Controlling the Canon 6D Using the Built-In Wi-Fi and a Smartphone

The Canon 6D is the first Canon DSLR to offer built-in Wi-Fi, which allows a smartphone or tablet to be paired with the camera to act as an external remote, viewfinder, photo viewer, and hard drive. If you want to see how the system works, check out this 5-minute video by Dave Etchells over at Imaging Resource. It’s a short demonstration of the free EOS Remote smartphone app in action by Canon’s Chuck Westfall.

The app offers two basic functions: remote shooting and image viewing.

Remote shooting turns your smartphone into the equivalent of a powerful external viewfinder and remote. You see the camera’s LiveView on your screen, and you can focus, adjust camera settings, and trigger the shutter.

The image viewing feature allows you to access the photos on your 6D’s memory card straight from the phone. You can see full metadata, rate photos, and pinch to zoom — just like you do with ordinary smartphone photos.

In the past, people have come up with all kinds of accessories/programs/hacks to use smartphones in this way, and most official solutions nowadays require a Wi-Fi attachment, but we’ll likely see this type of built-in Wi-Fi become a standard DSLR feature in the near future.


P.S. Imaging Resource has a great hands-on preview of the Canon 6D if you’d like to learn more about the camera itself.

Discussion