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Still need tp link mr3040 with d500?

Posted: 23 Nov 2016, 03:55
by andre
Sorry if i am late to the party . I' ve been using ddashboard for a long time but I was waiting anxiously for my d500 purchase to able to use qddashboard without having to carry around the mr3040 like with the d7200 and d750 (even tough the range is supposedly double with the mr3040!?) . Has a photographer its always great to have less things to carry ! .

But im really dissapointed because I just read that it seems that Nikon is trying to screw people up with the d500 making them pay for a 750$ wt-7 to have real wi- fi capabilities!! .. So if i read correctly the D500 is Snapbridge only and doesnt have wifi capabilities like de 7200 and d750 ??!!
I couldnt even get Snapbridge to work the bluetooth kept crashing everytime and could not connect with my nexus 5 , hell even my nfc didnt work on my d500 !( I have the latest firmware update ) ...

Anyways i couldnt care less about Snapbridge , the only reason I was trying to make it work was that I was trying to find a way to get qdslrdashboard to work wirelessly with my D500 without the mr 3040 ... Is there any workaround ?
Thank you

Re: Still need tp link mr3040 with d500?

Posted: 03 Jan 2017, 17:15
by hubaiz
Unfortunately the Nikon D500 wireless can be only activated from Snapbridge.
So you need to enable Bluetooth on D500, pair to your controlling device (iOS, Android), from the Snapbridge Application activate remote photography (this will activate the camera wireless).
On iOS you will need to connect your device wireless to the D500 wireless and you can start qDD and press the 'Nikon wireless 'button
On Android it will automatically connect the wireless and you need to exit Snapbridge and enter qDD and press the 'Nikon wireless' button (actually on all my Android device after activating remote shooting Snapbridge always crash)

Re: Still need tp link mr3040 with d500?

Posted: 04 Jan 2017, 22:56
by frederic
airnef has a good writeup: http://testcams.com/airnef/#SnapBridge

It would be really interesting if DSLRDashboard could simulate the Snapbridge connectivity to turn on Wifi directly. Especially on Windows, as I use a Surface tablet when working with dslrdashboard, and Snapbridge does not run on Windows.

It looks like snapbridge is the future of basic wireless connectivity, like it or not, with Nikon. Since my phone (Android, too old a version) and tablet (microsoft surface) don't work with snapbridge, I'm still lugging around an MR3040.

And, welcome back hubaiz - good to see you again.

Re: Still need tp link mr3040 with d500?

Posted: 22 Jul 2017, 17:57
by dslr
on android 7.0, using the latest d500 firmware C:Ver.1.13 (released 2017/07/11) and the latest snapbridge 1.3.1, i was able to connect qdd 3.5.3 to the d500 wifi, use live view, take photos, record movies, go to gallery to view them (ie, transfer from camera to tablet then display them).

i didn't perform additional extensive tests nor the longevity of the wifi connection...
nevertheless, the good news is neither qdd nor the wifi connection 'crashes' after a single operation like before...
in fact, once qdd connected to the d500 wifi, the connection remained even after i tried various combinations of unpairingd my tablet, exiting snapbridge, turning off bluetooth, going into the apps list and force stop snapbridge, etc...

Re: Still need tp link mr3040 with d500?

Posted: 24 Jul 2017, 06:24
by froc
interesting tread!

I got a One+One phone, Android 6...

SnapBridge connects the D500 (with last formware) when it wants.. if it wants :/
When the connection is OK, i launch QDSLR, but nothing happens: Wifi connection indicates "Connecting to.." my D500's IP adress, but nothing else :/

Did you test SnapBridge with Android 6???
As i read your post, i understand that you have NO problem for cennect your D500 with Abdroid 7..???

If it's the case.. OK, i'll upgrade my Android version...

Re: Still need tp link mr3040 with d500?

Posted: 24 Jul 2017, 15:37
by hubaiz
The way I do it is to monitor when the wireless is enabled on the D500, then I kill the Snapbridge application (with the Android task list button) and then connect with qDD.
Actually I never managed to start remote photography with Snapbridge it always crashed or timed out.

Re: Still need tp link mr3040 with d500?

Posted: 24 Jul 2017, 15:44
by froc
thanks for your post!!

OK, so, if i good understand, i launch SnapBridge and wait till i see the Wifi connection on my phone.. then i finish SnapBridge, and i launch qdslr..?

Ok, i'll check it in the next hour :)

Re: Still need tp link mr3040 with d500?

Posted: 25 Jul 2017, 00:28
by dslr
"Did you test SnapBridge with Android 6???
As i read your post, i understand that you have NO problem for cennect your D500 with Abdroid 7..???

If it's the case.. OK, i'll upgrade my Android version..."


i didn't test on android 6. i only have android 7...
snapbridge wasn't working with android 7 till the latest 1.13 firmware that was released a couple of weeks back

---------------------------

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2261

"I red that SnapBridge (really poor soft :evil: ) must start WIFI: OK!
But once it's done, i launch QDSLR on my phone (One+One / Androidi 6): "

from the thread above, you seemed to say to that you got your android 6 to pair and communicate with your camera using snapbridge...
if so, then there's no need to upgrade to android 7

---------------------------

"OK, so, if i good understand, i launch SnapBridge and wait till i see the Wifi connection on my phone.. then i finish SnapBridge, and i launch qdslr..?"

wifi doesn't start up by itself...you have to manually start up wifi within snapbridge...

the timing of when to try to initiate wifi is important and will be discussed using the following 2 screenshots
(this has been discussed extensively on other forum like dpreview.com/forum )

notice the bluetooth icon in the red rectangle...this signifies active bluetooth communication between the camera and snapbridge

snapbridge1.png
snapbridge1.png (31.22 KiB) Viewed 25261 times

no bluetooth icon, no communication, ie the camera is 'sleeping'

snapbridge2.png
snapbridge2.png (30.07 KiB) Viewed 25261 times

to start up wifi in snapbridge, switch over to the camera tab (indicated by the yellow bar in the screenshots above)...

either remote photography or download selected pictures will start up wifi (i usually use download)...
click ok to confirm switching to wifi / turning on wifi
wifi1.JPG
wifi1.JPG (16.2 KiB) Viewed 25261 times

*** only try to start up wifi when there's active bluetooth communication between the camera and snapbridge, ie when there's a bluetooth icon like in the top screenshot above ***


to get used to how things work, you can watch the bluetooth icon appears and disappears :-)...
when there's no activity on the camera, it will go to 'sleep' and the bluetooth icon goes away (that's the whole point of bluetooth low energy...of course the down side is also true...snapbridge cannot wake the camera, cannot communicate with the camera unless it is awake)
when the camera wakes up, it will reestablish the bluetooth communication with snapbridge and the bluetooth icon reappears (for me, it takes about 5-6 sec)

how do you wake up the camera...by pressing any button on the camera :-)...such as the shutter release button half way down, the menu button, etc

how long does the camera stay awake...that depends on the timer settings...
eg, the default timeout value for the shutter release half way down is 6 sec...see custom settings -> c2 standby timer
(you can bump this up from 6 sec but then will probably decrease it afterward because you probably do not want it to be very long all the time...drains the battery, etc)
for the menu button, the default timeout is 1 minute...see custom settings -> c4 monitor off delay -> menus
(i'm able to do everything within 1 min so this is what i use)

when snapbridge starts up the camera wifi, it takes time for snapbridge to connect to this camera network...
in the meantime, your android device will most likely try to connect to your other existing favorite network(s)...there will be a struggle back and forth between the 2 networks so to speed up the process you may temporarily disable auto connect of your existing favorite network...it's ok if you don't...

snapbridge may come back with a message stating that it couldn't connect to the camera but that's ok...
it doesn't really matter if snapbridge connects to the camera network. the important point is whether the wifi network has started or not...
use your android wifi settings to list the networks...the default SSID is <camera>_<7 digit serial number>, such as D500_XXXXXXX ...at least for the D500
(also note, by default, security is enabled so a password is required)

manually connect your android device to this camera network...
start up qdd
connect qdd to the camera using the nikon wireless button
(optional - exit snapbridge once qdd has successfully connected to the camera)

*** need to establish communication/connection between qdd and the camera before the bluetooth icon goes away, before the camera goes back to sleep ***

Re: Still need tp link mr3040 with d500?

Posted: 25 Jul 2017, 04:11
by dslr
*** need to establish communication/connection between qdd and the camera before the bluetooth icon goes away, before the camera goes back to sleep ***
if the wifi connection between qdd and the camera is established then the wifi network will remain...
if the wifi connection is not there, when the bluetooth communication goes away, the wifi network will go away also...
(repeat the steps above to try to restart the wifi again)



d5600 only has custom settings c2, no c4 ...see the manual for full details

c2: Auto off Timers, menu button ➜ Custom Settings menu
default is normal

Option Description (all times are approximate)
Auto off timers are set to the following values:

Playback/menus Image review Live view Standby timer (shutter release half way down)
Short20 s 4 s 5 min. 4 s
Normal 5min. 4s 10min. 8s
Long 10 min. 20 s 20 min. 1 min.

Custom Choose separate delays for Playback/menus, Image review, Live view, and Standby timer. When settings are complete, press ok

Re: Still need tp link mr3040 with d500?

Posted: 25 Jul 2017, 08:18
by froc
thanks a lot for this really detailed explanation!! :D

Yesterday evening i tried exactly the method you describe, and it was OK!
In doubt, i tried 3 times, and it was OK the 3 times!

So yes!
Once SnapBridge has started WIFI, i connect, manually, the D500, then launch QDSLR.. and oh joy!!!! :o :o :o

Now i got to learn how it works ;)

A great thank you for all of that!! :D