More successfully... WiFi, apps and the Nikon D5200

Running a WiFi dongle off my Nikon D5200 dSLR and installing Live View controlling apps on both a Windows 10 tablet and a Samsung Galaxy Note has been very successful, so far.

It gives me an intervalometer function that the 5200 doesn't natively have and allows both Live View and full camera control on the tablets (or smartphone for that matter), which can be handy for timer shots, animation and macro work. Studio photographers who want to show their work to a client as they shoot it would also have a need.

I'm using WiFi Wireless Live View Remote Nikon D810 Df D610 D600 D800 D7100 D7000 D4 D3x with dslrdashboard bundled in at no extra cost.

The dslrdashboard would work with other WiFi devices, including Nikon's own WU-1a and the like, but I can only vouch for what I have. (It also suits Canon and some Sony cameras.) You can buy the dashboard alone via the Play Store for a small fee. I'm using Android, of course (and Win 10).

The dongle I've bought needs the standard Nikon cable which comes with the camera, by the way, and just hangs loose on the cable, sadly. Whereas the WU-1a plugs straight into the connector on the camera. Other designs are even more convenient, mounting on the flash hot-shoe; but then you have to relocate your flash of course.

So far every function works with my combination of hardware, but it won't fully work with Nikon's 3XXX series and perhaps other models. The Nikon D5200, FWIW, is both a bargain and a very good DX or APS-C format dSLR. It works for me, anyway!

Happy Anniversary Update? Fun things to try... or not

Sometimes it's easy, other times it's not.

Upgrading my old Toshiba L500 to the Anniversary edition of Windows 10 (it's running 1507 right now) hasn't been easy. I lost count of how many times it has made it to 95% and fallen over.

Despite trying...

(a) clearing out the upgrade folder and downloading again and...

(b) being patient and...

(c) resetting Win10 (that failed) and rebooting off a fresh Win10 installation USB (which also failed).

I'm no closer to a solution.

I did get a glimmer of hope when I logged in under a different account (I have at least 3 on that box) so I'm backing up - again - after a failed backup and will try all of the above again.

Oh, and I tried to download and run the update manually, too. It failed. And yes, I was logged in as Admin. And made lots of space. And disconnected anything I didn't need.

All good fun.

My other Win 10 boxes - all Lenovos - shamelessly updated effortlessly, by the way. But they are newer, which always helps.