Canon's Next ConnectStation to do 4K and Wireless Charging

[GmwDarkroom]

My wife has one of these wireless charging toothbrushes that she never unplugs. I assume that is also eating power 24/7?

All chargers suck energy while plugged in. Not necessarily a ton of power, but just about all AC->DC conversion involves inductance and rectifiers that trickle juice constantly.

If the toothbrush really is wireless charging, it may have some kind of sensor to turn off when the brush isn't there. Depends on the design. If there's no visible switch or weight-based sensor, then the only thing that could sense the toothbrush would be some kind of electrical field (think like those security gates at a bookstore) that senses the introduction of the chargeable device. That field would be continuously using power.

Hook a kill-a-watt up to it and see what it's drawing. Then figure out whether it's worth it vs. the annoyance of plugging and unplugging.

 

[fragilesi]

Looks pretty much like a 760D to me. Identical.
The only reason the name is blocked out is because it has a different name in each major territory.

Perhaps also it's because it's a modified version so they don't want to give 760d owners the impression it will work with the new product?

 

[cayenne]

current tech battery chargers are generally effective, small, fast, efficient.. why would I want to change.

Wireless charging strikes me (as a radio R&D engineer) as the wrong way to go about things.. I fully predict they will become a source of interference for other things. Radio space is precious, it should be use for things of value not because people are too lazy to plug a cable into a socket.

One other bad tech that is now getting beaten back is power line communications. Authorities here in Blighty are starting to take a dim view of this as it can cause serious interference

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/telecoms/11325914/You-could-be-prosecuted-over-your-broadband-thanks-to-GCHQ.html

Quelle Surprise!!

As for automatically uploading images to the cloud.... Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Might be fine for a snapshot camera, but I don't see it's relevance to professionals who don't want to just give their work away, or who need to share their images with their editors immediately rather than waiting until they've got home.

(I don't trust that the Cloud is either secure or safe as a backup.. there are instances of cloud storage being deleted by natural disasters or third parties and of being hacked)

Yeah, my first thoughts on this was, I"m guessing the wireless connections are NOT secure and encrypted. Hence, anyone wanting to get someone else's picture (magazines, news, paparazzi) would likely be fairly easily able to sit nearby, monitoring wifi and grab images straight off the camera. A little more sophisticated, you could put images ON the camera, potentially something illegal...its happened with computers before, who'd expect it to be put on their camera?

I know my tinfoil hat isn't as stylish as it used to be, but honestly, I really don't think I need more possessions hooked to the internet, running wifi....and given that many MEDICAL devices are not secured, and vulnerable, how much time do you think a camera company is going to take to carefully consider and plan for secure transmissions to/from their cameras?<P>
I'm not putting my money on Canon....

 

[AcutancePhotography]

Hook a kill-a-watt up to it and see what it's drawing. Then figure out whether it's worth it vs. the annoyance of plugging and unplugging.

That's a good idea, but I might not want to know the answer. I am amazed at the number of "always on" pieces of electronics there are in my house.

I think kill switches on some of the stuff we don't use all the time would be a good idea

 

[andrewflo]

I certainly like that it supports 4K. For video shooters this is good news because it might imply Canon's consideration of 4K in their next generation cameras (5DIV, 6DII, etc.)

 

[rfdesigner]

Hook a kill-a-watt up to it and see what it's drawing. Then figure out whether it's worth it vs. the annoyance of plugging and unplugging.

That's a good idea, but I might not want to know the answer. I am amazed at the number of "always on" pieces of electronics there are in my house.

I think kill switches on some of the stuff we don't use all the time would be a good idea

EU rules require "standby" power to be below 1 watt. (cheap chinese tat imported under the radar not included)

That's approx 9kWhr / year. on my electricity bill that's about £1.20p a year. For one device it's not bad, but if you have kids each with several plus a kitchen and garage with more in it could be a problem.

But there's the biggie... safety. Anything electrical left on all the time is potentially a fire hazzard, although it seems the biggest fire hazards are white goods, probably because they have 13A fuses so overcurrent situations can get seriously out of hand. Having seen the fire brigade stats we no longer run anything overnight other than the fridge/freezer.. and even they can catch fire spontaniously.

 

[rrcphoto]

Hook a kill-a-watt up to it and see what it's drawing. Then figure out whether it's worth it vs. the annoyance of plugging and unplugging.

That's a good idea, but I might not want to know the answer. I am amazed at the number of "always on" pieces of electronics there are in my house.

I think kill switches on some of the stuff we don't use all the time would be a good idea

EU rules require "standby" power to be below 1 watt. (cheap chinese tat imported under the radar not included)

that seems pretty low considering that a ATX power supply is max 10W standby.

 

[rrcphoto]

Yeah, my first thoughts on this was, I"m guessing the wireless connections are NOT secure and encrypted. Hence, anyone wanting to get someone else's picture (magazines, news, paparazzi) would likely be fairly easily able to sit nearby, monitoring wifi and grab images straight off the camera.

why would you think that - did you even look at connect station the first version?
authentication happens via NFC - the device has to be paired within cm's of the device.

For other devices connecting into the station - it's standard wifi protocols and authentication.

your tin foil hat needs a technology upgrade.

 

[Otara]

This is a device that takes care of onsite backup, offsite backup, charging, and downloading images off the camera all in one go. Thats the focus, not its power efficiency, which is probably similar to any PC device being used for it currently anyhow.

I think too many of you dont realise how much of a challenge this is for the average person to do consistently, when taking pictures is a more occasional activity. Forgetting to put the battery back in, remembering to recharge it before you need it again, same with memory card, did I download all the pictures or are there new ones, etc etc.

This automates things in a pretty convenient way for many. The main issues will be how practical it actually is in use, as a concept its great.

 

[AvTvM]

Well, looking at Canons first attempt i am not going to hold my breath for 2nd down.

Rather than all the wireless crap (charging, nfc, wifi) i would prefer an "old-fashioned", high-speed and reliable "notebook-type dockingstation" with a wired connector into the bottom of the camera. ;-)

 

[Bennymiata]

I've been thinking about this device and how it would be used.
Imagine coming home from a shoot and you're exhausted.
Just drop the camera on the device while you clean up and make a cup of coffee (if you can call what you Americans drink as coffee) and when you've unwound a bit and had some coffee, your photos are dowloaded and the camera partially charged.

I reckon it would be pretty usefull and saves pulling cards in and out of the camera and fumbling for plugs and cables.

 

[LDS]

The design is appaling... it looks a VCR from the 1970s... hope it's just a proof of concept.

It's just difficult to understand the target... it looks a consumer oriented device, but this kind of customer usually don't store the camera on a table/shelf, there are better chances it's usually stored in a drawer inside its bag, especially when there are children around, or there's not much space available. Wireless charging is useful for something you use often and put on the charger while not in use.
For a pro working in a studio maybe wireless charging may be useful, but probably not internal storage and "cloud" uploads - there are good chances images should be downloaded while shooting, and in a way supporting the photographer's workflow.
Probably, the most useful accessory Canon can introduce is a charger for more than one battery at a time (AFAIK only the 1D has charger for two batteries).

 

[rfdesigner]

The design is appaling... it looks a VCR from the 1970s... hope it's just a proof of concept.

It's just difficult to understand the target... it looks a consumer oriented device, but this kind of customer usually don't store the camera on a table/shelf, there are better chances it's usually stored in a drawer inside its bag, especially when there are children around, or there's not much space available. Wireless charging is useful for something you use often and put on the charger while not in use.
For a pro working in a studio maybe wireless charging may be useful, but probably not internal storage and "cloud" uploads - there are good chances images should be downloaded while shooting, and in a way supporting the photographer's workflow.
Probably, the most useful accessory Canon can introduce is a charger for more than one battery at a time (AFAIK only the 1D has charger for two batteries).

Do one of these that's burried in the bottom of a bag, has a 12V cigarette lighter connection as well as a mains input and a HDD in the bottom that does auto-backup whenever the camera's in the bag and you might have some interest... a wifi connection which means all your images become immediately avaialable on you home wifi network the moment you come in the door would be nice.

 

[kanehi]

Wireless charging would be nice in addition to replaceable batteries. The battery can charge overnight and be ready the next day. If Samsung can do wireless charging with their Galaxy phones why can't Canon. Qi wireless chargers are affordable. I also like the idea of wireless functions and transfers and hopefully it'll have GPS.