WFT-E1 Wireless/Wired Tranceiver Review

**Orgnoi1** · #1 12-20-2006, 06:50 PM

I can say I have wanted one of these for a long while but with the price of doom set at a cool $1000 it has been a definate back burner for the wants vs. needs. Recently one did come up for sale on Fred Miranda for a significantly lower price, so who am I to try and be strong willed right?

Review:

Review Scores: *=Hard/Poor *****=Easy/Exceptional

Build=****

Fit/Finish=****

Ease of Hardware Install=*****

Ease of Software Install=**

Operation=*****

Overall Score=****

Connections:
USB or Firewire to Camera (Canon 1D-Series requires use of Firewire)
Wireless 802.11b
Wired Lan via Cat5/RJ45 Connection

My initial impression was that the WFT seemed to be fairly sturdy, fit and finish was good, and cabling was decent. The WFT does not come with a battery or charger though which for the unaware can come with a fairly big surprise for the price tag. It does take the BP511 batteries though so a quick order from Mydigitaldiscount can fix that problem up fairly inexpensively.

The software that came with my WFT was the older version, Canon has a newer, more compatable software out (and I suggest using it). On initial software install (requires Windows FTP or 3rd party FTP software) I had significant difficulty getting the WFT and laptop to communicate (in Ad Hoc mode) and it took 2 complete installs to get correct. Setting up the Windows FTP requires the user to update their install of either WinXP Pro or Win2000, and this will not work in WinXP Home. Once you get that set up, you then use the utility software to create an update file for your CF card and install into the camera. The camera will only recognise the WFT when its turned on, so you must have the equipment set up prior to getting to this point. After that its time to pray and follow the troubleshooting through the error codes to get you working.

Once everything is set up and running smooth its a real fun piece of equipment to say the least. Canon advertises 60meters of distance for usage, and I say that its probably close to true as using inside a normal house I was able to shoot from the whole house. Canon also has an external cabled antenna for the distance junkies where so you can get 150meters of range. One feature that I feel can be a drawback (but its only an opinion) is that the WFT will only shoot the amount of space your card has without formatting. Meaning once your card is full you have to format to continue to send, or replace the card with a new one.

Overall views:

Given the headache from the initial install, and the price, I would say this item suits the professional or advanced hobbiest that has the need for a wireless device while shooting. I would say that if the need isnt there the money is better spend on something else. But if you are just into cool toys and have some decent networking and computer background, this item could be on your wishlist.

**zacker** · #2 12-21-2006, 07:11 AM

ok....what the heck is it? is it to upload from the cam or to get instant feed back on a laptop...and speaking of, what laptop is that in the pic? looks smaller than the camera! i like it!

**Orgnoi1** · #3 12-21-2006, 07:29 AM

It sends the images you take directly from the camera to either a laptop, or through a wireless access point to a computer you set up...

The laptop I have shown is my travel-light laptop... Averatec 3150H... since my new laptop is HUGE in comparison I decided to set this one up for the WFT...

**zacker** · #4 12-21-2006, 07:38 AM

so its like tethering to a computer..only wireless? you can shoot from the laptop as well? t'd be great to see the image feedback on the big screen for doing portraits and such!! Pretty cool!

**Orgnoi1** · #5 12-21-2006, 07:40 AM

no you cant shoot from the laptop as far as I know... but you can do that if you have the camera tethered via USB or Firewire anyways... it may be possible but I am not aware of it

**TomNanos** · #6 12-21-2006, 07:45 AM

Pretty neat...one question. Does it act like it's tethered - as in shoot a picture, wait for it to upload to the PC then shoot again, or can you fire off whatever you want, and it just queues the shots up for FTPing to the PC?

**Orgnoi1** · #7 12-21-2006, 07:48 AM

Well it works similarly to having the camera shoot to card... with the exception of transfer speeds... I found out last night that it will only shoot 802.11b Ad Hoc for example... so at 11mbps it takes a bit of time to transfer the shot... but you can still run the queue to the buffer... so with the 1D Mark II I can buffer up to 45 jpegs... as long as you arent running hard core the whole time shooting and allow some time here and there you should be ok

**convergent** · #8 12-21-2006, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomNanos

Pretty neat...one question. Does it act like it's tethered - as in shoot a picture, wait for it to upload to the PC then shoot again, or can you fire off whatever you want, and it just queues the shots up for FTPing to the PC?

It is not really the same as being tethered... its a different setup. When tethered, I believe, the pictures go to the computer only... and you have some control aspects on the camera from the computer. This is doing ftp on the fly. So, for example, you could ftp directly to a webserver if you had a public access point available, for live event coverage. You can, for portraits, have a similar capability as being tethered if you have the proper software. There is software that will watch a directory, and process the images when they show up. I believe that some versions of Express Digital's Digital Darkroom can do this. I use that software to run events and am hoping to go wireless at some point. I was hoping the price for this thing would come down, and the speed go up, at some point. Or, maybe the 1DIII series will have built-in WiFi and Pocket Wizard capability... wouldn't that be cool?

**zacker** · #9 12-21-2006, 10:45 AM

yeah a built in transmitter for PW's would be great... then youd only need to buy recievers.. but Id bet canon would NOT wanna hook up with PW to do this or maybe the other way around too... but, it wouldnt stop canon from designing thier own type of radio triggers and incorporating them into bodies and flashes...that would rock!