CameraWindow, Image Gateway, and Travel

[tonikaus]

I have a new PowerShot SX60. I set up CameraWindow, and can easily view camera photos on my smartphone. When I have WifFi, I can also upload them to Canon Image Gateway. We leave for Vietnam in a few weeks, and I'm wondering how to use these neat features to post photos to Facebook and/or attach them to email while travelling. While we're abroad, I don't want to spend too much time fussing with technical details, so I hope to get a good method mastered before we leave. Any world travelers out there with advice for how to make the best use of these features in situations where the only available WiFi may be an internet cafe or hotel lobby? Is it possible to bypass Image Gateway and go directly from the phone to Google Drive? How about attaching a single image to an email or Facebook post? I'm looking for an efficient workflow to use in situations where time and access are limited. All and any tips much appreciated!

[swandy · Accepted solution]

You don't mention what smartphone you use, so my experience will be based on the Canon G7X and Camera Window installed on an iPhone 6.

For me - and I have not travelled yet with the combination, just around NYC - would be to use the Camera Window app to copy the pictures you want to send (FB, Message, Email) onto the phone itself. (In the case of an iPhone it is Camera Roll or All Photos/Moments if you have engaged iCloud Photo Beta like I have.) Once the photos are on your phone you can then use either the FB app (I happen to prefer the Paper version), or your email account or whatever you used to send Messages to send the photos. 

Now - even though I have set up an Image Gateway account, I have not used it yet. I would assume the "advantage" of that would be that your pictures are stored in Canon's Cloud. The way I suggested above - especially if you are not using Apple's iCloud Photo Beta - the photos remain on your phone. Not the best solution for photo backup unless it is a pretty short trip. Unless you plan on uploading all your photos to Google Drive, but I would assume that they have a dedicated app and would not need the Image Gateway to do that.

[swandy · Accepted solution]

You don't mention what smartphone you use, so my experience will be based on the Canon G7X and Camera Window installed on an iPhone 6.

For me - and I have not travelled yet with the combination, just around NYC - would be to use the Camera Window app to copy the pictures you want to send (FB, Message, Email) onto the phone itself. (In the case of an iPhone it is Camera Roll or All Photos/Moments if you have engaged iCloud Photo Beta like I have.) Once the photos are on your phone you can then use either the FB app (I happen to prefer the Paper version), or your email account or whatever you used to send Messages to send the photos. 

Now - even though I have set up an Image Gateway account, I have not used it yet. I would assume the "advantage" of that would be that your pictures are stored in Canon's Cloud. The way I suggested above - especially if you are not using Apple's iCloud Photo Beta - the photos remain on your phone. Not the best solution for photo backup unless it is a pretty short trip. Unless you plan on uploading all your photos to Google Drive, but I would assume that they have a dedicated app and would not need the Image Gateway to do that.

[tonikaus · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your reply. I have an Android phone, and finally did come up with what I hope will be a good travel solution. Using the Canon CameraWindow app and my phone as the WiFi network, I select a photo, re-size to Small, then share to Gmail, Facebook, or to an app like Snapspeed that allows me to do a bit of post-processing before sharing with friends and family. Guessing that when I'm in Vietnam, and mostly relying on hotel or cafe WiFi, this will work best. Although I put some time into setting up the Canon Image Gateway, I think you're right in considering it mostly superfluous.