topic Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point in Camcorders

GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

dennydeutscher — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 18:10:15 GMT

Hi,

on my G40 I was always wondering why the camera wasn't connecting to my wifi network. Ever thought it was a bugged firmware or so.

Today I got my GX10 and the problem is exactly the same. conencting directly to the camera works... but if I want to connect the camera to various wifi networks (tried many kinds of names and security settings) nothings gonna happen. It seems it's not even try to connect (connection profile is set properly).

Is there a magic button that I have to push to finally connect the camera? Or is canon maintaining this bug since the G40?

Thanks, Denny

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

Inapickle — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 05:07:52 GMT

I have no problem connecting my HF-G40 to my home Wi-Fi network (WAN). Just followed the procedure in the User Manual. Hardly ever use it though as activating Wi Fi on the camcorder drains the battery in no time.

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

dennydeutscher — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 08:35:59 GMT

did you use WPS for setup or do you scanned for APs?... that's the only thing a can't try because my access points are not supporting WPS. If I selected on of the APs the camera has found I'll get asked for passphrase and so... but at the end it wont even try to connect to the network... It'll only save the settings and that's it...

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

Nick2020 — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 12:50:12 GMT

Hi dennydeutscher,

Thanks for checking in with us.

The Wi-Fi settings can vary quite a bit depending on what you're trying to accomplish and how you're setting it up.

In case you don't have the manual at hand, you can reference it on the link below, and the Wi-Fi section begins on page 104:

https://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/8/0300028428/04/vixiagx10-im4-en.pdf#page=104

If you're trying to connect to a tablet or smartphone, then you could use Browser remote for that. An overview on Browser Remote starts on page 111 of the manual.

In this video tutorial we go through the basics of setting up a connection with Browser Remote. It is for a different camera, but the general principles are the same, and that starts about 1:35 min into the video:

https://youtu.be/pfJgssAIr_s?t=95

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

Inapickle — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 13:05:37 GMT

I used the scan for AP’s option.

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

Inapickle — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 17:01:53 GMT

Just tested it again since I changed Internet Provider and it works fine. Like I said, I hardly ever use it. Really my only interest was using the Media Server to stream over WAN to my smart TV. It worked but the playback was sluggish. Easier to just connect directly to the TV with the HDMI cable.

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

dennydeutscher — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 10:50:25 GMT

Hi,

thanks for the videos... I already knew them.

I want to remot control the camera while it's connected to our wifi network. I will do a video later, to proof you that I'm not a idiot.

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

dennydeutscher — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 12:02:12 GMT

As promised... the video https://youtu.be/68CGKcdIEJA

I've created a wifi network for just this video with the passpharase "12345678" just to avoid someting is going wrong with charset issues.

As you can see it won't connect. I have this issue on all 3 cameras with wifi built in: G40 and 2 x GX10.

or is there a magic "connect" button I've missed?

thanks in advanced

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

Inapickle — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 16:22:55 GMT

The Wi-fi configuration menu's on the GX10 are a bit different (more convoluted) than on my HF-G40, but watching your video and consulting the GX10 online User Manual, one thing occurs to me is that at 0:15 seconds into the video, where you are at the 'Select the network connection method' screen, you select 'Infrastructure', whereas the manual (p112) states that to use the Remote Browser function, you should select 'Camera Access Point' as the connection method.

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

dennydeutscher — Wed, 04 Aug 2021 16:39:07 GMT

Yah sure... But i want it to work in infrastructure... because the remote control is glueless as soon as the camera turned off the Wifi is gone... and the control device (pc, tablet) connecting to another wifi. Reconnecting after swapping batteries is a pain in the ass this way. Despite that I wonder why the infrastructure mode is included at all when it's not connecting to any AP?

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

Inapickle — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 01:09:21 GMT

That’s one of reasons why I’ve never used the Browser Remote function on my HF-G40, except to test that it works. For remote control I prefer to use the IR remote or a LANC remote, the downside of course being that I can’t monitor whats on the screen unless I’m up close.

Isn’t the ‘Infrastructure’ mode for FTP transfer specifically?

Sorry I cant help you more than that. Have you tried reaching out to Canon technical support ?

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

dennydeutscher — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 09:41:19 GMT

the LANC remote needs line of sight... and normally have no exposure controls (or focus pulling with DP-AF is great with touch AF). I use it while the camera is on a gimbal in a live event to support the gimbal operator. But I think I have a suitable solution:

I'll get me a small AP-Client (TL-WR902AC) and connect it to the camera's wifi. The TL-WR902AC is connected via Ethernet to my local network. I just have to mach the IP Adresses and the it should work.

btw... I'm afraid that the only thing canon support can do is referring to the user manual (as you can see in this thread) 🤷‍♂️. So I skip this step.

greetings, Denny

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

Inapickle — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 12:59:35 GMT

I thought the problem was that you couldn’t connect to your existing wi-fi network, so how would adding another AP client help ?

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

dennydeutscher — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 14:57:35 GMT

the AP- Client connect to the camera‘s wifi (it acts as wifi client) and forward the traffic to the network via ethernet.

It‘s a bridge if you will

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

Inapickle — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 16:10:24 GMT

I don’t see how that constitutes a bridge. If you were connecting the AP client to the camcorder by ethernet cable, yes, but the GX10 doesn’t have an ethernet port. Anyhow you obviously know what you are doing. Hope it works.

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

Inapickle — Sun, 08 Aug 2021 04:55:58 GMT

@dennydeutscher wrote:
the AP- Client connect to the camera‘s wifi (it acts as wifi client) and forward the traffic to the network via ethernet.

It‘s a bridge if you will

Oh I see now what you are thinking of as a workaround. Make an ad-hoc wiresless connection between the 'Camera Access Point' and the 'AP Client' and 'forward the traffic' to your network over an ethernet connection, with the hope that will allow you to access the Browser Remote utility from any device on your network. So have you got it to work ?

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

dennydeutscher — Sun, 08 Aug 2021 10:06:18 GMT

@Inapickle wrote:

Oh I see now what you are thinking of as a workaround. Make an ad-hoc wiresless connection between the 'Camera Access Point' and the 'AP Client' and 'forward the traffic' to your network over an ethernet connection, with the hope that will allow you to access the Browser Remote utility from any device on your network.

Exactly!

@Inapickle wrote:

So have you got it to work ?

Yes, it works. Only thing I recommend is to set a manual IP address in the camera's wifi profile matching to your network's subnet.

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

Inapickle — Sun, 08 Aug 2021 18:08:54 GMT

Thats good. Could you maybe post a short video demonstrating how you did it ? I think others might find that very useful.

Actually I only realized after reading the user manual that the GX10 lacks some of the Wi-Fi features that are available in Playback mode on the HF-G40, including Media Server and Movie Upload. The GX10 only has FTP Transfer. Still I guess you can configure an FTP server app to transfer clips to an iOS or Android device - the Pixela 'Movie Upload' app was only available for iOS devices.

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

Inapickle — Thu, 12 Aug 2021 20:18:50 GMT

@Inapickle wrote:
Could you maybe post a short video demonstrating how you did it ? I think others might find that very useful.

I guess not ?

Still I think your original question has been answered. There is no 'magic button' or bug. It's simply that you were mistakenly trying to use an 'Infrastructure' access point connection to use the Remote Browser utility, instead of a 'Camera Access Point' connection which forms a direct ad-hoc wireless link between the device hosting the browser and the access point in the camcorder.

Re: GX10 & G40: Cannot connect to an wifi access point

dennydeutscher — Fri, 13 Aug 2021 00:21:34 GMT

There are no references anywhere about that the remote control must only be used via ad hoc connection (which would be stupid by design anyway)! So yes, it was my fault to expect a quite normal behavior from that device.

My problem is solved when canon rework their manual to clarify for what the infrastructure mode is for and (and if not for remote control) that this mode must not be used for remote control.

I mean: even you’re not 100 percent sure about it... so how could you excepting that it's not a bug?