Canon 70D tip: Connect to a Mac via Wi-Fi

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A post on how to connect a Canon EOS 70D to a Macbook Prorunning Mavericks via Wifi (no cable needed!)

WHY to do this?

- - To control the camera wirelessly. You can configure the camera, shoot remotely via the computer, even set-up the 70D for timelapse.

- - To download pictures wirelessly, without a need to remove the SD card.

What do you need before starting??

- A Macbook with Canon’s EOS utilities installed. It helps to have the last version, so check the canon website for updates. If the pop-up (see video) doesn’t appear, most probably this software is your issue. To fix, completely remove all EOS applications with an application like AppCleaner and reinstall directly from the Canon website.

The link today to download 70D software in US English is:

http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/slr_cameras/eos_70d#DriversAndSoftware

- A Canon EOS 70D (wifi version), should be model Canon 70D (W) as in the manual it seems there is a non Wifi version call ed Canon 70D (N). It should have a charged battery. Basic knowledge on how to enter the menu and navigate through the menus is needed.

- A Wifi network and the information needed to connect to it. Both devices will not connect directly to each other, but via a wifi network (i.e. your home router network name and password)

What are the steps?

- Boot up your Mac, ensure it is connected via Wifi to the network you want to use.

On the Canon 70D:

1) Turn on WIfi by:

- Turn on the Canon 70D

- Press the menu button

- Navigate via the left / right arrow keys on the multicontroller until you reach the settings (wrench symbol 3)

- Go down also via Multicontroller to “Wi-Fi”. Change to enable.

- Enter the option below "Wi-Fi" to “Wi-Fi function”

2) Set-up the Canon to connect to the network

- Within Wi-Fi function select the computer symbol, where it says “Remote Control (EOS Utility)

- In the next screen, connect to your router as you normally would. There are 3 options, via “Find network” (scans for available networks or lets you enter a network ID manually) or via “WPS” if your router supports this either via PBC or a PIN.

- Follow the next screens to enter the details of your router. They will be different depending on the connection option you chose.

- After it will ask if you should set a manual IP or have your router set it automatically for you. Use your router settings (most probably automatic).

- It will display “Start pairing devices”. Press OK

- When the Canon 70D has on it’s screen “Start pairing software on computer screen”, move onto Step 3 which is setting it upon the Mac

3) Set-up the Mac:

- On the Mac, if you are connected to the same Wifi network and have the EOS utilities installed, a pop-up will appear top right saying “EOS Pairing”. Click on it and a window will appear.

- You should see a line with Canon 70D on it. Press “connect”. It will tell you to validate on the camera.

4) Authorise on both devices:

- On the Canon 70D it will say “ found. Connect to the PC.”. Press OK to validate

- You can set a name for the connection on the Canon 70D if you want. There are 3 slots for having more wifi connections.

5) ENJOY!

Ensure you have this video in HD to see the text of the Mac desktop. Youtube allows you to configure this pressing the gear button on the bottom right of the video screen.

FCPX 10.1 trick: How to know which clips have been used in the Timeline?

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With the new FCPX 10.1, Apple´s biggest change was media management. After doing a project, I wanted to archive it, but saw that I had tons of unused files inside the project. So ideally I wanted to erase all non used media before archiving to save space. Something as simple as iMovie which shows a orange squiggly line beneath every used part of a clip.

Checked online, but seems there is no solution for this. Strange!

I stumbled on it by accident!

1) In the main window press the gear icon, and select "Group Clips by" and select "None"

 

2) Press the button that is 2 buttons right from the gear button. It should be "show clips in list view"

3) In the list of media, an arrow will appear next to clips that have been used. You can even check by opening one... it says "used"

 

Voila!

 

Scared of losing years of Photos? Here's the perfect backup solution

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Two things can easily happen to your computer: HDD failure or get stolen. Of course, you can always put in a new HDD or buy a new computer and install the OS and all the programs you use. It's time consuming but not the end of the world. But then the thought comes - when was the last time I backed up???

Oh no, THE foto and video collection. The one you have been archiving since your first digital camera or your friends' first digital camera. Probably older files are on some external drive, but you haven't updated it in the last 9 or 12 months, almost a year of memories lost.

This already happened to me once, and ever since I've been looking for a solution. Enter the Synology NAS server - it sounds and looks geeky, but WOW, it solved my backup problem in several ways and added tons of extra functionalities like torrent managing, media server, internet server for pictures / streaming video and home camera surveillance.
What is a NAS server? Basically a hard disk plugged into your home network - a shared drive that any device on your home WIFI can access. Synology took the concept one step further and included RAID and a processor that can do things with the information on the hard disk such as uploading them to online storage or creating an online webpage for your pictures that you can access anywhere in the world. I'll talk about this in an upcoming post, for now backup.
I wanted something that could:
- Take care of automatic backups from my Mac / PC
- protect itself from failure of it's own HDD
- upload pictures / videos to the cheapest online backup. Reason being that if someone steals my house and my computer and the synology, the backups on it are not very useful....
The device I found that ticked all these boxes and was "cheap" is the Synology DS212j. Nowadays they've launched an upgraded version - the DS214 which adds more internal RAM memory and an improved processor. Functionalities are the same. Besides the device, you need to buy separately the HDDs to put inside. To have RAID ( explained in a second ) you should have two same sizes HDDs, I got 2 x Western Digital's Red 3TB HDDs. The Red family are made to work on NAS servers, prioritizing longetivity and low heat generation over speed - which you don't need as much Ina. NAS server vs a computer. These disks are designed to be on 24/7, just like your synology.

Why the Synology?
- Take care of automatic backups from my Mac / PC:
For Mac it has time machine functionality, a software included in the Mac by Apple that backs up all your computer content automatically to a time machine device. It also can handle automatically complete restore of your information in case of issues with the Mac.
For windows it has software that can automate backups, although if haven't used it yet (only use macs for now...)
- protect itself from failure of it's own HDD
With 2 hard disks installed, it mirrors all information automatically in between them. Meaning that if one HDD fails, all info is stored on the other one. Synology handles this without any involvement from you - you only see one shared drive and once the info.
- upload pictures / videos to the cheapest online backup. Reason being that if someone steals my house and my computer and the synology, the backups on it are not very useful. Synology can upload to several online storage sites p, but for me the mist interesting is Amazon glacier. It's real cheap, I think I have approx 300Gbs put there and I pay approx 4USD per month. With Dropbox a 200Gb plan is 19.99USD and 500Gb a whopping 49.99USD. I save 400 to 500$ per year. The catch? It isn't like Dropbox that you always have access to your files. With glacier you request a file and it is only available 4 hours later.
To be honest, none of these files I need in a rush - they are always local on my Synology. Amazon glacier is online backup just in case the Synology is stolen.... And probably I can wait a little while to download them when my house has been burglarized - they are not priority #1. Amazon even has a service where you can send an external HDD and they record all files there.
Set-up posts coming up!