Best way to connect a DSLR to a computer/laptop long distance

[ProjectVIC]

Hey everyone, I did a search and could not find a specific answer to my question. 

Basically what I am trying to do is connect a DSLR (t3i specifically) to a laptop/computer that is 150 feet away. I have tried using a USB over cat 6 adapter with inconsistent and unsatisfactory results. Maybe it was the adapter itself that was not the best quality, not sure. Does anyone have any expirience with this and have any suggestions? 

thanks!

Vic

[TCampbell]

Yes.  You're well beyond the maximum limit of USB.  You need WiFi.  If you want full remote control of your camera, then you you should probably look at the CamRanger.  

Canon makes their own WiFi devices, but only for their 1D, 5D, and 7D cameras.  A CamRanger will work on any Canon.  It's technically a separate device (roughly the size of a deck of playing cards... perhaps just a tiny bit larger) and it connects to the camera via a short USB cable.  It uses the same protocols to control your camera that the computer would use if you were close enough to attach a USB cable directly from a computer.

It's not cheap (about $300) but it is fast.  Partly because, unlike other WiFi cards like the EyeFi, it only transmits a tiny thumbnail of each shot (which arrives very quickly after you take the shot since it's very small).  You select the thumbnails to decide which full-sized images you'd like to bring across.  But unlike an EyeFi card (which cannot remotely control the camera -- it can only transmit images), the CamRanger can control the camera (it's much like using the Canon EOS utility to control the camera.)

They also sell a motorized tripod head so if the camera is being set up in a location where you cannot easily reach it to frame your shots, you can remotely point the camera.

[Waddizzle]

You have not mentioned what OS you are running on your laptop.  If you are running Windows, it is possible to use Remote Desktop to control your remote DSLR.  Here's how it could work.....

You would need a TCP/IP network with two computers connected to another.  That's just a fancy way of saying that you need to able to connect two laptops to your home network, or LAN, at the same time.  The first computer connects to your DSLR, either by WiFi or by USB, by using the EOS utility to remote shooting and control of your camera.   The second computer connects to the first across your local LAN by using the Remote Desktop utility, which is built into  Windows.  Remote Desktop allows you to control a remote computer by  rerouting its' desktop to a remote window, on a remote host. 

One little known secret about Windows is that your desktop is actually itself a Window application, just like any other.  As a result, the OS can easily send the information to display the desktop's window to a remote host.  All that is required to use Remote Desktop is a remote login, which is achieved by setting a special user account on the first computer for just that purpose.  You would login to the remote computer just as if you were logging into Windows on a computer that you just powered up, and then you would run the EOS utility from computer number two.

Remote Desktop will only work across a local LAN, not across the Internet.

[theandies]

Beat me to it.  Nice explanation.  We use remote desktop at work all the time. 

[RobertTheFat]

---

@Waddizzle wrote:

Remote Desktop will only work across a local LAN, not across the Internet.

---

Which hardly matters, because a local LAN can be made to work across the Internet. I'm using one such now (with Remote Desktop) to compose and send this message.

[TCampbell]

Once upon a time when the typical internet connection wasn't very fast, it was painful to use RDP beyond a local area network.  But now that internet connections are pretty fast (and possibly RDP has become more efficient -- not sure) it's not the performance problem that it once was.

VNC (Virtual Network Computing) -- for which there are NUMEROUS free and commercial offerings -- can also remotely control remote computers and VNC is even more bandwidth friendly than RDP.  You can even get RDP clients for smart devices so that you can control a remote computer session with a tablet or phone.

Incidentally... question for the OP... what is the camera doing 150' away?

I've heard of numerous reasons why a person would want to remotely control a camera, but some solutions are more optimal depending on how permanent the setup needs to be, and what it's doing.

[ebiggs1]

" Does anyone have any expirience with this and have any suggestions? "

Yes, I do.  You need, and very simple to do, powered USB cabels.  I have not found wi-fi to be all that great.  Not ready for prime time yet. Plus it is expensive.

[Waddizzle]

Hmmph.  Powered USB cables will give you better performance than what using Remote Desktop ever could. 

While Remote Desktop may give you far more distance, you are going to take a pretty severe performance hit when it comes to speed of communication.  I'm assuming that all connections when using Remote Desktop are copper, which simply means not wireless.  Use a USB between camera and its' host PC, use a network cables from the host to the LAN, and likewise between the remote and the LAN.  I wouldn't use any wireless connections unless I was forced to.

[RobertTheFat]

---

@Waddizzle wrote:

Hmmph.  Powered USB cables will give you better performance than what using Remote Desktop ever could. 

While Remote Desktop may give you far more distance, you are going to take a pretty severe performance hit when it comes to speed of communication.  I'm assuming that all connections when using Remote Desktop are copper, which simply means not wireless.  Use a USB between camera and its' host PC, use a network cables from the host to the LAN, and likewise between the remote and the LAN.  I wouldn't use any wireless connections unless I was forced to.

---

Any two wireless access points that I've ever used (even the cheap, simple ones) can be configured to talk only to each other and form a wireless link in any LAN. I use such a link between my computers and my cable modem, because the layout of my house makes it considerably easier than running wire. I've found it to be extremely reliable.