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(More customer reviews)The WFT-E4 II A has two primary functions:
1) WiFi Connectivity to transmit photos to a computer during a photo shoot.
Secondary to this is the ability to control the camera via WiFi. See OnOne DSLR Camera Remote to see how this is done via an iPhone.
2) GPS connectivity for geocoding location data into photos.
My interest in the WFT-E4 II A is 80% GPS, 20% WiFi. Disclaimer: I just received my WFT-E4 II A and 5D Mk II. I have not yet made any photos or even mounted a lens. But owing to the pathetic state of documentation available from Canon and on the internet about this device, I thought I should post a preliminary review.
My interest in geocoding photos arises from the fact that I do architectural photography all across North America for Satterwhite Log Homes. GPS location information is an essential part of my photo shoots because log homes are built out in the country, away from the highway, up in the mountains, around the far side of a lake, out in the middle of the farm, over hill and dale.
Let's address a GPS issue that can be confusing: track logging vs.real-time capture.
For many people, track logging is the way to go, and it is certainly much, much less expensive than the WFT-E4 II A. For $125 or so, track loggers simply record location information on a separate device. This procedure is not without problems: a) clocks must be synchronized between camera and logging device before photography begins, and 2) all images must be post-processed after the shoot to embed location information from the track logger into the image file. For track logging, there is no need to purchase the WFT-E4 II A.
Real-time GPS logging captures location data and embeds it into the image file at the moment the image is exposed. If it were done right, there would be very little prep, and no post processing workflow afterwards. The Canon 5D Mk II is not capable capable of real-time GPS without add-on purchase of the WFT-E4 II A.
For me, a track logging solution is not practical. It is too cumbersome and too exposed to human failings. It requires too much effort in a post processing step with special software on the computer. It does not fit my workflow, where I may be on the road two or three weeks at a time -- these hours are precious, and I need to be shooting, not munging data in a hotel room. And data logging is simply a waste of time - double trouble, twice the work for something that should be completed and done each time the shutter is released. In short, I despise GPS data logging because it makes me the servant of the machine, instead of engineering the machine to serve me.
The 5D Mk II is a breakthrough camera capable of stunning results, phenomenal technology and an incredible price. True virtuoso engineering.
Not so the WFT-E4 II A, all the more disappointing because this is a second generation, revised device.
I rated the WFT-E4 II A two stars because Canon's engineers simply have not caught the vision of GPS. This is a serious indictment: a) they did not built GPS into the 5D Mk II or any other EOS camera (or any point and shoot, for that matter, unlike Nikon, Panasonic, and Sony... not to mention the iPhone). b) Canon does not include Bluetooth in the camera body, c) Canon neglected to allow GPS data input through the existing USB port on the camera body, d) The USB on the WFT-E4 II A will accept GPS data. So GPS can be accomplished on the 5D Mk II, but only at the expense of about $1,000 for the WFT-E4 II A and an external GPS unit.
You might say, for Canon, GPS is an afterthought to an afterthought. Meaning they neglected to include it in the base camera, and the particulars of implementation on the WFT-E4 II A are dismal.
OK - besides heaping grief on Canon for their nearly non-existent GPS capabilities, I want this review to provide information for people like myself who must forge ahead given these gross limitations.
First - BLUETOOTH. Canon says the WFT-E4 II A is bluetooth capable. To do so requires purchase of a separate USB bluetooth dongle that Canon designed and markets for their line of inkjet printers. This adds insult to injury, to consider that the expensive WFT-E4 II A add-on, required to enable the 5D Mk II for GPS, must itself have an extra cost add-on to enable connectivity. However, I use this stuff professionally, and at some level, I don't mind spending extra to get the job done. BAD NEWS. Bluetooth on the WFT-E4 II A is completely kludgy. I was hoping against hope that the bluetooth dongle would fit inside the WFT-E4 II A body. NO, NOT THE CASE. Brilliant Canon engineering shows its sad limits here -- the Bluetooth adapter is plugged into the WFT-E4 II A external USB socket, hanging out the left side of the device in a rigid fashion like a USB thumb drive stuck on the side. This is completely ignorant and sure to be snapped off by your left hand moving to support the lens or focus, or by a camera strap snagging the dongle. I'm trying to think of the nicest thing I can think of to say... the word STUPID is the best I can do.
Which means, for all practical purposes, the WFT-E4 II A must be used as a wired device for GPS acquisition. Which means a separate klunky GPS receiver. And none of this is thought through -- Garmin nor anyone else has ever considered a GPS hot shoe mount. They also don't have a camera strap mount for the GPS - belt holsters assume a horizontal strap. And a USB cable plugged into the side of the WFT-E4 II A is almost as bad as a Bluetooth dongle. Not to mention I will have to find some way to wear an external GPS on the camera strap or on my person, cabled to the camera, and likely swinging on a lanyard smacking me and beating up the camera. Even if you can devise a way to mount the GPS on the hot shoe (I did on my last camera, and it is an ugly, ugly solution), just try to find a USB cable less than 6' long. All you can do is wrap the cable round and round something, usually the hotshoe foot, and try to keep the thick ball of wire out of the way of the viewfinder.
What a joke! There is nothing tolerable about this. Much as I love this camera, GPS design deficiencies mean pain and suffering every single day of my life with this camera.
I hope somebody from Canon reads this. You don't want to talk to me in person what I really think -- I've kept my comments here civil.
But I will say this is pathetic performance from a company I really like (I've been shooting Canon pro cameras since I was 15 years old -- bought my first Canon F1 about 35 years ago). Your professional level cameras should have built-in GPS capabilities equal to an Apple iPhone, period.
If you must rely on an external device, and there may be reasons to do so, even if GPS is built into the camera (not unlike built-in vs. external flash), then your camera should have rock solid built-in Bluetooth to eliminate wired connections in the field. Further, you need to specify positional accuracy for any internal GPS and specific recommended external solutions. This can be critical, depending on the application. For instance, I am involved with an historical project to document cemeteries. Not just cemeteries, but actual burials within cemeteries. This is not amateur tourist photos to indicate position in the vicinity of the Grand Canyon, but locations of unmarked graves with an accuracy within the footprint of a casket, or perhaps an urn interment. Exacting accuracy is another reason track loggers don't work for me.
Who knows what other applications exist for this technology? Certainly real estate, which I am a variant. Crime scene photography? Accident investigations? Travel...
What is not in doubt is Canon has been clueless about capture of positional location metadata up until this point.
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