Got a WFT-E3A

[umbra]

I just recieved my WFT-E3A wireless grip today. I got images of it at http://gallery.mac.com/tristanmolina#100035. There are images of the grip itself as well as the configuration screens on the 40D. I've seen a few questions on the net about this grip and I will try to answer some of the questions.

Q. Will this power a USB hard drive?
A. Only answer I can give is that it did, indeed, power MY portable USB hard drive. I have a Western Digital 250gb 2.5" portable hard drive and it powered it. As a "bonus" Canon threw in a nylon case with strap that fits my hard drive perfectly.

Q. Can you, say, save a JPG to the card and RAW file to the hard drive separately at the same time and vice versa with the drive hooked up?
A. Yes you can. If you look at the last pictures in the gallery you will see where you can set this up. You can even pick where you want the preview to come from, either the card or the HD. i can see where this will be very useful for wedding photogs, sports photogs, etc.

I've only experimented with the USB side of this grip as of now. I will be messing with the networking side of this tonight as well as tomorrow. The way it looks is you can set up multiple profiles for different FTP sites. I messed with the FTP for about 5 mins and you can take a photo and have it upload straight to your website on the net.

If anyone has any questions or wants me to try anything out with this grip please let me know and I will try and answer you the best I can. I am sure that there are a few others out there that are interested in this grip.

-Tristan

[NickSimcheck]

Where, and how much?

[Rumjungle]

I didn't even know about this...very cool.

[umbra]

Its not cheap @ $749 @ pictureline.com. I preordered it about a month ago when it was announced. BTW this ONLY works with the 40D.

[arrgeebee]

Where, and how much?

Hmm,, I can't find it in stock anywhere. I thihk it is supposed to be in the $800 range.

[umbra]

Its $749 with free ground shipping from:

http://www.pictureline.com/products/14902/Canon_WFT-E3A_Wireless_File_Transmitter_(40D)/

Norman Camera had them in stock as well earlier this week. Their price I think is $799

[timnosenzo]

Its not cheap @ $749 @ pictureline.com.

:shock::shock:

does sound pretty cool, though... :o

[Lightstream]

How's the build quality and feel compared to the BG-E2? (apologies if you don't have a BG-E2). It looks a bit better designed and built. I also suspect that it would attach more securely to the camera because of how small the pins there are: wouldn't be good if the grip moves around..

[umbra]

How's the build quality and feel compared to the BG-E2? (apologies if you don't have a BG-E2). It looks a bit better designed and built. I also suspect that it would attach more securely to the camera because of how small the pins there are: wouldn't be good if the grip moves around..

The pins are actually longer. You can check that out from the link in my first post. I do have a BG-E2 on my 30D. It fits pretty much the same. The front of it is "tapered" to fit with the body lines of the 40D. Its not loose and the fit is quite snug. The thumbwheel that locks it onto the body is only exposed on the backside. I did some more messing around with wireless and it works quite well in FTP and PTP. The transfer of files over wireless is as would be expected. It takes about as long to transfer a RAW file from camera to the computer as it would transferring the same file from computer to computer over wireless. I do like being able to shoot a photo and have it go to a folder on my website via FTP automatically.

I tried the grip with my GPS. Its a Garmin GPSMap 60CSx. That works quite well too. With the GPS plugged into the USB port on the grip it automatically enters the your coordinates into the exif information.

$749 seems a bit high for a grip, but with all the features that are added made it worth it to me.

-T

[_aravena]

What the heck is that thing on the bottom? A grip? How's it work? I think that'd be the first question answered.

They gave a case for the grip? Interesting but I guess it makes sense. The ability to send pics to a hard drive is amazing. Carry around how ever much memory you want now. They need something more powerful than a 2000mah battery though now. I want a 3000 ! :D

[nutsnbolts]

This is awesome. The price is still a bit high. Around 500 I wouldn't mind and less than that I wouldn't budge.

On the other hand, can you transfer the pictures in your CF card wirelessly instead of using a reader?

[umbra]

This is awesome. The price is still a bit high. Around 500 I wouldn't mind and less than that I wouldn't budge.

On the other hand, can you transfer the pictures in your CF card wirelessly instead of using a reader?

Yup. You can select what pics you want to transfer and send them wireless to your PC via FTP or with the EOS Utility. I would still use a reader if you had to transfer, say, 2gb worth of pics. Remember this grip transfers over wireless with 802.11G which has a theoretical max of 54mbps. Your USB 2.0 reader will transfer at a theoretical max of 480mbps. If you had a USB hard drive plugged into it while took pics you could have them go straight to the hard drive. You can have jpgs go to the compact flash card and raw files go to the hd...

[umbra]

What the heck is that thing on the bottom? A grip? How's it work? I think that'd be the first question answered.

They gave a case for the grip? Interesting but I guess it makes sense. The ability to send pics to a hard drive is amazing. Carry around how ever much memory you want now. They need something more powerful than a 2000mah battery though now. I want a 3000 ! :D

Battery life is something I am going to testing this weekend. With this grip there is only one battery that is in the camera which, I'm sure, limits the camera to life with one battery. One pain in the ol a is you have to remove the grip to change the battery that is in the camera. You need a second battery to power the grip.

The grip came with a case. It also came with a carry case I'm guessing you use to carry around a 2.5mm external hard drive. My WD external drive fit into it perfectly. There is a cutout on the top of the flap so your USB cable fits through and they included some rubber "stress relief" that you put on the end of the USB cable that connects to the grip. Im guessing this is for stress relief and another form of weather sealing when the cover is lifted and a cable is plugged in.

[NickSimcheck]

You can use liveview and shoot wirelessly using a computer also, can't you?

[umbra]

You can use liveview and shoot wirelessly using a computer also, can't you?

Yes you can.

[unferth]

....Someone posted that with a fast cf card they got a burst of 20 raw files...

Is there a limit if you're writing everything to the hd?

[umbra]

....Someone posted that with a fast cf card they got a burst of 20 raw files...

Is there a limit if you're writing everything to the hd?

I'm going to be testing that this weekend. I will let you you what I come up with :).

[bobrock111565]

Does anyone know if the WFT-E1 wireless transmitter works with the 5D? Some online sites say it's only for the 1Ds, but others list it as being compatible with the 5D.

Thanks,
Bob

[simwells]

going off of this http://www.canon.co.uk/Images/14_127385.pdf

It should work with the IDs II, 1D II N, 1D II, 5D, 30D and 20D

[bobrock111565]

Thanks very much.

Bob

going off of this http://www.canon.co.uk/Images/14_127385.pdf

It should work with the IDs II, 1D II N, 1D II, 5D, 30D and 20D

[scottykm]

So in real terms, how quick to wirelessly transfer a picture, eg, you release the shutter, how long until its saved on the PC and on screen?

[bobrock111565]

I've seen demonstrations of this....tethered is pretty quick (maybe only about 5 seconds or so). But wireless there is a bit longer delay. I would say about 15 seconds after the initial shutter trip.

[scottykm]

still quick enough for slow time function stuff

[muycheapo]

could you please tell me if you can manually control the focus, aperture, and shutter speed remotely through their software?

thanks

[JasonSTL739]

Excellent post.

I'm curious about using this in the studio and on location with laptops. Let's assume a wireless network, though you would probably be able to use ad-hoc wireless directly from the grip to the laptop.

If you were say, shooting an event; or you shoot a string of ten images.... how long does it take to show up on screen, or at least get them all to the computer?

I'm highly curious about the speed of using it with wireless to your PC/laptop. Particuarly if you shoot a bunch of shots quickly... Any testing you could do? I'd basically go buy a 40D and this grip specifically for this if it is fast enough. This also assumes that it would write the images to the CF card at the same time of course. I don't really have any interest in the hard drive, those little portables fail way too often to trust them with images. There is a great business case for us with a few shooters at an event for this integrated grip wireless...

[bobrock111565]

To my knowledge, the images will continue to steam to the laptop while you're shooting. Most people use this for "instant" viewing with a client (much more accurate view than the LCD on the camera). But if you are not taking time out to view with client, then I would guess that by the time you finish shooting, and get back over to the computer, it's only a minute or less to finish up the last couple shots. But the previously shot images will all be there and accessible. I've seen this demonstrated and it appeared that's how it worked. Not instant...but about 15 seconds later the shot appeared. Now if you are shooting hundreds of images continuously, then perhaps the transfer might back up a bit. That I can't answer. But if you have pauses between shots, I think the transfer will pretty much keep up with your shooting. But further research should be taken by you. Don't hold me to this.

[JasonSTL739]

To my knowledge, the images will continue to steam to the laptop while you're shooting. Most people use this for "instant" viewing with a client (much more accurate view than the LCD on the camera). But if you are not taking time out to view with client, then I would guess that by the time you finish shooting, and get back over to the computer, it's only a minute or less to finish up the last couple shots. But the previously shot images will all be there and accessible. I've seen this demonstrated and it appeared that's how it worked. Not instant...but about 15 seconds later the shot appeared. Now if you are shooting hundreds of images continuously, then perhaps the transfer might back up a bit. That I can't answer. But if you have pauses between shots, I think the transfer will pretty much keep up with your shooting. But further research should be taken by you. Don't hold me to this.

Interesting. Well, if it is wireless G and the base is fairly close - you should be able to transfer in theory 5MB/second to the laptop with the 54Mbps that G can do.

Let's see, shooting with a 4GB card.... So 4096MB of images - if say 4MB/second, you'd need about 1000 seconds - or just 20 minutes to transfer that to a computer. Interesting. This just might work pretty freakin' well.

[bobrock111565]

Interesting. Well, if it is wireless G and the base is fairly close - you should be able to transfer in theory 5MB/second to the laptop with the 54Mbps that G can do.

Let's see, shooting with a 4GB card.... So 4096MB of images - if say 4MB/second, you'd need about 1000 seconds - or just 20 minutes to transfer that to a computer. Interesting. This just might work pretty freakin' well.
Yeah, but don't get hung up on the "transfer rate". In the real world, there's lots of "pauses" and "hiccups", as you know. The hardware usually takes a few seconds to "ping" out first to find any takers nearby, then wait for an answer before beginning transfer. And the receiving laptop software must respond and then check it's settings to make sure a destination is selected to store the files, and then what action it should take (open a program like Lightroom, etc...). Anyway, what I'm saying is there's a lot of back and forth going on before the actual "transfer" takes place. So don't cling too tightly to the transfer speed specs. But you're right...it sounds very workable.

[JasonSTL739]

Yeah, but don't get hung up on the "transfer rate". In the real world, there's lots of "pauses" and "hiccups", as you know. The hardware usually takes a few seconds to "ping" out first to find any takers nearby, then wait for an answer before beginning transfer. And the receiving laptop software must respond and then check it's settings to make sure a destination is selected to store the files, and then what action it should take (open a program like Lightroom, etc...). Anyway, what I'm saying is there's a lot of back and forth going on before the actual "transfer" takes place. So don't cling too tightly to the transfer speed specs. But you're right...it sounds very workable.

Not worried about the lightroom delay - just getting the images there. Even a 5+ minute delay would be OK for what we are thinking.

What I'm really after here is during a live shoot, or at an event; having images show up to my assistant and her being able to sort through the images. We show models/people/etc images right away out of the camera, and having this ability would be pretty sweet. On the event side we could have someone grabbing images from the event live and pushing them to the A/V system in some of the clubs we are involved in with events. That could be crazy cool.

If you are transfering multiple files it wouldn't need to through that whole process that often. I image it will logon to the FTP site and would keep that connection open if you had continuous files to transfer. Main thing is in theory is the wireless fast enough to keep up at all. It appears to be... and that is stellar. It is enough where I think I need to get a 40D and this grip and play with it.

Damn, this is cool. I wish the 5D had this - wonder if the wireless grip thing will be available for the upcoming replacement for 5D? I'm also surprised you have to have an external module for the Mark III to do this...

[bobrock111565]

I wish the 5D had this - wonder if the wireless grip thing will be available for the upcoming replacement for 5D?

But if you look back earlier in this thread...the WFT-E1 SHOULD work with the 5D. That's what got me started on this. But I have not personally checked yet to make sure.

[JasonSTL739]

But if you look back earlier in this thread...the WFT-E1 SHOULD work with the 5D. That's what got me started on this. But I have not personally checked yet to make sure.

Right - however it isn't integrated with the grip.... that is key.

I nearly always shoot hand held, something hanging on the camera isn't acceptible.

[Redhans]

With the WFT-E3 being the first mainstream device to actually put GPS coordinates directly into the exif I am totally surprised that people aren't all over this issue. I want to know what kind of GPS units this is going to work with. Obviously with a 50 lb camera system ;), the smaller the better...does it, for example work with the watch form GPS unit from Garmin (http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/us/ontofitness/forerunnerseries)? What about those little GPS receivers without LCDs that a lot of people use with their PDAs for navigation. (I, for example have a tiny Wintec (http://www.wintec.com.tw/en/product.php?cate_id=22)WTB 100 that I would love to use with this unit.) Oh yeah, and that little file transfer trick looks cool too. :p

[Riverlander]

Yikes this thing is expensive. I have only found one supplier here in Oz and it is $949AU - just a tad too much!!
Most people seem to miss the fact that the connection from this grip to the 40D is NOT through the battery compartment. The camera continues to use its own battery and this grip uses another (inside it) to run all its bits and pieces. As mentioned, this means that you have to remove the grip if you need to change the battery in the camera -- a few hundred pics later.

[umbra]

With the WFT-E3 being the first mainstream device to actually put GPS coordinates directly into the exif I am totally surprised that people aren't all over this issue. I want to know what kind of GPS units this is going to work with. Obviously with a 50 lb camera system ;), the smaller the better...does it, for example work with the watch form GPS unit from Garmin (http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/us/ontofitness/forerunnerseries)? What about those little GPS receivers without LCDs that a lot of people use with their PDAs for navigation. (I, for example have a tiny Wintec (http://www.wintec.com.tw/en/product.php?cate_id=22)WTB 100 that I would love to use with this unit.) Oh yeah, and that little file transfer trick looks cool too. :p

Mine works with a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx handheld. I have a Qstarz Q1200 logger coming that Im going to try with the grip and see if that works. I have tried it with one of those Holux GPS Slim240 recievers and that did not work with the grip. Im thinking that the grip needs a reciever that logs in order to work with it which is why Im going to try the Qstarz. I will put my findings in this thread after I mess with it.

[ben_r_]

Bumping this thread... Well what did you find for a small GPS unit that works?

[JimA]

Have you actually tried this? The Canon reps tell me that the PTP mode does not work at this time. I got one of these for Christmas! I have tried FTP and HTTP modes with great success. The manual for the EOS utility was not on my utility disk. After several phone calls, I got a rep who lead me to the file on the Canon site and I downloaded it only to find it was password protected and could not print a copy for my use. They finally agreed to try and get a hard copy in the mail. With any luck I may actually have it in a couple of weeks. Where did you get the manual?

[JimA]

This concerns my previous post. It did not appear where I thought it would. I'm new here and haven't yet learned how to work this thing. The question was about using live view in PTP mode. I'm told by the Canon reps that despite what the manual says, the live view is not yet operational. I hope you have found this to be incorrect. I'm partially, and hope temporarily, handicapped. I had hope to use this as a remote viewer to get out side shots. Can you verify that you have actually used the live view in the PTP mode?

[umbra]

Ooops...forgot about this thread. To answer the questions after my last post:

Ben_r - the grip did NOT work with the Qstarz logger. It does indeed work with my hand held Garmin flawlessly.

JimA - It has been a while since I tried PTP mode with the grip. I have been mainly using the grip with a USB drive plugged into it and for instant upload to my FTP server when I'm on the road. I will test out what you posted and see if what you want works tomorrow.

PS..I dunno why the guys earlier hi-jacked this thread with the WFT-E1 posts...since the topic of this thread has to do with the WFT-E3A...

[JimA]

I have already checked it out and it does work! I don't know what the Canon rep was thinking. I got it working easily. I have a WD160 gig USB drive like your 250. I had a lock up with it in place a few days ago and haven't gotten back to it to see if there was just a temporary glich or something worse. It seemed to be working fine until the lock up.

As you know, I just got mine for Christmas and am still experimenting with the various capabilities. Just about have worked my way through it and am anxious for decent weather so I can get outside more.

Thanks for responding..JimA

PS:I am a retired elec eng prof so I have a tech side.

[umbra]

Glad to see you got it working! I thought that it worked but I only fiddled with the PTP a little just to see if it worked. I mainly got the grip to transfer pics straight from my camera to my FTP site and for the external storage. The external storage feature works great and worked flawlessly for me when I was in Vegas for CES last week. I used the external to store my RAW images and had jpgs stored locally on the CF card. When I got back to my hotel room I had the jpgs upload from the camera to my FTP site so the guys in my office could see some of the stuff I saw out there.

As a side note...I cant wait till im like you, but retired Network/Systems Engineer...unfortunately I got about 15 years to go...

[spyboy]

I got my 40D and WFT-E3A back in December.

I tried it with a few gps's I own with mixed results..

Garmin eTrex Legend (serial connection, used a serial to usb convertor) = didn't work

Garmin Forerunner 305 gps watch (usb connection) didn't work

Garmin StreetPilot C330 car gps - usb port - worked instantly! (but I'm not walking around with my car gps, telling me to turn in 30 feet, while I'm taking pictures)

Garmin Colorado 400t - I just bought this one to replace my Legend & Forerunner (since it has heart rate monitor capabilities). It does NOT support any type of streaming output, it just writes a .gpx data file. This is very disappointing, it even has NMEA mode in the settings, but for what purpose?

So, I guess from reading these forums (and some gps forums) I'll be returning my 400t and getting the 60 csx.

[spyboy]

I got my Garmin GPSmap 60csx on friday and hooked it up to the WFT-E3A and it worked right away.

Returned the Colorado 400t to REI today, and got my $600 back.

The 60csx seems to be a faster gps anyway, much more responsive.

Has anyone rigged up a hot shoe mount to hold the gps? I don't want to put velcro on my 40D.

[24Peter]

Not really interested in the GPS function, but would be very interested in using this to transfer pics to my laptop directly while shooting (is that an ad hoc network?), or to my desktop PC via wireless G router while shooting. Anyone have experience doing that? How does it work? How fast do the files transfer.

[spyboy]

You can transfer camera to laptop (ad-hoc) or through a router (infrastructure)

I've have a few issues with connecting on my Linksys router, but it's getting the settings right with security on the router. Unfortunately the PDF manual for the WFT-E3A is very lacking for instructions on connections.

Speed is 802.11g so 54mbps. I haven't had alot of time to work with the wifi unit in the studio (my pc is running Vista 64bit, and I'm waiting for my new laptop to arrive - XP 32bit.)

Live view does work over wireless, with full camera control.

Kirk

[umbra]

Just an FYI, grab the WFT-E3 Utility 3.2.1 from the download section of the 40D on the Canon EOS site for setting up your grip. It is by far easier to set up your grip with the utility than on the camera itself.

[ellectronico]

Very informative thanks guys!

[rhett]

How does the GPS physically connect to the WFT-E3A? I would love the wireless capabilities, but I am more interested in the GPS functionality. I am wondering if a serial link could be initiated directly with the camera body itself, if you used the WFT-E3A software to configure the link. I found a link that explains how to build a serial cable for the 40D here:

http://www.covingtoninnovations.com/dslr/CanonRelease40D.html


The difference between that solution and a hot-shoe style device is that it would go ahead and populate the EXIF info with the GPS coordinates instead of having to run it as post processing.

[umbra]

You connect a compatible GPS device to the USB port thats on the grip not the serial port. With the GPS connected it automatically populates the coordinates in the images exif.

[photodd]

UMBRA, still haven't heard how much time it took to wirelessly send a shot from camera to computer. Hopefully you have tested this?

[umbra]

UMBRA, still haven't heard how much time it took to wirelessly send a shot from camera to computer. Hopefully you have tested this?

Ooops sorry...I will time this when I get home tonight. I will test both RAW and large/fine jpg for you. I'm sure the time will be about the same as transferring any file that size over wireless, longer for RAW since its uncompressed. I have a Draft-N router but the grip is only G...

[tdodd]

I don't think I missed this link being posted here, but Cameralabs have reviewed the WFT-E3 and prepared a video of it, together with information on transfer speeds, GPS connection etc..

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Canon_WFT_E3A/

http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Canon_WFT_E3A/video_review.shtml

[Steve56303]

Hello,

Several posts here have said that you can do wireless live view and then take a pic.

I have the 40D and a WFT-E3A. I've set it up on both Apple (10.5.2) and WIn (xp sp2) systems. In the EOS Utility I have a pane where all the camera settings are (ISO, Av, etc). I can press the shutter and take a photo.

However, I'm clearly missing something. How does one see a "live view" on the laptop?

thanks much for you time and thoughts.

[tdodd]

On Windows you need to set the WFT unit to PTP mode. On the PC end you must have set up WFT Pairing and you must have the WFT Pairing software running, as a "server". That will establish a link just like a USB connection and you can use all the features of remote capture with EOS Utility, including remote live view.

I've no idea what you need to do on the Mac - I assume something similar, if not identical.

EDIT : Sorry - you can already do that much - I really ought to read posts properly before replying. To get Live View running, at the bottom of the EOS Utility Remote Capture window there are four little icons. The first is for email (I think), the second to turn image preview off/on, the third for Live View and the last one for taking a test shot. Just click the third one and off you go. Seemingly, you cannot turn off Live View with this button - you have to close the Live View window.

[Steve56303]

Hello,

Thanks. Can't believe I missed that.

Of note for others the Mac version of the software has 2 buttons along the bottom. It is the right hand one that goes to live view. On the PC version is the is third button as tdodd said.

I'm practicing with this wired with the Canon USB cable for know - I'll take a shot at the wireless tonight.

[Steve56303]

Hello,

Another question for the wft experts here. :)

If I set up the camera to do wireless PTP then I can control it from the computer, but it seems that the file is mandatorily sent wirelessly to the camera.

If I use FTP I can choose to send just a small jpeg to the computer and write a RAW file to the CF card. This suits my needs much better as the transfer times are much faster - I can see that the file looks good on the computer screen and get the RAW files off of the card later with a firewire cable.

What I would prefer, however, is to be able to use EOS Utility to remotely control the camera (i.e. PTP) but have it keep the RAW file on the CF card and only send the small jpeg.

Is this possible?

thanks,

Steve

[tdodd]

The option to do what you want is greyed out in PTP mode, so it seems unlikely there is a way round it. On the plus side, in my experience, if you shoot raw + jpeg the jpeg will come across over the airwaves first, so you can get a preview quickly - about a second for a small jpeg. The raw will then have to grind its way across and that is another 7-8 seconds or so.

Maybe transfers would be quicker if you connected directly between the camera and the laptop in ad-hoc mode, rather than via a router. With a router in the equation you've got data transferring first from camera to router and then again from router to laptop. If it's all wireless connections then your theoretical 54Mbps connection is going to have twice the work to do, plus no doubt a bit extra for overheads and clashes. I've had ad-hoc up and running but I have not tried any performance tests to see if it is quicker. Another thing with ad-hoc is I guess it is likely the camera and laptop will be far closer together than camera-router-laptop, so again there should be a speed increase through proximity improvement.

[Steve56303]

Hello,

Thanks for the reply.

I figured that greyed out meant no, but good to ask.

I have mine hooked up ad hoc. I too haven't compared speed, but I'm using it outdoors and so a router would take a little more work to set up. Just having the camera and laptop is easier for me. Although I expect a router might increase the distance that the two (camera, laptop) could be separated. I might try that this weekend with an old UPS as a power source for the router and take them outside and see.

[tomdlgns]

what is the thin black strip of plastic that is attached to the grip? it looks like you take that off when you mount it to your camera.

[tdodd]

There's the hard, moulded cover, which protects the contacts and locating pins on the grip, when it is not in use, and there is also a little rectangular "rubber" seal on the camera, protecting its contacts, which needs to be removed from the camera and stored on the grip while the grip is being used.