Gunther Wegner, timelapse photographer and creator of the LRTimelapse software, points out that the latest Nikon cameras that implement Nikon’s Snapbridge-technology cannot be used for advanced timelapse, astro or macro work using 3rd party apps, which connect via WiFi to the camera.
Basically, all the latest Nikon Cameras, like the Nikon D500, D7500 and D5600 prevent any 3rd party app from connecting via WiFi. The only app that can connect, is the somewhat limited Snapbridge app itself, but that doesn’t even allow for very basic camera control.
Timelapse photographers have special tools to control the camera, that can analyze the histogram of any image that has been shot and change camera settings accordingly. All this happens in a fraction of a second and works very well with all non-Snapbridge Nikon cameras and of course, Canon and Sony cameras too. But any other photographer, that would like to control his camera with his phone or tablet, should be interested in being able to do so with the app of their choice and not to be limited to Nikon’s own implementation.
According to Gunther: “technically, the standard Wi-Fi interface is also available in the new cameras with SnapBridge, and in principle, it would even work with specialized apps. Unfortunately, the cameras currently switch it off after a short time, as soon as the user switches from the SnapBridge app to another one. The only thing missing in the newer Nikon cameras is the possibility to manually turn on Wi-Fi via the menu independently of the SnapBridge app!”
Therefore, he wrote an open letter to Nikon, explaining how timelapse photographers work today and requested that Nikon reintroduce the possibility to use Wi-Fi independently of SnapBridge.
You can show your support to Gunther’s request by leaving a comment on his open letter to Nikon.
