Live View with Nikon WU-1B Adapter

[SeanCassidy]

Hello,

So, I have a Nikon D600 which doesn't have built in wifi, but I've bought the WU-1B adapter to try to get the live view feature of your app. Unsurprisingly I'm having troubles with that so far, hoping you can help me out:

The iPad is connected to the wireless adapter, no problem there. I've used the "Touch to take a photo" feature and this triggers my camera to take the photo - although this takes way too long to do so (for instance, after the "1,2,3, cheese" it takes ~21 seconds to trigger the shutter, much too long of a wait for three pictures [21 x 3 = roughly 1 minute] - can this be fixed?? or, is it quicker with other cameras?? anyone??) but that aside I cannot figure out how to use the live view.

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks,
Sean

[tim]

Hi Sean
Thats definitely not supposed to be like that.
Can you try setting the camera to only take small jpgs (smallest the cam supports), and set it to manual focus?
Any change?

[SeanCassidy]

Tim,

I'm on JPEG "Basic" and "Image Size" is on 'Small - 3008x2008; 6.0M', there's no change. Is the live view supposed to start by itself with only the option selected in the settings folder?

Sean

[tim]

Yes.
What is the distance between the camera and ipad when you are testing?
If you have tried with the ipad and camera close together and this still happens, then i'll go buy a WU-1b, get a D600, and figure out what is happening. I was told by Nikon that the WU-1a and WU-1b are the same, but perhaps they are wrong.

[SeanCassidy]

The WU-1B and iPad are literally next to each other - couldn't get any closer. No live view appears on the iPad screen. Just to be clear, I don't have the "PRO Events Package", just the "Small Events Package" - is this having an impact?

Sean

[tim]

No it's not - trial mode works just as well as full pro, just watermarks are removed.
Ill buy a wu-1b and get a d600 hopefully this week. Will let you know.

[SeanCassidy]

Wow, yeah, I'd really appreciate you doing so. I'm trying to get this photobooth off the ground by early spring so any help is appreciated.

Please keep me updated!

-Sean

[tim]

Hi Sean,
I bought the WU-1b, borrowed a D600, and found the problem with the app. A nice bug actually, happy to have found & fixed this, thanks!
I'll get an update out next week for you, that makes it work! Please post back when you have seen the update, let me know if it works for you.
all the best
-tim

[tim]

... one thing I noticed though, this adapter (WU-1b) is SUPER SLOW when connected to an iPhone or iPad (using either the official Nikon app or wifibooth). It barely even works. I hope that's just my copy of this adapter and that it works better for you...

[tim]

... update 2: tried the WU-1b with an iPad Pro 12.9" (my other ipad I was saying it was sloowww with was an iPad Air 1), and it is much better.
So, hopefully you have a newer iPad like the iPad Pro.
This has nothing to do with the software/app/iOS ... it's the wifi connectivity of the newer ipads being better...
also if your ipad is in a case, take it out when using the wu-1b!

[SeanCassidy]

Tim,

Was just about to get on here and ask if you have any updates for me. Pleased to hear that you've done some diagnostics with the product. I'm using an iPad air 2 - so hopefully there's a technological edge it has. I'll be sure to take it out of the case though.

Have you gotten around to making the update for me by chance? If not, no worries. Just let me know when you do.

Best,
Sean

[tim]

Hi Sean
The update is done, awaiting apple's approval. I am guessing you should be able to see the update by thursday end of day!
Question: when you connect your iPad Air 2 to your Nikon WU-1b with the official Nikon app, how "smooth" is the live view video -- is it better described by "pretty jerky" or "buttery smooth" ?

[SeanCassidy]

Tim,

Which app are you referring to? I could get on it right away. I've actually never bothered to download anything Nikon-specific on my iPad. They have a few apps in the store made by Nikon Corporation..

Thanks

[tim]

Hi Sean,
What I mean is, WiFi Booth's live-view / photo-downloading experience with your setup isn't going to be any better than the official Nikon app's experience. I assume you have tried the official Nikon app for your iPad ("Nikon WMU" I believe) that is supposed to work with the WU-1b, and that you are satisfied with the live view experience that it offers.

[tim]

.... Apple rejected my update because they want me to update my Terms and Conditions. That's gonna take me a day or two.
In the meantime I added your email to Testflight. You can follow the steps from Apple to install the new version and try it out. Tell me if it works for you... Hint: before touching the button in the email Apple sends you, first on your ipad go to the Apple Store, and install the free app "Testflight". Then open the email on your ipad.

[tim]

The update is now available. You should see it tomorrow (thursday) if you don't see it now.

[SeanCassidy]

Tim,

Sorry for my lack of response but I just now have had the chance to sit down and mess with this. So, two things: one is that the WU-1B works great with the Nikon app and live view works really well, imo. It is also working on your app, though at times it is better or worse than others (I've only sat down and tinkered with it for 15 mins upon writing this).

One thing has happened though, the button on the iPad screen that would trigger the camera has vanished? Upon the original trial when I first opened the app to give it a go, the button was there and opened another screen with the live view. I "turned off" the app and reopened it and it hasn't returned. I'm not sure what the deal is. Are they related? Have you heard of this happening? I realize this problem wouldn't likely fit in this forum category, but since we're here...


Sean

[tim]

Hi Sean
That is very weird, can you please go to Settings app, and check the setting called something like "hide shutter button ..."? Should be off.

[SeanCassidy]

Tim,

Thanks, that did the trick. Evidently, "Hide mode toggle in Twitter mode**" needed to be switched to off but now it's back to working!

Thanks so much man. Very impressed with your response time btw!

Sean

[tim]

Thanks Sean! Appreciate it. If you could leave my app a review in the apple app store (if you didn't already), that'd be great!

[SeanCassidy]

Tim,

Okay, now I'm having a problem where when after it takes a photo in the "3,2,1..." cue, the app doesn't display the photo on the screen afterwards and jumps right to the next "countdown".

Any solution here?

Sean

[tim]

That's likely a focus failure.
Try putting the lens into manual focus mode.

[SeanCassidy]

Tim,

Regarding my last question: I had forgotten to switch from RAW to JPEG, so problem fixed there. However, the live view with the camera seems to be more of a hit or miss. When it's good, it's REALLY good but when it's off, the image lags bad - perhaps displaying 2 fraction of a second live views until it gets glitched up again. However, with the live view on Nikon's app it doesn't share that problem nearly as much, in fact the video is quite fluid. That's one more thing I wanted to ask about: is there by chance a setting(s) on the camera that I would need to address to achieve the best possible live view? Have you experimented with the ISO, have you noticed if the aperture or size of the lens affects the live view? Currently I'm using a 1.8 50mm, ISO is on auto and I've changed from Program, to Sport, to Manual to see if there's a difference. Program seems to work best but at this point I can't rule it out as being a coincidence or not. Also, you mentioned you tested the Nikon d60 with an iPad Pro, I recently used my gf's brand new iPad Pro and it performs just as well as my new iPad Air - just noting to rule out that variable.

Again, I really appreciate your help with this stuff.

Best,
Sean

[tim]

Hi Sean,
Sure, happy to help.
I did extensive testing with the Nikon WU-1b and the official Nikon WMU app, as well as with WiFi Booth. I saw the laggy live view problem all the time in my testing, so I spent a long time working on it. I can assure you that in any given circumstances, WiFI Booth's performance is at least as good as the WMU app's performance, if not better.

The issue you are facing is that the WU-1b is *extremely* sensitive to distance from your iPad. Just a tiny bit too much distance and the wifi throughput drops 80%! Just as much as turning the camera 45 degrees on a tripod can do this. This is probably because the wifi antenna inside the WU-1b is TINY, much too small. It's a really bad design Nikon made...

The laggy screens you are seeing in either app (WMU or WiFi Booth) are from poor wifi throughput.
The best and only thing you can do is experiment with the distance between the WU-1b and the iPad.
Changing camera settings will NOT make a difference, because the maximum difference in live view image size based on camera settings is tiny, less than 1% of the difference the wifi throughput makes.

hope this helps.

[SeanCassidy]

Tim,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly yet again. Definitely good to note what you've just shared, so I'll do just that and experiment. Have you tested any other Nikons with built in wifi by chance? I'd be interested to see if there's a noticeable difference or if Nikon's products just altogether perform poorly in this "arena". Just the other day I tested the WU-1B and it worked great so I guess I'll just need to play around with it a bit then.

Thanks again!

Sean