Is a CF -> SD on 7D (not Mark II) supported ?

[calzone]

I have a Canon 7D (not Mark II). It uses a CF slot.

Can I use an adapter like this https://www.amazon.com/Eye-Fi-Compact-A ... B001DKO7R8 to use an Eye-Fi card on my camera or is there some other reason the non-Mark II 7D is unsupported?

Thank you

[tim]

Eyefi has basically terminated support for all of their products. Can you get it working in any configuration with your camera, using the Eyefi/Keenai apps? If so, then possibly you can get it working with wifibooth...

But i'd bet against it. It's time to get a cheap wifi photobooth camera...

[calzone]

I was torn between creating a new topic under Cameras with Built-in WiFi or replying to continue this thread. I hope this was the correct choice!

I'm going to buy a new camera. Among all the compatible cameras on your list, the best values seem to be either the Nikon D5300 and the Canon T6i.

Having never run a photobooth before, I have to ask: there any reason relevant to a photobooth (or the Wifibooth app) to choose a more expensive camera than either? Based on past experience with Canon and Nikon DSLRs, image quality is fantastic even with their cheaper models, so I'm assuming that's not a factor… but things like light sensitivity, live view on the iPad, or maximum frame rate might be?

If there are no persuasive reasons to consider something else, between those two, which is preferable for Wifibooth?

[tim]

There are big reasons to choose a specific camera to use for a wifi-enabled photobooth.
The big things to look for are:

1) does the camera's wifi support only direct/camera wifi, or can it connect to a wifi router/hotspot as well (aka infrastructure mode) ? This is super important if you want to be able to be connected to the camera AND the internet, or the camera AND a printer, at the same time. Because when cameras provide wifi, they only allow ONE connection.

2) Does the camera support having the live-view (video stream) at one exposure, while the photo it takes is at another exposure? For example: if you use classic (strobe) flash, the live view exposure needs to be much "brighter" than the photo, which is when the flash fires.

I'm a Nikon shooter, but Nikon wifi is *TERRIBLE*. Canon's wifi is far, far superior, and is the only wifi that supports (1) above. So definitely choose the Canon T6i over the Nikon D5300.
If you will set up the photobooth with classic flash, then keep in mind the T6i does NOT support (2) above. You need to go to the Canon 80D level or better to support that. If your budget doesn't allow you to go better than the T6i, then you'll need to either not use live-view (which would be a major bummer, as it kills a lot of options when you don't have it), or, investigate always-on/constant lighting situations.

[calzone]

I plan to use a strobe flash that has a modeling light.
Obviously, the modeling light is not going to be near as bright…

[tim]

See if you can get a Canon 80D (or newer of that line or better) then. Great photobooth camera, very strong wifi.

[calzone]

I bought the 80D and there are some issues.

1) The lag for what we see on the iPad is choppy and slow
2) The strobe will only trigger if I push the shutter release on the camera itself. It will not fire when Wifibooth takes the picture
3) I haven't figured out how to get the iPad to show me a decent (i.e., not black) exposure when I have the correct exposure set to work with the strobe in the camera

–--------EDIT–--------

2) I found the help article on the flash not firing. That fixed the issue.
3) I found the setting on the camera to disable live view from guessing at the exposure

However, issue (1) still remains. It's not usable as a live view since what you see is about 1 second old.

[tim]

Hi,
What is the wifi setup when the live view lag appears? Does the official canon app have about the same lag?

[calzone]

Official Canon app does have lag as well. I can't be sure it's better or not, but it "feels" slightly better. Could be my imagination. I'd have to spend more time with both to more objectively interpret my impression.

[tim]

How is your wifi setup? Is the ipad connected to the camera directly?
If yes, does it improve when you move the camera closer to the ipad?
If no, can you please try connecting directly to the camera and tel me if it improves?

[calzone]

The iPad and the Canon are both connected to my hotspot router.

[calzone]

Connecting directly to the Canon and the live view seems a little better. Also, the progress circle went by quite a bit faster.

However, there is still a delay after each picture is taken. And this time, the hourglass actually popped up after each photo was taken, for about 3 seconds before the countdown would begin again.

[tim]

Hi again,

If the progress circle goes by noticeably faster when direct-connected to the camera, then there's something not ideal about your wifi setup when you connect through the hotspot router. What are the distances like when using the hotspot router -- 1-3 meters between each device? If more, try moving things closer. If they are already that close, then it might be an interference issue. Are you testing this inside your home where there are other wifi networks very close by? You might want to try turning off your home wifi just while testing your hotspot router, and see if that makes any difference. Finally, you can try using a different hotspot router -- not all routers are made equal, and the pictures your Canon is pushing down are quite large.

Regarding the hourglass after the picture is taken, that can be a few different things, but it is most likely the delay between the photo being taken and waiting for the next live-view frame to arrive. The app waits for the camera to transmit a live-view frame before going on to the next countdown, because some cameras take a long time before they can continue (ie. Nikons). There's not much you can do here, but 3 seconds is a bit long. With my Canon 750D (which is a lot slower/worse than your 80D) I remember it being more like 2 seconds. Perhaps this is also related to your wifi setup.
If you have feedback for how to improve the user-experience (given that the wait is unfortunately necessary), i'm all ears...

[calzone]

I know the camera is ready to fire again immediately. It can handle 3 sequential pictures no problem. The strobe is another story, but that will be completely taken care of by the three second countdown. I would personally make the bet that Wifibooth is 100% ok to start a new countdown immediately. But I guess that may not be true for everyone.

So maybe it could be an advanced option for us to take a risk on?

Alternatively, if there is a way to run the delay in the background while the countdown is running… and interrupt the countdown with some kind of error message coupled with a new countdown if the camera hasn't responded by the time the countdown is 1 second away from firing a new photo?

[tim]

Ah! You just reminded me - there exists already that setting! I forgot

Please go to: Settings App -> Wifibooth -> turn on "Faster camera".
You need to kill & restart wifibooth if it is already running for the setting to take effect.
Did this improve it for you? It should shave about 2 seconds off after engaging the shutter...
I should think about auto-engaging this switch for Canon cameras.

[calzone]

I tried connecting both the iPad and the 80D to my home WiFi network, which I know to be fast, and also changed the setting and rebooted the iPad.

It's still sticking and displaying the hourglass for a couple seconds after each photo.

Out of two attempts of three shots each, there was one photo (first shot, second attempt) where it transitioned immediately, but the rest of them were "sticky".

[tim]

OK. How far away from your camera is your home wifi's router? Your home wifi might be fast on a computer or tablet, but cameras have more limitations for their wifi antennas, and sometimes don't do as well.

[calzone]

It was about 7 feet away at the time of testing from both iPad and camera.

I had camera on a table and the iPad in my lap sitting in front of camera about 4 feet away from the camera.

By the way… I don't know I this makes any difference one way or another, but I've been conducting all testing with a 2 year old iPad Pro as opposed to any of the most recent iPads. I would hope the iPad Pro would be fast enough… but putting it out there in case it means anything.

Also, I have the camera set to use JPG @ Medium with anti-aliasing (I think that's what the round corner icon means) + RAW.

[tim]

An iPad Pro is definitely good enough
Sounds like wifi distances are not the issue, that should be fine.
Does it speed up if you try turning off RAW (so it only stores JPG) ? Shouldn't make a difference but I am curious

[calzone]

I turned off +raw and it didn't change anything that I could notice.

I recorded a video of everything. I don't see a way to upload attachments here, but I can email. Maybe you can tell me if it's behaving to spec or not?

[tim]

Ok - can you upload it to youtube, set it to “Unlisted”, and PM me the link?

[calzone]

Thank you for reviewing the footage.

Given we're bumping against the limits of technology and that's the best that can be expected, I deleted the hourglass and left that blank. To my eye, it's an improvement because all the user sees is another live view, unobscured. I feel that's a better UX situation.

I also felt that the "Cheese!" was a distraction that interrupted the UX flow. I was unable to delete that… but managed to hide it by entering a single space instead. I feel that a better time to say something would be "strike a pose" or "get ready!" — or something along those lines… but not on the last step of the countdown. Rather, it should actually happen right after each photo is taken, as well as right after the user taps the button. Again, just my personal opinion. I feel the countdown needs to be totally on point, pure, and uninterrupted to make it crystal clear to the user that they have exactly 3 seconds before the shutter will open. The pause between shutter and countdown I previously lamented would, in that use case, actually seem beneficial because it gives the user time to react and adapt before the countdown. I.e., they can strike a pose, and hold it for three seconds.

Alternatively, I can see a persuasive use case where the picture just taken gets displayed instead of the live view prior to the next countdown (still, no hourglass). In this use case, the screen could then go to black with the words "get ready" right after showing the photo just captured, for 1-2 seconds and then segue to the countdown. Between showing the photo just taken… plus displaying a 1-2 second "get ready" on black… that would buy more than enough time currently used by the hourglass.

Finally, three things that still throw me a little bit:

1) There's a split-second delay between the flash of the 1 (2, & 3) and the beep. Is there any way you can tweak that to guarantee both happen simultaneously? If not, I would actually prefer just a beep and no countdown number. Or even vice versa… number without a beep (between the two, I feel beep and no number is better). It's like being a drummer in a band… you need to have a rock-steady and predictable sense of time so everyone is locked together. When what I see it not perfectly synced to what I hear… I can't cognitively predict when the shutter will actually fire.

2) The pink progress circle is still somewhat choppy. I realize that it's dependent on actual progress and that can vary due to infinite circumstances. But I wish there were some way of buffering it, or faking it, perhaps even slowing it down by a second… just so it can proceed smoothly 98% of the time. Maybe there's some way it keep track of how long it took the last five times since the app was launched, add 1 second to the maximum time out of those 5, and thereafter set it as a standard amount of time (unless and until more than, say, 2% of subsequent timers during the session proved to exceed the previous standard, which would cause it to increment again)?

3) The pink color itself is not my first preference. Light gray with black outlining would be my choice, or even the same teal-blue used in the rest of Wifibooth's color scheme, but with a white outline? Sorry to be overly picky. It's not a huge deal regardless… just a super nice to have.

[tim]

Sorry i'm underwater at the moment.
But I want to understand the issue with the beeps not synchronized:
1) exactly which iPad & iOS version is this?
2) does it change if you turn OFF GIFs? (event settings -> taking photos)
3) in your opinion, are the beeps too soon, or are the beeps too late?

[calzone]

• iPad Pro ML0N2LL/A (first version of iPad Pro… large screen, purchased Jan 2016)
• iOS 11.0.3 (15A432)
• I already have GIFs turned off
• The beeps happen about 0.25 after the number appears on the screen

--

Also, I tried connecting the Canon to my MacBook Pro using USB and EOS Utility. Live View is definitely a little better than over WiFi. Specifically, it is less choppy… but also definitely still a little laggy. Over USB, the lag is just enough to be noticeable but not enough to be disorienting.

When I use WiFi to connect the camera to the iPad, the lag is borderline disorienting, but livable. The increased choppiness, however, exacerbates the disorienting aspect enough to start being annoying. This by itself is not enough to make me want to abandon the iPad platform… in fact, probably not quite enough to make me want to turn off Live View, though I'm debating that possibility. It may boil down to client preference and require demoing it to them before the engagement.

[tim]

I have the exact same ipad: love it. Amazing machine for wifibooth.
You're right, on that one (on newer ipads I presume) the UI updates so fast that the sound is indeed behind. I've fixed that in a beta build, and i've invited you to the beta. Can you please try it out and give me feedback on it?

TESTFLIGHT
Here's what you need to do to install wifibooth beta version:
1. install the Apple app "TestFlight" (free)
2. on the device you installed Testflight, open the email you got from apple testflight and touch the button at the bottom to accept the testflight invitation
3. In the testflight app, install Wifibooth. You can install it over top of the current version if you want to (Testflight will warn you, don't worry - it's safe).