Having just received the Canon W-E1 Wifi card and played with it for a day in my 7D Mark 2, I thought it might be worthwhile passing on my experience especially since it is now optionally part of the kit when you buy a 7D2 new, according to EOS magazine’s October to December 2016 edition..
Any queries after reading this, ask away.
The card:
01 - The Card.jpg
Your 7D2 must have firmware 1.1.0 or later. See http://tinyurl.com/Canon7D2FW1-1-0
First thing to note is that it is just a wifi card. No data can be recorded on it, so you must use a CF card as well to store your pictures.
Second thing is that you need to download the Canon Camera Connect App onto your phone. It's available from the Google Play store for Android, iTunes for iPhone. It is free.
The app was easily installed:
02 - App Easily Installed.jpg
When you insert the card and switch on your camera, a new "WiFi Function" option appears at the bottom of the Set-Up3 screen. You can then use that to connect to your smartphone with a customisable name and password. When it is set up and waiting for connection, you have to go to the WiFi setup on your phone as per a normal WiFi network, pick it out and connect to it.
You then invoke the App on your phone and it connects to the camera. At this point the camera is not usable in the ordinary manner. No buttons work, it's all done remotely from your phone up to 10 metres away. (I’m not a fan of this, I’d like to be able to press the shutter button to cancel the connection and let me take pictures, but that isn’t the current functionality.
There are two modes of operation: the first is to take pictures, the viewfinder view is shown on your phone along with several options. You'll have to explore this. The second option is to retrieve images on the camera onto your phone. If there are only RAW images, they will be converted to Small JPEG images of about 500k. If you took JPEGs, ether exclusively or alongside RAW, these can be optionally transferred full size or Resized down and transferred. You can choose to transfer one or multiple pictures.
You are presented with a screen of options after connection to the camera:
04 - You are then presented with a screen showing two options, plus settings.jpg
Sample images downsized from RAW can be found on my FB timeline here: https://www.facebook.com/AJLeslie/po...07802737531942
Resize options are available for JPEG images only:
05 - Resize options are available when transferring JPEG images from camera to phone..jpg
I haven't had it long enough to see what it does to battery life, but it won't be good.
Incidentally it can be used with the 5DR and 5DRS but they cannot transfer video as well as stills, whereas the 7D2 can.
The manual for the W-E1 can be downloaded via http://www.canon.com/icpd/
Pictures on the camera are displayed with appropriate info:
06 - Pictures on the camera are displayed with appropriate info..jpg
You can select one or more images to save to your phone:
07 - You can select one or more images to save onto the phone.jpg
Remote shooting shows the viewfinder view with various options:
08 - Remote shooting shows various options..jpg
I bought mine from Park Cameras for £39.99 plus P+P. Their order process was pretty rubbish, Indeed, when I checked the day after my original order I saw that it had been cancelled and reconstituted with a different order number with no notification or reason given at all. I got no notification of dispatch until I asked and no tracking number email which I've come to consider standard with other suppliers like Amazon and Ebay. Still, it arrived in a couple of days and appears to work, so happy days.
Any queries after reading this, ask away.
The card:
01 - The Card.jpg
Your 7D2 must have firmware 1.1.0 or later. See http://tinyurl.com/Canon7D2FW1-1-0
First thing to note is that it is just a wifi card. No data can be recorded on it, so you must use a CF card as well to store your pictures.
Second thing is that you need to download the Canon Camera Connect App onto your phone. It's available from the Google Play store for Android, iTunes for iPhone. It is free.
The app was easily installed:
02 - App Easily Installed.jpg
When you insert the card and switch on your camera, a new "WiFi Function" option appears at the bottom of the Set-Up3 screen. You can then use that to connect to your smartphone with a customisable name and password. When it is set up and waiting for connection, you have to go to the WiFi setup on your phone as per a normal WiFi network, pick it out and connect to it.
You then invoke the App on your phone and it connects to the camera. At this point the camera is not usable in the ordinary manner. No buttons work, it's all done remotely from your phone up to 10 metres away. (I’m not a fan of this, I’d like to be able to press the shutter button to cancel the connection and let me take pictures, but that isn’t the current functionality.
There are two modes of operation: the first is to take pictures, the viewfinder view is shown on your phone along with several options. You'll have to explore this. The second option is to retrieve images on the camera onto your phone. If there are only RAW images, they will be converted to Small JPEG images of about 500k. If you took JPEGs, ether exclusively or alongside RAW, these can be optionally transferred full size or Resized down and transferred. You can choose to transfer one or multiple pictures.
You are presented with a screen of options after connection to the camera:
04 - You are then presented with a screen showing two options, plus settings.jpg
Sample images downsized from RAW can be found on my FB timeline here: https://www.facebook.com/AJLeslie/po...07802737531942
Resize options are available for JPEG images only:
05 - Resize options are available when transferring JPEG images from camera to phone..jpg
I haven't had it long enough to see what it does to battery life, but it won't be good.
Incidentally it can be used with the 5DR and 5DRS but they cannot transfer video as well as stills, whereas the 7D2 can.
The manual for the W-E1 can be downloaded via http://www.canon.com/icpd/
Pictures on the camera are displayed with appropriate info:
06 - Pictures on the camera are displayed with appropriate info..jpg
You can select one or more images to save to your phone:
07 - You can select one or more images to save onto the phone.jpg
Remote shooting shows the viewfinder view with various options:
08 - Remote shooting shows various options..jpg
I bought mine from Park Cameras for £39.99 plus P+P. Their order process was pretty rubbish, Indeed, when I checked the day after my original order I saw that it had been cancelled and reconstituted with a different order number with no notification or reason given at all. I got no notification of dispatch until I asked and no tracking number email which I've come to consider standard with other suppliers like Amazon and Ebay. Still, it arrived in a couple of days and appears to work, so happy days.
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