built-in tethering/control app through the HTTP server in the camera. This was actually quite a revelation. Back with my cheap Canon Rebel XS(entry level DSLR), I could use Canon's free tethering software to connect and control the camera over USB. It wasn't perfect, but I used that a LOT and was disappointed to find that it's $200 software from Nikon to do the same thing. Also, there were versions of the Canon software to control my Rebel XS that ran in OS X Leopard, but the software that would work with my D800, my first good Nikon DSLR, was I think too new for that. I just shelved the idea and worked out a new workflow that ultimately was actually better for me.
Still, though, I couldn't help but get excited over camera control over ethernet, and I found it actually worked quite well. The beautiful thing, too, was since it was a web browser app, I reasoned it should be at least somewhat platform agnostic.
With that in mind, I had a few minutes this morning to play with it and decided I'd pull out my TiBook and try. I hooked it up-really nothing fancy, just a simple(not crossover) ethernet cable from the camera to the computer-and started up the HTTP server in the camera. For those of you who may have one of these, here's the general step-you can find this control through Menu->Setup(wrench icon)->Network. Once in network, select "Choose Hardware" and be sure it's set to wired. "Network Connection" should of course be set to "on." For "Network setting" you will need to create a profile, use the wizard to create an HTTP server, and set a user name and password for the camera. I named this profile "D5 HTTP" but you can call it whatever you want(and can also create/modify the profile by connecting the camera to a computer via USB and running the Wireless Transmitter Utility https://downloadcenter.nikonimglib.com/en/products/168/Wireless_Transmitter_Utility.html ) . Be sure this profile is active, then connect the camera and computer together and wait for the server to start up and provide you with an IP address.
Initially I tried this in Leopard Webkit, but it did nothing when I typed in the IP Address and hit enter.
TenFourFox worked perfectly, though
I decided to get really adventurous and try it in OS 9.
Unfortunately that was a no-go in Classilla. When I typed in the IP address, I was prompted for the camera user name and password, but then received this error
Now, the real question-what use is this?
I'd say honestly I did this more as a proof of concept. It is a way to get high resolution JPEG files onto your PPC Macs. RAW files are a different story. I'm not aware of any way to directly process a file from a D5 in OS X Leopard(you MIGHT be able to get it to work with D4 files-don't know and don't have a D4, so can't try).
AFAIK, the only Nikons with ethernet ports are the D4/D4s, D5, D6, and Z9. I'm not sure if the Z9 retains these same features, although I would expect it would. The D6 does work pretty much the same as the D5 in this regard so I would expect it to work but again haven't tried.
I would also expect it to work with the UT-1 adapter, but I'm not going to spend $500 on one just to try...
One last thing-the camera does have an FTP server mode, so presumably you could transfer images to any device using that. Again, though, I don't see a ton of utility for older cameras as the question then becomes for me what do you do with the files once they're there.
