Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-05-09)

subscribe 0330 333 1113I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI 9 May 2020 33

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ikeothermanufacturers,Panasonic
launcheda newconnectivityappalong
withitslatestgenerationof mirrorless
cameras.AspertheearlierPanasonic
ImageApp,thenewLumixSyncallowsforremote
cameracontrolandwirelessimagetransferbetween
currentcameras,suchastheLumixS1,and
smartphonesandtablets.
Thelistof camerascompatiblewiththeappis
verylimited,withonlytheS1,S1RandS1Hfully
supported.ThePanasonicGH5,GH5SandG9can
takeadvantageof remoterecordingandimage
transfer,butdon’tofferfullcompatibilitywithallof
thefeatures.Soit is recommendedtousethe
PanasonicImageAppforthoseandotherLumix
camerassupportingwirelessconnectivity.
I fullyexpectthatLumixSyncwillnowbethe
defaultappforallnewPanasoniccameras,
althoughI wouldexpectsupportforthePanasonic
ImageApptocontinue for some time yet.

Connectivity
Oneof thereasonsfora completelyredesigned
app is no doubt to take advantage of connectivity

improvementsin bothcamerasandsmartdevices.

Asis thestandardnowadays,theLumixSyncapp

takesadvantageof a lowenergyBluetooth

connectionbetweenthesmartdeviceandcamera.

Theconnectionthatis createdallowsthesmart

devicetobeabletopairquicklyandstayconnected

wherenecessaryfortransferringsmallvolumesof

data,suchascurrenttimeorGPScoordinates.

Whengreaterbandwidthis required,suchaswhen

usingremoteshootingortransferringimages,the

Bluetoothconnectioncantheninstructthecamera

andsmartdevicetoconnectviaWi-Fi.

Forthosewhodon’twanttoconnectvia

Bluetooth,thereis theoptiontousea standard

Wi-Ficonnection,whichcanbesetupmanually

usinga hotspotandpassword.Alternativelyforease

of usea QRCodecanbedisplayedonthecamera

andcapturedonthesmartdevice.I would

recommendthatsettingupviaBluetoothis byfar

themorepreferableoption,asit willsubsequently

befastertoreconnect.

However,I didrunintosomeissueswhen

connectinga PanasonicLumixS1withan

iPhone XS running iOS 13.3.1. Following the

Inthelatestofourseriesonusingyoursmartphone

withyourcamera,RichardSibleyfocusesonthe

features Panasonic’s Lumix Sync app has to off er

Panasonic Lumix Sync

CAMERA CONNECTIVITY Testbench

For and against

24-million-pixelJPEG

transferredin 5 secs

(PanasonicLUMIX S1

+ iPhone XS)

iOS and Android compatible

Raw file transfer

Extremelystraightforward and

well-designed app

Supports Touch AF

Onlyfullycompatiblewith

Lumix S-series cameras

Currentapphasautomatic

Wi-Fi connection issues on iOS

Panasonic’sLumixSyncapp

hasbeendesignedforthe

company’slatestLumix

S-series mirrorless models