Nikon D4 Wireless Test

I put together a quick video demonstrating a quick test of the Nikon’s wireless networking capabilities with the WT-5 wireless transmitter. For now, I skipped over the configuration of the WT-5 and may talk more on that later, but you guys can read the manual for that – it’s pretty much like configuring any wireless device so it helps to be a bit computer savvy.

The WT-5 in http mode, either grabs an IP address from your wireless network, or you can assign it one. You also have to configure a user name and password for the camera. Once that’s all set, you just type in the camera’s IP address from any device that’s on the wireless network and voila! You can login to the camera.

When you log in, you have the option to set one device as your shooting/viewer and all other devices are just viewers. This was very smart of Nikon. Otherwise, it may be chaotic and when you hand off your iPad or give someone the login credentials, you wouldn’t necessarily want them doing anything more than just viewing the images.

You can set the camera to Live View and set the focus points with your cursor. If you’re controlling the camera via an iPad of iPhone, you just touch the screen to set the focus point. WOW! The images instantly appear on the web viewer as you shoot them. You are seeing the images from the memory card.

You have the option to see individual images or look at them in grid mode. You can also download images as you like and the images will transfer to your computer wirelessly.

I’ve only scratched the surface with this new technology but am instantly impressed. You will need a wireless network to enable this functionality. You are not necessarily tethered as the images are being written to the card, however there is a wireless camera control option that at this time I believe only works with Nikon’s Capture Pro software, a $180 extra. I wish Nikon included that software with the WT-5 but they did not.

Also, you can transfer images from the card to the computer wirelessly. When you hit Import in Lightroom 4, it will recognize the camera on your network. However, I did some preliminary testing and it does not look that you can wireless tether with Lightroom.

Lastly, the D4’s files are not recognized in Lightroom 3. Bummer. Thus, you will absolutely need to upgrade to LR4 to use the D4’s files.

I will make a video of an actual photo shoot using the D4 and wireless capabilities in the near future. In the meantime, I wanted to share this amazing new functionality as I’m testing it.

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