Nikon's SnapBridge Technology

[expatinasia]

What do we know about Nikon's SnapBridge technology? It's in the D500 and D5.

SnapBridge will be a standard feature in almost every new Nikon camera from 2016 onwards.

SnapBridge via Bluetooth low energy enables continuous and immediate transfer of images from the camera to a smart device as they are captured in real-time. This is achieved automatically without a need to activate image transfer from the camera, while also keeping power consumption low for both. Users can also continue to enjoy mobile internet connectivity during image transfer, allowing them to check their e-mail or access social media even as their photographs are being synced between the devices.

Here's Nikon's YouTube video about it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHNHcZgvzII

I think it is very interesting to be able to send images via Bluetooth automatically to your phone or laptop, with the camera tech supposedly not using up too much power.

Does Canon have anything like this? Would you like something like this in the 1DX, 5D, 7D etc?

I would love to know whether you are able to shoot only in RAW to the card but get jpegs sent to the phone? How flexible is it? Can those images be saved directly and automatically to the external storage of your phone etc with a named/dated folder? What distances can the files travel.

What do you think?

More info from Nikon here:
http://www.nikon-asia.com/en_Asia/about/product_news/snapbridge

 

[candc]

Canon had eos remote and now the canon connect app. Its a WiFi connection between the camera and your phone. I shoot in raw all the time but the camera will send downsized jpegs to your phone or tablet. I use it fairly often. Its a bit cumbersome, I think Sony's playmemories mobile is less hassle but it does the job.

 

[expatinasia]

Thanks candc, I will have to look into it.

Does it do it automatically so I do not have to reconnect the devices each time? That seems to be the advantage of Nikon's SnapBridge, which uses Bluetooth I think - you just set it all up once and the rest is automatic, every time you turn on the camera and shoot.

 

[Zv]

Thanks candc, I will have to look into it.

Does it do it automatically so I do not have to reconnect the devices each time? That seems to be the advantage of Nikon's SnapBridge, which uses Bluetooth I think - you just set it all up once and the rest is automatic, every time you turn on the camera and shoot.

Canon's Camera Connect isn't that smart and as soon as the camera is switched off the connection is terminated and next time you switch on you have to re-establish a connection. Doing so resets the app so you start from scratch. Unless you saved those prev images to your phone they are not available in the app. It's basically a session by session thing.

What I find annoying about that app is every time you want to connect the phone to camera you have to select the cameras wifi from your phones list of wifi hotspots. Sometimes the signal is weak so the phone jumps onto my home wifi instead. Once you get it on the camera you then have to open the app and it takes a few seconds for it to connect to the camera after you select wifi device on the camera. It's all a big jumble.

With the wifi set to on in camera and paired once it should automatically connect to your phone from the app itself. It should be like this - switch on camera, swipe phone to unlock, open app, press connect and done. Instead there are all these other things you have to do.

The Nikon Snapbridge seems like a way better method. It stays connected via Bluetooth in the background, seamlessly.

 

[expatinasia]

Canon's Camera Connect isn't that smart and as soon as the camera is switched off the connection is terminated and next time you switch on you have to re-establish a connection. Doing so resets the app so you start from scratch. Unless you saved those prev images to your phone they are not available in the app. It's basically a session by session thing.

What I find annoying about that app is every time you want to connect the phone to camera you have to select the cameras wifi from your phones list of wifi hotspots. Sometimes the signal is weak so the phone jumps onto my home wifi instead. Once you get it on the camera you then have to open the app and it takes a few seconds for it to connect to the camera after you select wifi device on the camera. It's all a big jumble.

With the wifi set to on in camera and paired once it should automatically connect to your phone from the app itself. It should be like this - switch on camera, swipe phone to unlock, open app, press connect and done. Instead there are all these other things you have to do.

The Nikon Snapbridge seems like a way better method. It stays connected via Bluetooth in the background, seamlessly.

Thanks Zv. What you wrote is how I understood it too.

This Nikon SnapBridge technology really got me excited when I read about it with the D500/D5 launch, and I would love something like it on my 1DX or 1DX II when it comes out.

And I presume, as it is new technology, it is just going to get better and better - more flexibility, more options etc.

I do not know what the limitations of Bluetooth are but to be able to send one picture immediately to one (or even two or three different devices) simultaneously while also recording RAW to the camera without having to login etc every time is mind blowing to me. Really useful, and something I would love to have as it would help me a lot with not only my work, but also personal pictures too. And it acts as an additional and immediate back up.

Brilliant, fingers crossed Canon's future cameras have something like this - or better.

 

[Zv]

Canon's Camera Connect isn't that smart and as soon as the camera is switched off the connection is terminated and next time you switch on you have to re-establish a connection. Doing so resets the app so you start from scratch. Unless you saved those prev images to your phone they are not available in the app. It's basically a session by session thing.

What I find annoying about that app is every time you want to connect the phone to camera you have to select the cameras wifi from your phones list of wifi hotspots. Sometimes the signal is weak so the phone jumps onto my home wifi instead. Once you get it on the camera you then have to open the app and it takes a few seconds for it to connect to the camera after you select wifi device on the camera. It's all a big jumble.

With the wifi set to on in camera and paired once it should automatically connect to your phone from the app itself. It should be like this - switch on camera, swipe phone to unlock, open app, press connect and done. Instead there are all these other things you have to do.

The Nikon Snapbridge seems like a way better method. It stays connected via Bluetooth in the background, seamlessly.

Thanks Zv. What you wrote is how I understood it too.

This Nikon SnapBridge technology really got me excited when I read about it with the D500/D5 launch, and I would love something like it on my 1DX or 1DX II when it comes out.

And I presume, as it is new technology, it is just going to get better and better - more flexibility, more options etc.

I do not know what the limitations of Bluetooth are but to be able to send one picture immediately to one (or even two or three different devices) simultaneously while also recording RAW to the camera without having to login etc every time is mind blowing to me. Really useful, and something I would love to have as it would help me a lot with not only my work, but also personal pictures too. And it acts as an additional and immediate back up.

Brilliant, fingers crossed Canon's future cameras have something like this - or better.

As far as I know Bluetooth has less range than wifi but I'm not sure if recent advancements have improved that (5-30m). The low energy tech sounds like Bluetooth 4.0 which is the latest (can't find anywhere on the site where it says for sure). If the device is on your person it'll be fine but I question if it would penetrate several floors / walls.

Bandwidth is also lower than wifi but for transferring JPEGs it should be fine. Wonder how it would hold up under full on 10fps or more? Might be a slight lag there. For back up purposes speed is mostly irrelevant.

I kind of want to test my 6D wifi range now!

 

[expatinasia]

As far as I know Bluetooth has less range than wifi but I'm not sure if recent advancements have improved that (5-30m). The low energy tech sounds like Bluetooth 4.0 which is the latest (can't find anywhere on the site where it says for sure). If the device is on your person it'll be fine but I question if it would penetrate several floors / walls.

Bandwidth is also lower than wifi but for transferring JPEGs it should be fine. Wonder how it would hold up under full on 10fps or more? Might be a slight lag there. For back up purposes speed is mostly irrelevant.

I kind of want to test my 6D wifi range now!

Thanks, Zv.

This is a really nice feature. Would be great to take a RAW image with the camera, get that sent to the mobile as a jpeg. If the camera could add a watermark/copyright notice then even better. That image could then be uploaded very quickly to wherever/whoever needed it immediately, and you still have the RAW to use later. I would very this very, very useful.

And for personal shots, if you are out taking shots with your friend / wife / whoever is next to you, it could (potentially) be set up to send the pictures to both her and your phone at the same time, saving you time later sending them to her. Brilliant.

 

[RickWagoner]

there are three different ways of connecting wirelessly to the Camera.

Wifi works in two separate ways itself, one as the camera is the Hotspot (if no external router available or wanted) and the second is you "bridge" or connect into your router's WIFI. The advantage over the other two options is if you're connecting to a router you can send images or control anywhere you want as long as the camera is in the wifi range and even through your wired part of your network if you so choose. Another Advantages is WIFI is much faster with transfers or communication then the other two. Even if you don't connect to a router and use the camera in hotspot mode you can have your device much farther than the other two types and you still have the higher transfer rates as you do with a router.

Bluetooth. Works by only pairing your camera to your chosen device directly. The advantage is it uses very little power so your device and camera can always be connected while you shoot. No need to worry about shutting it down to save battery life on your camera or device. also it will not work as far as wifi but still much further than nfc.

NFC works like bluetooth but it uses even less power and in a crowded area will work easily with less interference. because bluetooth and wifi can be overwhelmed by other bluetooth or wifi devices close by. another advantage is there is no set up with nfc unlike bluetooth or worse with wifi..it works as soon as the device is close enough.

not sure how snapbridge is exactly but many new devices today will use nfc to pair and automatically turn to bluetooth if the device is moves further away.

What i think is more options for the user the better as all three are similar but different enough for the user to dial in their choice that best suites them. If you're in the forest shooting wildlife bluetooth can be the best, if you're on the crowded street NFC would be your best, or if you're home or studio within range of a router you can take advantage of the speed and the way extra distance. I know canon has a great app and uses wifi in some of their consumer grade stuff now and i love using it on the 70D in the field or at home (if i had a choice for field i would use nfc or even bluetooth but i don't). We should see Canon loading all their future gear with at least nfc and wifi though, the days of the "can't do wifi because of mag alloy body blah blah on the 7d2" excuse is not acceptable anymore.

 

[Zv]

there are three different ways of connecting wirelessly to the Camera.

Wifi works in two separate ways itself, one as the camera is the Hotspot (if no external router available or wanted) and the second is you "bridge" or connect into your router's WIFI. The advantage over the other two options is if you're connecting to a router you can send images or control anywhere you want as long as the camera is in the wifi range and even through your wired part of your network if you so choose. Another Advantages is WIFI is much faster with transfers or communication then the other two. Even if you don't connect to a router and use the camera in hotspot mode you can have your device much farther than the other two types and you still have the higher transfer rates as you do with a router.

Bluetooth. Works by only pairing your camera to your chosen device directly. The advantage is it uses very little power so your device and camera can always be connected while you shoot. No need to worry about shutting it down to save battery life on your camera or device. also it will not work as far as wifi but still much further than nfc.

NFC works like bluetooth but it uses even less power and in a crowded area will work easily with less interference. because bluetooth and wifi can be overwhelmed by other bluetooth or wifi devices close by. another advantage is there is no set up with nfc unlike bluetooth or worse with wifi..it works as soon as the device is close enough.

not sure how snapbridge is exactly but many new devices today will use nfc to pair and automatically turn to bluetooth if the device is moves further away.

What i think is more options for the user the better as all three are similar but different enough for the user to dial in their choice that best suites them. If you're in the forest shooting wildlife bluetooth can be the best, if you're on the crowded street NFC would be your best, or if you're home or studio within range of a router you can take advantage of the speed and the way extra distance. I know canon has a great app and uses wifi in some of their consumer grade stuff now and i love using it on the 70D in the field or at home (if i had a choice for field i would use nfc or even bluetooth but i don't). We should see Canon loading all their future gear with at least nfc and wifi though, the days of the "can't do wifi because of mag alloy body blah blah on the 7d2" excuse is not acceptable anymore.

Very informative, thanks!

 

[Maui5150]

As far as I know Bluetooth has less range than wifi but I'm not sure if recent advancements have improved that (5-30m). The low energy tech sounds like Bluetooth 4.0 which is the latest (can't find anywhere on the site where it says for sure). If the device is on your person it'll be fine but I question if it would penetrate several floors / walls.

Bandwidth is also lower than wifi but for transferring JPEGs it should be fine. Wonder how it would hold up under full on 10fps or more? Might be a slight lag there. For back up purposes speed is mostly irrelevant.

I kind of want to test my 6D wifi range now!

Thanks, Zv.

This is a really nice feature. Would be great to take a RAW image with the camera, get that sent to the mobile as a jpeg. If the camera could add a watermark/copyright notice then even better. That image could then be uploaded very quickly to wherever/whoever needed it immediately, and you still have the RAW to use later. I would very this very, very useful.

And for personal shots, if you are out taking shots with your friend / wife / whoever is next to you, it could (potentially) be set up to send the pictures to both her and your phone at the same time, saving you time later sending them to her. Brilliant.

Transfer speed is key - especially with RAW. Easy to shoot 10 images in a minute or two... and hey, that is 250MB that then has to move over.

Given I can easily fill 16GB card during a shoot. Can be nice in someways, impractical in others. I can see many thinking of this as a great in place backup system, until you do a big shoot and then have an hour plus to wait for rest of images to transfer

 

[expatinasia]

As far as I know Bluetooth has less range than wifi but I'm not sure if recent advancements have improved that (5-30m). The low energy tech sounds like Bluetooth 4.0 which is the latest (can't find anywhere on the site where it says for sure). If the device is on your person it'll be fine but I question if it would penetrate several floors / walls.

Bandwidth is also lower than wifi but for transferring JPEGs it should be fine. Wonder how it would hold up under full on 10fps or more? Might be a slight lag there. For back up purposes speed is mostly irrelevant.

I kind of want to test my 6D wifi range now!

Thanks, Zv.

This is a really nice feature. Would be great to take a RAW image with the camera, get that sent to the mobile as a jpeg. If the camera could add a watermark/copyright notice then even better. That image could then be uploaded very quickly to wherever/whoever needed it immediately, and you still have the RAW to use later. I would very this very, very useful.

And for personal shots, if you are out taking shots with your friend / wife / whoever is next to you, it could (potentially) be set up to send the pictures to both her and your phone at the same time, saving you time later sending them to her. Brilliant.

Transfer speed is key - especially with RAW. Easy to shoot 10 images in a minute or two... and hey, that is 250MB that then has to move over.

Given I can easily fill 16GB card during a shoot. Can be nice in someways, impractical in others. I can see many thinking of this as a great in place backup system, until you do a big shoot and then have an hour plus to wait for rest of images to transfer

I think you are right. Perhaps it is all down to the flexibility of the app. I would be very happy if the app would allow me to manually select an image for transfer and do it that way.

For example you take a few shots with the DSLR, sit down select the one to be sent to your phone and send. That would be perfect for me.

In all honesty I do not need every picture sent just those that I need to upload to social media for work, or perhaps to clients for opinion / approval, and those few which are very special as back up etc. This would cut down on the problem of sending GBs of pics over.

 

[expatinasia]

To get photos off the camera you can, of course, copy files from the card(s). However, the D500 also includes Nikon's new SnapBridge technology that utilizes a bluetooth connection between the camera and a smart device, such as a mobile phone. Once paired, SnapBridge provides an 'always on' connection to the camera and supports features such as automatic upload of images and the ability to embed GPS data from a phone into EXIF data. Also, thanks to NFC it's possible to perform 'tap to connect' procedure to pair a device. This is similar to the system Samsung has implemented on recent NX cameras and we're looking forward to using SnapBridge on the Nikons.

A little more info on this new SnapBridge technology.

Source: DPReview: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/4531466610/top-5-hands-on-with-nikon-d500?slide=5

Can't wait for this to be seriously tested and pushed to its limits with reviews etc.