I need advice from anyone with experience of the WT-4 wireless transmitter used with a D800 with WiFi transmission to Nikon Camera Control 2 software, installed in Mac OS 10.
D800 works fine when hard wired to the Mac with USB cable but a constant pain when using the WT-4. Most of the time the Camera Control does not recognise the camera, all firmware and software updates are installed. Have had advice from Nikon UK Support but his has not helped much, I suspect the problem is due to the Mac platform but Nikon will not confirm this. A couple of years ago i had reasonable success using the WT-4 with D700 and Windows platform. Any ideas.

I am a new member and not sure if I have done this correctly

Regards

Ron

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Ron:

Welcome to Nikonians!

I hope your time with us will be helpful.

Your first post is perfect!

I owned the WT-4 wireless unit a few years ago and tried to use it on my D3 and notebook computer for tethered use in the field. It was difficult to install (Windows platform), but I finally got it working. I used it a couple times and gave up because it was simply much to slow, compared to a USB 2 cable connection. As I recall, it took about five seconds for a RAW file to transfer using the USB 2 cable, versus almost a half a minute wireless. I finally gave it away.

I have no experience with the Mac platform, so cannot offer any suggestions. Other members may be able to help.

For field use, I have a dolly with my tripod mounted on it, and an accessory arm on the head. One side of the arm has a tray for the notebook computer, and the other side can hold one or two cameras. There is a second tray on the dolly that holds a custom battery that I had built that will drive the notebook for several days as full screen brightness. Everything I need can be rolled around sidewalks, parking lots, etc. without worrying about tripping over anything.

If you are interested, I will post a couple images of this configuration.

Thanks again for joining us.

Regards,

HBB in Phoenix, Arizona
Nikonian Team Member

Photography is a journey with no conceivable destination.

Hi HBB
Thanks for the reply, I think that I will follow you and get rid of the expensive but useless WT-4. As a further point of interest I have just bought a CamRanger to use with my iPad and it works a treat, even does HDR and focus stitch, I am now playing around with a bracket for my tripod to hold the iPad. Would be interested in images of your configuration

Regards

Ron

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Ron:

Wireless is simply not fast enough yet. Now that I am shooting with a D3X (24 megapixels) and D800E (36 megapixels) it would be even slower.

Attached are three images of my mobile rig, shot one night at a law enforcement session. I initially tried a clamp on the tripod leg to support a tray for the notebook computer. It simply wasn't stable enough. It took about a year of trial and error to come up with the current configuration, which has been used many times with no problems.

The Manfrotto studio dolly came with different wheels, and I exchanged them for the ones seen in the image as they were a bit softer. I can roll the rig around rough parking lots, streets, and sidewalks without worrying about excessive vibration.

The tripod is a Gitzo carbon fiber. The accessory arm is Manfrotto. The ball head holding the camera and the L-bracket are RRS. I don't remember where the trays came from, but several companies offer them. The notebook computer is held in place on the tray with a long strip of Velcro. The mouse is wireless.

The battery is a motorcycle battery in a battery box, and was custom built for me at a local battery shop. It includes two outlets, charger cable receptacle, is fused, and has a digital meter for checking voltage.

Hope this helps a bit.

Regards,

HBB in Phoenix, Arizona
Nikonian Team Member

Photography is a journey with no conceivable destination.

Attachment #1, (jpg file)
Attachment #2, (jpg file)
Attachment #3, (jpg file)

>Wireless is simply not fast enough yet. Now that I am
>shooting with a D3X (24 megapixels) and D800E (36 megapixels)
>it would be even slower.

Absolutely agree. However wireless can be useful in a limited role. When I am doing studio portraiture (D4) I shoot raw +jpeg basic and use my WT-4A to send the jpeg-basic files to my laptop for client review. That works fine for me. When the clients get over to the laptop the images are already there. Could also be used the same way at an event where the images are projected on a screen as they are taken. I see no real application for transferring raw files.

Places We Have Been

www.peppermill-multimedia.com

Luke:

Thanks for dropping in. Nice to hear from you again.

I shoot exclusively in RAW mode and have no need for JPEG files. It makes things easier for me in file management and post processing if I don't have to keep separate original RAW and JPEG files. My three folders in post processing under the session folder are "Originals" where the RAW files live, "Processed" for finished images, and "WEB" for the occasional Nikonian and other JPEG files, as needed.

By sending the RAW files to the notebook computer I am also capturing another backup set.

If I were doing a lot of studio photography with the D3X and D800E with their larger RAW files, I would likely consider using JPEG. I haven't tried shooting tethered with the D800E yet, but am guessing, based on transfer time for the D3, that a RAW file transfer via USB cable will be about twenty seconds or less.

From another perspective, plugging in a simple USB cable to the camera is a lot cleaner and tidier than attaching the WT-4 unit. The law enforcement shoots can get a bit "dynamic" at times, and anything that is not "bolted down", so to speak, can be at risk. As mentioned earlier, it took about a year to work through configuration details over several sessions to arrive at the rig shown above.

Regards,

HBB in Phoenix, Arizona
Nikonian Team Member

Photography is a journey with no conceivable destination.

So Hal, did the motorcycle cop pull over your tripod for speeding?

8o}

"Today is the tomorrow that yesterday you spent money like there was no"

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Hal

I agree with your thoughts on JPEGs. I discard them after client review and only retain the raw versions for archive and further processing. The current bodies are very competent shooting JPEG. I recently did a shoot where I shot JPEG by mistake. (I should never set my camera up without wearing my glasses.) My D4 did a superb job with the JPEGs and no harm was done. I started digital with the D1 and I couldn't really live with the JPEGs it produced, so I have been a raw shooter ever since. Old habits die hard, I guess, 'cause most of the time the JPEGs are just fine.

Places We Have Been

www.peppermill-multimedia.com

Dan:

That's funny!

The top speed of my mobile rig is classified, for obvious reasons.

The photo shoot that night was the Impaired Driver Enforcement van where they process the DUI drivers that have been detained. My wife and a friend of ours agreed to be "suspects" that night. The motorcycle belonged to an officer that "detained" my wife and was escorting her into the van for processing.

See image below.

Thanks for the chuckle Dan.

Regards,

HBB in Phoenix, Arizona
Nikonian Team Member

Photography is a journey with no conceivable destination.

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

Luke:

Some old habits cannot be killed, no matter how hard I try!

Agreed: Image quality continues to improve in all formats as the hardware and software technologies continue their often explosive evolutionary paths.

Another reason for shooting exclusively in RAW is that I like to make large prints, and I'm afraid I might make your mistake sometime: Not paying attention and shooting a complex law enforcement session in JPEG. Over the ten-plus years photographing law enforcement officers, I have never had to reshoot a session because of a camera setup mistake. I don't want to push my luck.

It is a challenge to see how much resolution and color fidelity I can drag through the workflow to a finished 24 x 36 inch print hanging on a wall. I probably border on obsessive/compulsive with this pursuit. (It keeps my local photography friends amused, and me challenged and off the streets.)

Regards,

HBB in Phoenix, Arizona
Nikonian Team Member

Photography is a journey with no conceivable destination.

HBB
Thanks for images of your set-up, vey impressive but a bit OTT for me, however has given me some ideas, Will aim for simple sturdy iPad platform for tripod/USB use, with hand held iPad when tethered wirelessly using CamRanger, camera likely to be located in a lower bed or similar.

Ron

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