Fujifilm Camera Remote app. alternative

I am a professional property photographer and use an X-T3 and X-T4 at ground level primarily, but often get asked to take some elevated photos using a retractable pole.

I have my little X-E3 with the XF 16mm WR lens sitting on top of the pole, while I try to communicate with the camera from the ground using the Fujifilm Camera Remote app. on my iPhone or iPad.

As is well known, the app. is unfortunately very unreliable. Sometimes it will connect to the camera, other times it won't - no rhyme or reason. It will also frequently drop the connection, almost as soon as it is established. Overall it is infuriating and cumbersome to use, and I really could do with an alternative remote firing/wifi based solution.

Has anyone discovered a solution that works to fire Fujifilm cameras remotely, with a live view on an iPhone or iPad?

The only potentially viable solution I can see on-line is the CamRanger 2 - but that's a lot more money? (and extra weight on the pole)

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Thanks for that - glad you've had a better experience than I've had! Yes, I've tried everything to get it to work consistently, but it's always been hit and miss.

I think Capture 1 is a tethered rather than wireless solution if I'm not mistaken?

A third party app (for wireless connection) would need to know the technical details/protocol to connect and control the camera - I'm not sure if Fujifilm have made that available or kept it as proprietary/internal info only, if it were public - there'd probably be more options out there.

I haven't used Cam Ranger - but a quick look at how they set it up suggests to me it's basically using Fuji's options for wired tethered shooting, and "pretending" it's a PC - such as if you tethered the camera to Capture One for example.  The Cam Ranger is then providing the wireless connection to your device(s) instead of the camera itself.

Unfortunately unless Fuji have released the wireless protocol details (or plan to do so), or someone manages to reverse engineer them - it's probably unlikely there's an alternative to their own app.

Cotswold Ken wrote:

I am a professional property photographer and use an X-T3 and X-T4 at ground level primarily, but often get asked to take some elevated photos using a retractable pole.

I have my little X-E3 with the XF 16mm WR lens sitting on top of the pole, while I try to communicate with the camera from the ground using the Fujifilm Camera Remote app. on my iPhone or iPad.

As is well known, the app. is unfortunately very unreliable. Sometimes it will connect to the camera, other times it won't - no rhyme or reason. It will also frequently drop the connection, almost as soon as it is established. Overall it is infuriating and cumbersome to use, and I really could do with an alternative remote firing/wifi based solution.

Has anyone discovered a solution that works to fire Fujifilm cameras remotely, with a live view on an iPhone or iPad?

The only potentially viable solution I can see on-line is the CamRanger 2 - but that's a lot more money? (and extra weight on the pole)

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Hmm have you tried one of those wifi SD cards?

Maybe that could work.

Thanks for suggestion - being a photographer, I need to see what I'm doing on screen first before transferring images! So it's the ability to control the camera remotely which is the issue.

thanks for your thoughts - and I fear that you are spot on that there are no third party solutions for the reasons you give.

The CamRanger option is increasingly looking like the only viable alternative for me.

I'm not so keen on the idea of waving my X-T3 or X-T4 around on the end of a 20 foot pole because of the extra weight, so haven't tried it to be honest! I get nervous enough with my X-E3 (which I love too!)

There was another remote app. I can’t find the name yet. I think Morris recommended it. It had more features than the Fuji one, and used landscape, so was great on the iPad. I ended up going back to the Fuji app because of the connection issues.

The Fuji app seems to have improved of late, and there is the promise of a new redesigned Fuji app on the way.

I wonder if the phone is dropping the camera wifi in favour of the stronger home wifi signal, because mine seems to connect better when I’m away from home.

I have thought of using a small HDMI monitor when using a pole. With a long cable remote to fire the shutter. Also the Bluetooth side of the Fuji app can fire the shutter without wifi.

Edit - I see the following post now - yes Cascable that was it

It doesn’t look like wireless tethering is supported for Fujifilm cameras with Cascable, at least according to their compatibility table.

Travelerdave wrote:

There was another remote app. I can’t find the name yet. I think Morris recommended it. It had more features than the Fuji one, and used landscape, so was great on the iPad. I ended up going back to the Fuji app because of the connection issues.

The Fuji app seems to have improved of late, and there is the promise of a new redesigned Fuji app on the way.

I wonder if the phone is dropping the camera wifi in favour of the stronger home wifi signal, because mine seems to connect better when I’m away from home.

I have thought of using a small HDMI monitor when using a pole. With a long cable remote to fire the shutter. Also the Bluetooth side of the Fuji app can fire the shutter without wifi.

Edit - I see the following post now - yes Cascable that was it

Thanks for that - yes I agree multiple wifi signals may be competing with the cameras and that's causing the connection issues.

I hadn't thought of trying a long cable from the camera combined with an HDMI monitor which I'll look into..

Fingers crossed for a newly designed app! (which actually works!!)

Mczar2u wrote:

I suggest you try with different phone (s). May be an old used phone can work better. An probably cheaper.

I had different results with different phones (all Android) . I was unable to connect with some, while with others it worked perfect.... well slow to initiate, but once connected I had no problems.

Mario

yes, that may be a last resort - it's this inconsistency which makes it unusable in the field unfortunately.

Nothing worse than faffing around in front of a client, who's thinking 'who is this incompetent idiot that I've hired who can't even set up his own equipment!"

When I used Cascable it could fire the shutter and set many things, all via wifi using an X-H1, that may have changed (I’ll try it again now). It could preview the image in landscape making the image far bigger, which the Fuji app will not do. In my case the images were recorded on the camera’s SD cards, I don’t remember if Cascable was able to save them to the iPhone, iPad. My problem with it was connecting. The Fuji app is easier to connect with. I feel that this has improved with recent updates.

Well that's quite confusing, I see Cascable have a Fuji connection guide which seems to suggest wireless connectivity works, but their compatibility table shows wireless tethering as unavailable for all Fuji models but maybe they just mean RAW transfer...

Ok, I downloaded Cascable

It did connect, after a fight. I used the Fuji app to pair Bluetooth, then quit the Fuji app. I used my iPad, and turned the wifi and BT off on my nearby iPhone (I know from pairing my hearing aids interference is important - only for the initial pairing though)

You need to enable wireless on the camera, then connect to the cameras wifi on the device. After a few tries Cascable did finally see the camera and connect.

It shoots images storing them on the SD cards. It has live view with a histogram. It can view images from both cards, and will transfer them to the device. With the Pro upgrade it can have focus peaking -  didn’t try RAw, I can do

It seems the same as it was the last time I used it. I feel that the Fuji app connects with less work.

The Fuji app connects via Bluetooth easily - with that it can fire the shutter. Selecting Live view - the App will via BT get the device onto the camera’s wifi giving live view.

It will preview and shoot with the camera in Raw mode. It cannot see the raw files on the card, although it can see a jpg in a Raw only file.

Another issue is that images on the card have to be copied to the device to review them.

The Fuji app reviews images without transfer, from what I saw, the Fuji app didn’t see the raw files either.

Non of it nice or easy, even so, live view can be very helpful at times