Connecting laptop to camera without using direct USB cable

[pleverington]

I'm gonna ask a lot of dumb questions I'm afraid for a while. 

 

How would I connect my 1D MarkIV camera and laptop with BYE wirelessy? They have a transmitter for 600  bucks which seems ridiculously expensive and I'm not sure it will do what is needed anyways, but surely someone has some wifi blue tooth something or another thing to make the connect so I can run the BYE program and control the camera remotely, like say from a car, like say in the middle of January, like say in Cleveland , like at 3 in the morning.....

 

 

Paul

[dts350z]

I use this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0040IASMS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

64' USB cable. I have a Powered USB hub at the scope end. Mount, guide camera, imaging camera, filterwheel, all on the hub. 1 cable to the laptop.

[s3igell]

Wireless connectivity - especially Bluetooth with its slow datarate - honestly don't work that well for connecting any Camera for usage that includes LiveView.  Beyond that, the Canon SDK only provides for USB connectivity - except for the new 6D.  And beyond that, no Guide Camera that I'm aware of supports WiFi - which is an even larger bandwidth user than the DSLR.

You're better off following dts350z's suggestion of a USB2 Extender Cable...

[pleverington]

Thanks guys. Funny thing is I went ahead and ordered a 64 foot cable with a repeater last night(cost a bit more than the one dts350z recommended but actually looks to be identical) with the thought that if nothing else I would have something at least. Will I need a powered hub then also??  My impression was that the cable with the repeater would do the job. I'm for now at least, only going into the camera from the laptop.

 

What about this device:  http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive/iUSBportCAMERA/

 

 

And this one:   http://www.amazon.com/CamRanger-Controller-Wireless-Control-Computer/dp/B00AA478UQ

 

 

Paul

 

 

 

 

[admin]

Thanks guys. Funny thing is I went ahead and ordered a 64 foot cable with a repeater last night(cost a bit more than the one dts350z recommended but actually looks to be identical) with the thought that if nothing else I would have something at least. Will I need a powered hub then also??  My impression was that the cable with the repeater would do the job. I'm for now at least, only going into the camera from the laptop.

 

What about this device:  http://www.hypershop.com/HyperDrive/iUSBportCAMERA/

 

 

And this one:   http://www.amazon.com/CamRanger-Controller-Wireless-Control-Computer/dp/B00AA478UQ

 

 

Paul

 

 

 

 

You need a powered hub too.

 

The active repeater is for BOOSTING the data signal only, not power.

 

The powered hub is for powering your devices.

 

You should have both if you want piece of mind.

 

Regards,

 

 

 

[astroman133]

Paul,

 

Any 64 foot USB cable will have to contain some kind of repeater since the USB standard max cable length without a repeater is 16 ft.

 

Whether you can use a powered hub or not depends on 1) how many devices you want to connect to the computer and 2) whether the repeater cable supports an unpowered hub.

 

I would use baby steps to test what works and what doesn't. Establish a baseline of performance and functionality.  Then make changes to the hardware configuration (increase the cable length) and re-test.  If early tests succeed and later tests fail, then there is not much (if anything) that Guylain can do about it.  He is at the mercy of the Canon SDK to do the PC-to-camera communications.  Canon makes the SDK available but does not support it. There is no mechanism for reporting bugs or suggesting enhancements.

 

I use a different solution.  I can extend my telescope from my laptop with a CAT 5 USB Extender. It is a bit pricey, but works.  I use a 50 ft CAT 5 cable to connect the 2 boxes (modules) that come with the Extender.  The remote module is a powered 4-port USB hub with the outgoing connection being CAT 5.  The local device converts the CAT 5 hardware signals back to USB.  I can also plug a powered hub into the remote module to increase the number of devices from 4 to 7.  My remote distance is 50 ft, but I can extend it to as much as 330 ft.

[dts350z]

This is the powered hub I'm using:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00483WRZ6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Also I power it with this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A71CMDU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

So I can run it off 12v.

 

A little off topic but this:

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C66B3PM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

Runs my t3i off 12v.

 

 

 

 

 

[dts350z]

Oh one caveat I should mention with any long cable if you're going to be walking around with it hanging out of the laptop. I have tried to be careful, but the USB port I have been consistent using for this is now loose on the motherboard and malfunctioning. Fortunately it will get replaced at no cost to me, but going forward I will arrange some kind of strain relief so it doesn't happen again, and would suggest that anyone using a long cable on a laptop does the same.