Wi-Pics still in business?

[Terry Zorich]

Originally Posted by ChrisPerry

Why can't some enterprising fellow take one of these Belkin : Wireless G USB Network Adapter that costs $35 and add a simple circuit or chip to fool the camera into thinking it's tethered.

For all I know this alone may work....I may have to see if I have the cords to give it a go!

Even if that worked, I don't think it would be anywere near fast enough for me; it couldn't keep up with nine or ten per MINUTE, for example. On most event days, I'm shooting a lot more than that.

I like the option of the USB port on Canon's new transmitter; with the 1DM3 it reportedly allows the photographer to connect a USB device and have the images written to that external device instead of (or presumably, in addition to) either an SD or CF card in the camera.

The Wi-Pics was special because it was available with an internal hard drive, and it could be configured so that if you shot RAW+JPG, it would transmit ONLY the JPG files. If I'd gotten one, for event work, I'd have shot RAW+SmallJPG, and done all our selling from the small JPG files transmitted back to our trailer, and all the order fulfilment from the RAW files.

I'm sad to see them go.

[ThomasSapiano]

Originally Posted by ChrisPerry

Why can't some enterprising fellow take one of these Belkin : Wireless G USB Network Adapter that costs $35 and add a simple circuit or chip to fool the camera into thinking it's tethered.

For all I know this alone may work....I may have to see if I have the cords to give it a go!

The problem is that the intelligence of these transmitters is in the units themselves and not in the camera. A wireless network adapter is a relatively simple device - the host computer tells it what to do (via the driver), and it simply handles the transmission of the data that is fed to it. Even if you could connect an adapter to the camera, the camera simply wouldn't have any clue what to do with it.

These transmitters, on the other hand, are the smart part of the connection here (ie they control the camera, the camera doesn't control them) - the cameras simply make the files available, and the transmitters handle everything else. In effect, these transmitters are effectively simple computers that are tethered to the camera - they have to actively retrieve the image files, handle all networking logic (including error control) and control communication with the remote computer. While networking may seem simple at the top levels, there is a lot of complexity hidden below the surface that these devices must implement.

The wireless adapter portion of the system is relatively simple, it's the glue that fits in the middle that takes all of the work. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a niche market so the costs of engineering and testing that custom equipment must be spread over a relatively small group of people which drives costs up. Canon and Nikon have been playing with this technology in consumer level cameras, however, and if that does work out it should do a lot to drive their costs down (as the mass-market can spread those fixed costs over a much larger audience).


It's also important to note that USB uses a master-slave bus architecture. That is, one device (the host controller) actively manages the bus and all of the others (client devices) work under it's control. While this does have it's advantages, the primary disadvantage is that client devices can't directly communicate with one another. If you managed to connect two of them (which would be difficult as the standard wiring is mechanically designed to prevent this), they'd both wait indefinitely for instructions from a host controller. Buses like IEEE1394 and USB OTG do add this peer-to-peer capability, however the devices will still need to have the necessary logic to effectively make use of each other.

[Tony_Gamble]

Thomas,

This has just been spotted by someone on the FredMiranda forum.

Wireless USB 2.0 Extender (4-port) (Pre-Order)

Presumably your reasoning above still applies here and it is a non starter?

Tony

[ThomasSapiano]

Originally Posted by Tony_Gamble

This has just been spotted by someone on the FredMiranda forum.

Wireless USB 2.0 Extender (4-port) (Pre-Order)

Presumably your reasoning above still applies here and it is a non starter?

This is a different type of device and may work. Wireless USB systems like this simply act as a go-between - as far as the camera and computer are concerned, this device isn't any different than a standard wired USB hub.

With that said, there are some issues with devices at this juncture of the standard. Primarilly, the additional latency of the wireless link can cause problems with some devices. Whether or not this will be an issue is less of a question of the type of device, but rather the specific design of the USB hardware. I havn't tried one of these with a DSLR as of yet, but it's certainly worth a try.

The other catch is that the performance will not be anywhere near the commonly quoted 480mbps speed. That is the theoretical limit of the physical layer being used in ideal conditions, so one has to factor in protocol overheads and timing issues. A native wireless USB device can theoretically deliver up to about 320mbps (will still require perfect wireless conditions to get this). Unfortunately, devices designed for wired USB connections will max out at about ~120mbps. In the real world, you'll be much more likely to see speeds of about 20-40Mbps with conventional devices so that is a lot slower than what is bandied about by the vendors. While this is similar to what 802.11g will give you, it won't have anywhere near the same range.

In addition, the current crop of wireless USB hubs (ie the end attached to the camera) all require external power supplies. As such, they aren't exactly ideal for field use Battery powered versions may show up in the future, however this is potentially a very important consideration for many people.

[Tony_Gamble]

Thanks Thomas.

May work. Wow that's progress!!

In the meantime I forgot to mention that in the UK at the Focus on imaging show there was a Hongkong firm who said they are going to make wireless gear for all the pro cameras including canon 30D etc.

I did not speak to them but I gather it will sell for about a seventh of the canon price.

It will be about 3 months before the new wireless stuff is on show.

¡î¡îJENIS WEBSITE¡î¡î

So this should be one of our solutions.

Tony

[Paul_Idruna_Nolan]

(Vendor Suggestion) I`ve just released a new solution called IRES (Idruna Remote Editing System), that might be of use. Skipping the Remote Editing part for a minute, one of the underlying features is the ability to turn off the shelf hardware like Windows Mobile Pocket PC/Phones such as the HTC Advantage, UMPCs such as the OQO2, or even laptops, into fully featured WiFi transmitters (or even mobile or sat phone transmitters). The software supports transmitting all images via FTP or email as they are taken, just transmitting the images that you protect on the back of the camera, backing up images to another card or drive, and Bluetooth Barcode scanners for labeling files as you shoot.

The main feature however is the ability to have everything you shoot appear in your editor's web browser, in real time, anywhere in the world, even over a cell phone connection. I`ll change my marketing if there is more interest in just using it as a WiFi transmitter though!

If it doesn't do what you need, let me know, I`m always open to ideas on improving my software.
IRES - Idruna Remote Editing System

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