Configuring and using the Canon WFT-E2A WiFi Transmitter on a Mac OS X system
According to Canon's documentation, the WFT-E2A transmitter can be operated in one of three network protocols, FTP, PTP and HTTP. But what does that mean? I'm familiar with these protocols in the general sense but I really couldn't appreciate their implementation on the WFT-E2A transmitter until I had a chance to play with one this weekend.
The purpose of this thread is not to review the WFT-E2A transmitter although I may do that some time in the near future. What this thread will attempt to do is to explain how to configure the WFT-E2A transmitter and your computer for each of the three networking protocols (in three thread installments, one thread for each protocol).
WFT-E2A Uses
In order to appreciate the three protocols implemented on the WFT-E2A transmitter, you need to have some idea of what you want to use the transmitter for.
Below are brief descriptions of each protocol and their more common usage.
1) FTP - Transferring images from camera to computer automatically while shooting or by selecting or batching after shooting.
Useful for event photographers who need to send the images off to a central location for processing and/or printing as soon as possible.
2) PTP - Controlling and shooting a remote camera from a computer with the captured images getting downloaded to the computer immediately after shooting. Useful for studio photographer who want to shoot "tethered" (tethering can be wired or wireless).
3) HTTP - Accessing the images in the camera storage cards using an internet web browser. Camera can also be triggered, but not controlled, remotely using the web browser without the need to start up a proprietary program like the EOS Utility.
Because the three protocols have different configuration requirements, anybody who buys the WFT-E2A expecting to be able to take the transmitter out of the box, plug it into the camera and start shooting is going to be in for a big disappointment. Unfortunately, it's not as simple as that. But on the bright side, it's not that complicated, either, if you have some basic understanding of the networking requirements.
Hopefully, I'll be able to provide enough information to help you set up your WTF-E2A transmitter without much difficulty. The actual configuration procedure detailed later in this thread is for the Mac OS X system but the general principle should also apply to the Windows system.
Essential Networking Basics:
Network Types
The first thing you need to understand is that there are two types of network that you can connect the WFT-E2A transmitter to. They are the Infrastructure network and the peer-to-peer ad hoc network:
1) Infrastructure network - A pre-established home or business network with one or more network routers and/or access points and devices, like computers and other "intelligent" devices (PDAs, cameras, etc), that talk to each other over the network.
2) Ad hoc peer-to-peer network - An ad hoc network connection between two or more computers and/or "intelligent" devices.
An infrastructure network is a permanent network while an ad hoc network is usually set up temporarily.
Network Addresses
Another thing that you need to know about relating to networks is that each and every device connected to a network needs to have a unique address. An analogy is a telephone network where each phone, discounting the extensions, on the phone network has a unique phone number associated with it. The address assigned to network devices are referred to as the IP address.
An IP address can be assigned permanently to a particular network device or it can be assigned temporarily. When an IP address is permanently assign to a device, any other device on the network can communicate with that device once the address is known.
When an IP address is assigned temporarily, all the other devices that want to communicate with that device will need to acquire the latest address assigned to it before communications can begin. Fortunately, there is one device on the network, called the DNS server, whose job is to keep track of all temporary IP addresses assigned to devices on the network so that the other devices do not have to. They just go to the DNS server for the IP address when they need to talk to another device. All that's needed to get the correct IP address of a device on the network is the device name. Using the telephone analogy, this would be like calling the operator and getting a person's phone number using the person's name as a reference. The significance for this will be seen later when we go through the procedure of configuring the WFT-E2A transmitter for a PTP session in an infrastructure network.
One final note about the network is that devices can be physically connected to the network using an ethernet cable or wirelessly using RF (radio frequency). Devices that are connected wirelessly to a network make up their own sub-network that is identified by a unique name called the SSID (Service Set Identifier).
You have to make sure that the IP addresses and SSID, if applicable, are specified correctly during the configuration of the WFT-E2A transmitter to ensure a trouble-free setup!
>> cont'd >>
