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Finally! How to tether DSLR cameras to Ipad completely WIRELESSLY

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bluesdeluxe

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 24, 2010
11
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I know a lot of people have wanted to tether their cameras to their ipads wirelessly but have been held back before by camera usb cords or having to have wireless routers. Well this video and article describe exactly how to send full res images from any DSLR to your ipad without a single cable....and you apparently can run around NYC shooting without and trouble.

Here is the full article: http://fstoppers.com/ipad/

and of course the video at vimeo: http://vimeo.com/16249536
 
That is very cool, does the CF adapter work consistently with the EyeFi sd cards? I've heard some people having trouble with them. If this set up ever works for DSLRemote consistently, I will definitely be getting an EyeFi and jailbreak my iPad.

Thanks for sharing!
 
Yes and no

chiefroastbeef said:
That is very cool, does the CF adapter work consistently with the EyeFi sd cards? I've heard some people having trouble with them. If this set up ever works for DSLRemote consistently, I will definitely be getting an EyeFi and jailbreak my iPad.

Thanks for sharing!
Click to expand...

Depends on the camera and the image format/size. EyeFi mentioned some camera bodies create too much interference. I didn't notice a problem keeping their top-of-the-line card connected to my Airport Extreme router, and I was running it very reliably via a CF adapter, burried deep in the guts of my Nikon D300.

But transfer is where the wheels fall completely off. It took over ten minutes to move a single 14MB RAW file, and I was ten feet from the router at the time. Unacceptable.

If you're just shooting JPEGs, and your file sizes are under 2MB, it seems to work okay, but for RAW shooters, it's more sizzle than steak.
 
This would be one of the biggest uses for me with an iPad, shame its gotta be jailbroken to get this :(
 
This isn't wireless, but it is convenient and quick.
I use the following with a Canon 10D and a 20D:

iPad camera connection kit (SD card reader)
PhotoFast CR-7000 SD-SDHC to CF Type II Adapter
Sandisk Ultra 4GB SDHC card

Total cost was about AU$80.00
I haven't acurately timed the transfer speed but I think it was about 350MB in a minute or so.
 
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The eyefi x2 cards have a direct mode, so theres no need to jailbreak it this method since I have 2 c/f slots on my d3, I have slot one saving in raw an the 2nd slot transferring small jpgs to my iPad
 
bluesdeluxe said:
I know a lot of people have wanted to tether their cameras to their ipads wirelessly but have been held back before by camera usb cords or having to have wireless routers. Well this video and article describe exactly how to send full res images from any DSLR to your ipad without a single cable....and you apparently can run around NYC shooting without and trouble.

Here is the full article: http://fstoppers.com/ipad/

and of course the video at vimeo: http://vimeo.com/16249536
Click to expand...

Old news but still cool.
 
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Damn it. That's another £100 I've had to drop.

As an amateur I'm happy with lower res jpeg and high transfer speeds. This is perfect.
 
How is this better than EyeFi Direct Mode, which requires no additional spend beyond the card itself, and doesn't require a jailbroken ipad?

I won't have my EyeFi card until tomorrow, but according to the documentation, you just set up the pairing using their software, launch the (free) app on your ipad, and shoot away. Pictures are transferred to the iPad automatically.

http://www.eye.fi/how-it-works/features/direct-mode
 
geko29 said:
How is this better than EyeFi Direct Mode, which requires no additional spend beyond the card itself, and doesn't require a jailbroken ipad?

I won't have my EyeFi card until tomorrow, but according to the documentation, you just set up the pairing using their software, launch the (free) app on your ipad, and shoot away. Pictures are transferred to the iPad automatically.

http://www.eye.fi/how-it-works/features/direct-mode
Click to expand...

This video was posted before Direct Mode existed. A jailbreak was required to form a local ad hoc hotspot on the iPad as the EyeFi wasn't capable of doing it itself. Of course, that has now changed, meaning no jailbreak is required. Also saves ya $20 or so for not needing that MyWi thingy whatever it was called.

This is what makes it perfect IMO. Roll on a decent enough Photoshop on the iPad and I'll never touch my PC again. Well, apart from 3D modelling.
 
mgs315 said:
This video was posted before Direct Mode existed. A jailbreak was required to form a local ad hoc hotspot on the iPad as the EyeFi wasn't capable of doing it itself. Of course, that has now changed, meaning no jailbreak is required. Also saves ya $20 or so for not needing that MyWi thingy whatever it was called.

This is what makes it perfect IMO. Roll on a decent enough Photoshop on the iPad and I'll never touch my PC again. Well, apart from 3D modelling.
Click to expand...

I was put off when the article said it needed a jailbreak. But this is good, just needing an EyeFi and a free app!
 
MotherFinMike said:
The eyefi x2 cards have a direct mode, so theres no need to jailbreak it this method since I have 2 c/f slots on my d3, I have slot one saving in raw an the 2nd slot transferring small jpgs to my iPad
Click to expand...

What kind of range do you get to the iPad? I've got a D3 and even with the metal covers of the CF adapter removed, the signal from the X2 card is so weak that I have to wear a wireless router around my neck or the transfers stop the second I put my hand on the camera and cover the card.

I can't image direct mode works more than a couple of feet.
 
AceCoolie said:
What kind of range do you get to the iPad? I've got a D3 and even with the metal covers of the CF adapter removed, the signal from the X2 card is so weak that I have to wear a wireless router around my neck or the transfers stop the second I put my hand on the camera and cover the card.

I can't image direct mode works more than a couple of feet.
Click to expand...

I haven't tried it with my iPad yet but I get at least 5 feet with my notebook, likely more.
 
Finally got it working on my Nikon D3100. Depending on how long you idle between shoots the transfer times will vary dramatically. I think it's a power saving feature built into the Eye-Fi card and to a certain extent the camera it is used in.

These were the fastest time at 3 resolutions

3.5MP = 7.1sec

8.0MP = 11sec

14.1MP = 16sec


I tried using it in my Nikon S8100 which does not support Eye-Fi and as expected the connection kept dropping out but I did manage to transfer a few images. I suspected that I can get more consistent results if I turned off the sleep function on the camera and so it did. As with my previous test, transfer times varied but in this case the times were a lot closer.

These were the fastes times at 4 resolutions

3.0MP = 9.0sec

5.0MP = 9.4sec

8.0MP = 9.6sec

12.0MP = 10.5sec


Both tests were done on a NON-Jailbroken iPad2 running on iOS 4.3.2 and the distance between the card and iPad was about 11-12". Not very practical I know but I wanted to test under best case scenario conditions.
 
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