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A Special Wireless-Free Nikon Camera Is Publicly Available for the First Time

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Re: A Special Wireless-Free Nikon Camera Is Publicly Available for the First Time

#31

Post by fredoralive »

throwaway81523 wrote: post #25
dghlsakjg wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article also explains that retailers have had customers ask for this, which is why Nikon is trialing selling this through those channels instead of direct, as usual. You don't really have to market something like this. There is a VERY small subset of users that NEED this feature, and they will seek it out. The kind of user that wants this is not as price sensitive as a consumer. A few hundred extra dollars doesn'…

I won't claim to NEED the feature (I'm not a 3 letter agency or anything) but I'd like to have it on general principle, and I'd pay extra for it, though probably not $400 extra. This never gets old: https://biggaybunny.tumblr.com/post/166787080920/tech-enthus... Will someone really pay me $1000 to remove the camera module from an 2020 iPhone SE? Are there some huge obstacles to that? I've disassembled the 2016 model…

Looking at pictures, it appears cameraless iPhones tend to have backs without camera holes / lumps, so some custom work is involved beyond just removing the module. Though there’s going to be a degree of “the government can afford it” in the pricing.

Drilling has some obvious issues, most notable if you go too deep you’re going to hit the screen.

Re: A Special Wireless-Free Nikon Camera Is Publicly Available for the First Time

#32

Post by teh64 »

aleksejs wrote: post #17
walrus01 wrote: post #4

I understand it's probably because the GPS functionality is integrated into the same RF chipset that's handling wifi/bluetooth, but it would be possible to make a "no transmit capability" camera that still has GPS metadata functionality, with GPS receiver chip and an antenna tuned for 1400-1600 MHz, since ordinary consumer grade GPS is a receive-only technology. But that would still possibly present a problem for ser…

The camera (even the regular model) does not have its own GPS receiver at all. It relies on a smartphone to transmit GPS coordinates over Bluetooth. This is pretty common in modern cameras, presumably because most photographers expect to be able to turn their cameras on and off very rapidly, and it would be difficult to maintain a GPS fix with that usage pattern.

Well Nikon has a GPS module (Nikon GP-1, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_GP-1) for the hotshoe that does work, so I dont think that is the issue. Also at least on my D850, turning off the camera does not turn off the bluetooth automatically, and it can sync photos to the smartphone while the camera is off, so depending on how much power GPS would use, it could be possible to have it run in the background. And turning it off keeps some things running anyway, like showing the number of photos still available, so coordinates could be saved for a little while after turning off.

Re: A Special Wireless-Free Nikon Camera Is Publicly Available for the First Time

#33

Post by teh64 »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #6

> no Nikon SnapBridge Unless they significantly improved that app, in the last eight years or so, it may not be a great loss.

The Snapbridge app is still not great, but in 2019 Nikon released a firmware update for older cameras, so you can use other apps, such as cascable: https://lrtimelapse.com/news/free-wifi-nikon-firmware-update...

The newer Nikon cameras dont require snapbridge for using wifi.

Re: A Special Wireless-Free Nikon Camera Is Publicly Available for the First Time

#34

Post by trashb »

ryukoposting wrote: post #26
aleksejs wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The camera (even the regular model) does not have its own GPS receiver at all. It relies on a smartphone to transmit GPS coordinates over Bluetooth. This is pretty common in modern cameras, presumably because most photographers expect to be able to turn their cameras on and off very rapidly, and it would be difficult to maintain a GPS fix with that usage pattern.

I don't think it's impossible. We aren't talking RTK here, you should be able to get a usable fix quickly. You also have some other advantages. For starters, the GPS coordinate doesn't need to be taken at the exact instant the photo is taken. If it takes a second to get the coordinate, that can be done in the background while the photographer continues to do their thing. Another advantage is that people never hold th…

> people never hold their cameras upside down

I'm not to sure about that. I rarely keep my camera (close to) fully horizontal.

Re: A Special Wireless-Free Nikon Camera Is Publicly Available for the First Time

#36

Post by polishdude20 »

dylan604 wrote: post #21
i_am_proteus wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Can't have an antenna of any form in it. All wires are antennas...

But the short wires in a Nikon camera are not long enough to be a useful antenna. In fact, I doubt there's really anything one would consider a wire in a camera body. Everything is probably just traces on a PCB.

Traces can be antennas

Re: A Special Wireless-Free Nikon Camera Is Publicly Available for the First Time

#37

Post by didntcheck »

rationalist wrote: post #3

It's a shame it costs more. I'm sure there are people who would like the non-wireless option, but would rather "save" $400.

Unless you need it for a high security environment that's limited to civilian procurement, why? I'm struggling to see a use case beyond that

Re: A Special Wireless-Free Nikon Camera Is Publicly Available for the First Time

#38

Post by mattkrause »

slipperybeluga wrote: post #14
jojobas wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Disabling the hardware without bricking the whole thing rather than trusting the software makes all the difference.

Why not switches like the pine phone?

Because the customers don’t trust that you won’t just flip those switches whenever you’re planning something nefarious.

Re: A Special Wireless-Free Nikon Camera Is Publicly Available for the First Time

#39

Post by teh64 »

ErroneousBosh wrote: post #35

"For the first time"? All of my Nikons are wireless-free. Some of them are even battery-free.

“special version for the first time”. Your nikons that are wireless free don’t have a version you can buy with builtin wireless.

Re: A Special Wireless-Free Nikon Camera Is Publicly Available for the First Time

#40

Post by teh64 »

trashb wrote: post #34
ryukoposting wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's impossible. We aren't talking RTK here, you should be able to get a usable fix quickly. You also have some other advantages. For starters, the GPS coordinate doesn't need to be taken at the exact instant the photo is taken. If it takes a second to get the coordinate, that can be done in the background while the photographer continues to do their thing. Another advantage is that people never hold th…

> people never hold their cameras upside down I'm not to sure about that. I rarely keep my camera (close to) fully horizontal.

Also for macrophotography when you want to have the camera very close to the ground on a tripod, upside down is often used.
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