Weapon wi-fi problems

[Eric Haase]

One of the main reasons I wanted to upgrade was wireless control of camera (live wireless control over look, curves and LGG remotely). Fool control is a great app. Initially I had trouble with the camera keeping a connection with the app. Ad hoc mode is miserably weak and even when the iPad is next to the camera it has difficulty and can be slow or unresponsive. Changing a setting would sometimes affect the camera and sometimes not. I tried using an older access point router that I had and it too was unreliable.

This week I used this device as an access point:
https://www.ubnt.com/airmax/picostationm/

I believe it is one of the strongest wi-fi devices available. When connected, fool control was immediately responsive. My iPad always connected to the access point along with a bunch of iPhones we tested. The Weapon connected and worked until the access point's power was cycled. It was velcro'd on my monitor and would occasionally be disconnected from power and moved in between setups. I think when this happened, the Weapon's Wi-Fi indicator would go Yellow or Red in color and going into the Communication menu I could not connect back to the access point. I would RESCAN and then press CONNECT and still no luck. The only solution I found was to reboot the camera or Disable wifi in camera and then go back to infrastructure mode, rescan and connect to the network again. Obviously this is not a tenable solution in a production environment.

I am wondering if anyone else has had similar experience or if there may be away the RED team can update the firmware on the camera so it can better reconnect to wi-fi after the network is recycled or the camera power is recycled. After all, all iOs devices had no trouble doing this so I do believe it is possible.

 

[Bob Gundu]

Hey Eric. Did you try turning the power save option off? After that I had a reliable connection.

 

[Antony Newman]

I guess some of the issues may be due to the use of a 802.11G transmitter in the RED (from the standard that was ratified in 2003) ... rather than 802.11N which mobile devices switched to in 2009.

I actually thought that the 802.11N chipsets used less power.
... perhaps this might get an update to make it longer ranger. (hoping & willing to pay!)

I have noticed the odd piece of weapon traffic being send out on the wrong port too around (just after) the point the connection fails - but I don't that this is to blame (for disconnects).

AJ

 

[Demetri Zuev]

Hope it's not a Redmote story all over again...

 

[Spencer Weaver]

One of the main reasons I wanted to upgrade was wireless control of camera (live wireless control over look, curves and LGG remotely). Fool control is a great app. Initially I had trouble with the camera keeping a connection with the app. Ad hoc mode is miserably weak and even when the iPad is next to the camera it has difficulty and can be slow or unresponsive. Changing a setting would sometimes affect the camera and sometimes not. I tried using an older access point router that I had and it too was unreliable.

This week I used this device as an access point:
https://www.ubnt.com/airmax/picostationm/

I believe it is one of the strongest wi-fi devices available. When connected, fool control was immediately responsive. My iPad always connected to the access point along with a bunch of iPhones we tested. The Weapon connected and worked until the access point's power was cycled. It was velcro'd on my monitor and would occasionally be disconnected from power and moved in between setups. I think when this happened, the Weapon's Wi-Fi indicator would go Yellow or Red in color and going into the Communication menu I could not connect back to the access point. I would RESCAN and then press CONNECT and still no luck. The only solution I found was to reboot the camera or Disable wifi in camera and then go back to infrastructure mode, rescan and connect to the network again. Obviously this is not a tenable solution in a production environment.

I am wondering if anyone else has had similar experience or if there may be away the RED team can update the firmware on the camera so it can better reconnect to wi-fi after the network is recycled or the camera power is recycled. After all, all iOs devices had no trouble doing this so I do believe it is possible.

Eric, what ended up happening in your case? Has the issue been resolved with in camera WiFi disconnecting and then not being able to reconnect?

 

[Bérenger Brillante]

My fool control is working perfectly, as long as i disable the sleep off my iDevices.
If not, i have to reconnect, and it can take like 10 sec which is a pain.

Without sleep off, No problem except the Battery Life.

 

[Marcel M]

hello Eric i am interested to see what you found of this/ also interested how you set up the wifi extender you mentioned. I am searching for some solutions myself. I am in LA so if you have time to meet up and brainstorm drop me a pm

One of the main reasons I wanted to upgrade was wireless control of camera (live wireless control over look, curves and LGG remotely). Fool control is a great app. Initially I had trouble with the camera keeping a connection with the app. Ad hoc mode is miserably weak and even when the iPad is next to the camera it has difficulty and can be slow or unresponsive. Changing a setting would sometimes affect the camera and sometimes not. I tried using an older access point router that I had and it too was unreliable.

This week I used this device as an access point:
https://www.ubnt.com/airmax/picostationm/

I believe it is one of the strongest wi-fi devices available. When connected, fool control was immediately responsive. My iPad always connected to the access point along with a bunch of iPhones we tested. The Weapon connected and worked until the access point's power was cycled. It was velcro'd on my monitor and would occasionally be disconnected from power and moved in between setups. I think when this happened, the Weapon's Wi-Fi indicator would go Yellow or Red in color and going into the Communication menu I could not connect back to the access point. I would RESCAN and then press CONNECT and still no luck. The only solution I found was to reboot the camera or Disable wifi in camera and then go back to infrastructure mode, rescan and connect to the network again. Obviously this is not a tenable solution in a production environment.

I am wondering if anyone else has had similar experience or if there may be away the RED team can update the firmware on the camera so it can better reconnect to wi-fi after the network is recycled or the camera power is recycled. After all, all iOs devices had no trouble doing this so I do believe it is possible.

 

[Tom Gleeson]

Eric,

I agree whilst Foolcontol is awesome the WiFi connection on my CF weapon is problematic. I have given up on Ad hoc connection as it is just too unreliable. The reality of production where gear is powered on and off and moved in and out of range means having to reconnect the devices and I find my camera sometimes just refuses to reconnect no matter what I try? I will experiment with infrastructure mode when I get a chance and possibly look into Wooden Camera's pricey WiFi Antenna solution but at this stage I don't know if it's a range issue or something to do with the camera's network capabilities?

For Foolcontol to be useful I need to be able to set it up at the beginning of the day and have it work all day. If gear is turned off or goes out of range it must be designed to auto reconnect or its just a burden rather than a time saver

 

[Jeff McCoy]

I have the same issue described here. Tom, you couldn't have said it any better.

Foolcontrol is great but the connectivity between my iOS device and the camera is extremely unreliable.

 

[Phil Holland]

range issue or something

On the last commercial I shot we had the Weapon in a drone, which severely inhibited the WiFi's range to pretty much "on top of camera". Did some fairly interesting tests surrounding that shoot.

It's fairly susceptible to interference, which is to be moderately expected.

An antennae should improve things. A powered solution is also something that would be worth exploring.

In a fairly tame environment I haven't had any real issues. Seems to me to be a range thing.