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NFC to iPhone?

Davoud
Enthusiast

Can a current-model iPhone running the latest iOS connect to a 5D Mark IV and a 6D Mark II via NFC? If so, how? Thanks!

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

TCampbell
Elite
Elite

The short answer is no.  My iPhone is NFC equipped as is my camera.  However the Canon Connect software on my phone only supports Bluetooth & WiFi connection methods.

 

It turns out my particular camera model doesn't have Bluetooth -- just NFC & WiFi.  So in my case, WiFi is the only thing in common that will work.

 

But if you do have a camera that supports Bluetooth, you'll still get better performance on WiFi.  The WiFi bandwidth is MUCH faster than Bluetooth.  Bluetooth was designed to be a very low-power radio meant for devices that are very close and don't require much bandwidth.

 

Apple does some clever things to mix the technologies in a way which is transparent to end users for their own devices.  For example... an Apple Watch will try to talk to the phone via Bluetooth because that's the most power-friendly way to communicate.  However if the Bluetooth radio is unable to establish a connection, it automatically switches to WiFi because that would be able to reach your phone irrespective of distance as long as your phone is on the network.  The watch doesn't just start with WiFi or use it full time because that would kill the battery too quickly.

 

They also do clever things when pairing new devices... e.g. they'll use NFC or Bluetooth to discover a devices then use that protocol to negotiate a swtich to the faster WiFi network and send all the high-bandwidth stuff over WiFi so that it's very fast.  The cool part is that the users don't need to set up WiFi or have any knowledge of how this works and it all seems like magic.

 

I really wish Canon would do that since they now have NFC equipped cameras.... e.g. get the camera & phone near each other, use NFC to negotiate the connection, then tell both devices to switch to WiFi so they don't have to be next to each other and have fast communication ... without the pain of having to configure the camera & phone's settings.

 

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da

View solution in original post

2 REPLIES 2

TCampbell
Elite
Elite

The short answer is no.  My iPhone is NFC equipped as is my camera.  However the Canon Connect software on my phone only supports Bluetooth & WiFi connection methods.

 

It turns out my particular camera model doesn't have Bluetooth -- just NFC & WiFi.  So in my case, WiFi is the only thing in common that will work.

 

But if you do have a camera that supports Bluetooth, you'll still get better performance on WiFi.  The WiFi bandwidth is MUCH faster than Bluetooth.  Bluetooth was designed to be a very low-power radio meant for devices that are very close and don't require much bandwidth.

 

Apple does some clever things to mix the technologies in a way which is transparent to end users for their own devices.  For example... an Apple Watch will try to talk to the phone via Bluetooth because that's the most power-friendly way to communicate.  However if the Bluetooth radio is unable to establish a connection, it automatically switches to WiFi because that would be able to reach your phone irrespective of distance as long as your phone is on the network.  The watch doesn't just start with WiFi or use it full time because that would kill the battery too quickly.

 

They also do clever things when pairing new devices... e.g. they'll use NFC or Bluetooth to discover a devices then use that protocol to negotiate a swtich to the faster WiFi network and send all the high-bandwidth stuff over WiFi so that it's very fast.  The cool part is that the users don't need to set up WiFi or have any knowledge of how this works and it all seems like magic.

 

I really wish Canon would do that since they now have NFC equipped cameras.... e.g. get the camera & phone near each other, use NFC to negotiate the connection, then tell both devices to switch to WiFi so they don't have to be next to each other and have fast communication ... without the pain of having to configure the camera & phone's settings.

 

 

Tim Campbell
5D III, 5D IV, 60Da

Thanks very much for the lucid reply! In re: WiFi connection, I know that I am doing it right (5D IV, 6D II, M5) because I can often connect to any of iPad, iPad Pro, and iPhone. But not always. That tells me that there is a certain amount of flakiness somewhere in the chain. So I'll stick with my CamRanger, which never fails (but which doesn't work on the M5).

 

Thanks again!

 

David Illig aka Davoud

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