Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-04-11)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 11 April 2020 33

I

twasat CES 2016 whenNikonannounced

itsSnapBridgeapp,alongsidetheNikon

D500.Thiswasn’tthefirstNikoncamerato

haveWi-Ficonnectivity;manyhadcome

beforeincludingtheCoolpixS800cwhichactually

usedanAndroidoperatingsystem,givingit manyof

thefeaturesavailableto a smartphone.However,the

introductionof SnapBridgeheraldedthenext

generationof Wi-Ficapabilitiesin Nikoncamerasand

it hasbeentheappthathasbeenusedeversince.

Atthetimeof writingthelatestversionof

SnapBridgeis 2.6.2forbothAndroidandiOS,soit

is recommendedyoucheckyouhavethisversionto

benefit fromthelatestfeaturesandtoensureany

bugshavebeenironedout.It is alsoworthchecking

yourcamera’sfirmware,assomemodelshavebeen

recentlyupdatedtoimprovetheexperiencewhen

usingSnapBridge.

CameraswithWi-Ficonnectivitypriortothe

introduction of the D500, of which Nikon lists 45,

mustuseNikon’sWirelessMobileUtilityapp

instead.Theappis stillavailablefordownload and

waslastupdatedbyNikon in April 2019.

Connectivity

LikemanycontemporarycamerastheSnapBridge

appoffersitsbestconnectivitywhenit usesa

combinationof BluetoothandWi-Fi.Byutilising

Bluetooth4.0thecameraandsmartphonecan

detecteachotherandconnectautomatically,and

willswitchtousingthefasterWi-Ficonnectionfor

transferringimagesorusingtheliveviewdisplay.

Bluetooth4.0enteredthemarketaround2012,

soit is morethanlikelythatthesmartphoneor

tabletyouareusingis capableof takingadvantage

of thisformof connectivity.

Thosewhodon’thaveBluetooth4.0cancreatea

standardWi-Ficonnectionbetweenthesmart

deviceandcamerabyturningonthecamera’s

Wi-Fi and then connecting the phone to it

Inthelatestofourseriesonusingyoursmartphoneand

camera,Richard Sibley studies Nikon’s SnapBridge app

Nikon SnapBridge

CAMERA CONNECTIVITY Testbench

For and against

24.5-million-pixelJPEG

transferredin 5 secs(Nikon

Z 6 toiPhoneXS)

iOSandAndroidcompatible

Supportsrawfiletransfer

NFCconnectivity

TouchAF

Verysimpleand

well-designedapp

Nocompatibilitywith cameras

priorto 2016

Noshutterprioritymodein

live view video mode

Havingtheoptiontowirelesslytransfer

imagesfromcameratosmartphoneis

great to have when you’re travelling