bluetooth pairing: is it really possible with the Z8?

[Lee R]

If you primarily download images at home you can also network the Zf/z8/z9 to your home router and then automatically to your computer with wireless transmitter utility. The camera can only do one connection at a time however so you need to pick which works best for you. I have a button bound to upload and can just filter through images on the camera back screen, hit the key for upload and it’s either in a folder on the desktop or in box studio waiting. Or you can send the entire card and just let it transfer inside the router range.

You can also network direct to the laptop with the camera acting like an access point.

So there’s alternate ways if you don’t want to use SnapBridge. But that’s the way to go for getting them to your phone.

 

[Replytoken]

Reviving this thread, but with questions about my Z6iii rather than my old Z6. As I mentioned above, I was able to get my original Z6 to connect via Snapbridge and transfer 2MP copies to my phone via BT. I would love to do the same with my new Z6iii, but that does not seem possible. It seems to only want to use BT to make a Wi-Fi connection, and even that does not want to connect for me. does anybody know if a BT-only connection to transfer 2MP files is even possible with the new Z6iii?

--Ken

 

[Hooligans Imagery]

Reviving this thread, but with questions about my Z6iii rather than my old Z6. As I mentioned above, I was able to get my original Z6 to connect via Snapbridge and transfer 2MP copies to my phone via BT. I would love to do the same with my new Z6iii, but that does not seem possible. It seems to only want to use BT to make a Wi-Fi connection, and even that does not want to connect for me. does anybody know if a BT-only connection to transfer 2MP files is even possible with the new Z6iii?

--Ken

Ken, the best and only way IMO is to set up auto link. Mine works fantastic on both my Z9 and Z6iii that way. Yes when you want to download it will switch on the WIFI as that is the only way it will have decent speed. One of the advantages of auto link is that it's easy to connect to have the GPS coordinates put in your Z6iii images. I set Link mode to Background and have Location Data set to High accuracy and Power Saving. I think one time I had it on BT only and it downloaded but it was so slow I thought the app was hung.

 

[Replytoken]

Ken, the best and only way IMO is to set up auto link. Mine works fantastic on both my Z9 and Z6iii that way. Yes when you want to download it will switch on the WIFI as that is the only way it will have decent speed. One of the advantages of auto link is that it's easy to connect to have the GPS coordinates put in your Z6iii images. I set Link mode to Background and have Location Data set to High accuracy and Power Saving. I think one time I had it on BT only and it downloaded but it was so slow I thought the app was hung.

Thanks. My preference would be to not use Auto-Link as I did not need the additional data, only wanted the small 2MP copies, and did not want to consume any more batter than is necessary. But if that is the only way I can establish a connection, then I can give it a try. It is a bit annoying to have my phone having to keep switching over its WiFi connection, but I'll give it a try.

I swear if I ever win a big lottery, I am going endow a position at Nikon that can only be filled with a former Apple UI engineer. It amazes me that a country that has taken things like packaging and presentation to an art form, can create such lousy software and such a bad UI experience.

--Ken

 

[MotoPixel]

I'll add one other useful tidbit to the already detailed information provided by others...and I've not seen it mentioned elsewhere.

I've found that turning off "Ask to Join Networks", "Auto-Join Hotspots" and "Auto-Join" for individual networks in your list of configured networks on your phone will eliminate dropped Wi-Fi connections, or at least it has in my case with the iPhones I use to connect to my Z9 and Z8. This eliminates the phone dropping the camera connection for any reason if other Wi-Fi connections are available. Might also help with setup, but I haven't tested that. Also, having your phone already disconnected from an active Wi-Fi connection greatly speeds up the connection process when Snapbridge needs to switch from BT to Wi-Fi.

Cheers!

 

[chaoyangnz]

I am not sure why Snapbridge has a bad reputation mostly about its connection. For me, I never had an issue since I installed it years ago. I can always connect and it is stable, I used it a lot for shutter release and also focus shift shooting.

Personally I like a physical remote release instead, unfortunately ML-L7 does not support Z8. I can make an hardware as a hobbyist project, but looked into the android App decompiled code, it is a bit tricky to connect to native bluetooth LE, due to some authentication issue and embeded secret key in the native code which is difficult to do reverse engineering.

I also considered using 10-pin remote terminal port, I saw lots of 3rd-party remote release took advantage of it...

Anyway, Snapbridge is still great so far, it does my things, although not 100% perfect

 

[foxysport]

Just configured SnapBridge for a Z8 for the purpose of using GPS on a photo tour in Taiwan (decided against bringing along my Z9 that has GPS built in obviously). Can anyone share their experience with GPS tagging from the phone in terms of stability and battery drain for the camera and phone? My phone is the latest iPhone 16 Pro Max.

 

[ajrmd]

Just configured SnapBridge for a Z8 for the purpose of using GPS on a photo tour in Taiwan (decided against bringing along my Z9 that has GPS built in obviously). Can anyone share their experience with GPS tagging from the phone in terms of stability and battery drain for the camera and phone? My phone is the latest iPhone 16 Pro Max.

Recognizing that the Z8's battery is rather limited in capacity, I found that using airplane mode is the only way I can achieve enough longevity to make shooting worthwhile (alternatively, one could use a power bank and not care). While, I can't quantitate the actual decrease in performance, it was significant enough that I quickly abandoned the technique and went back to using airplane mode. The method that I employ to remember locations and gps information is to take a quick snappy with my phone. It's good enough for my purposes and if I really capture something from a unique perspective, it is something I may or may not want to share.

 

[foxysport]

Right, so continuously having GPS ON won't work. I had that idea about the phone and it is an option for sure. I have just now tried another approach: they are paired via BT and then I put the camera into Airplane mode, took a photo and switched the Airplane mode off again and took another picture. By the looks of it, it takes next to zero time to activate the link and tag the picture with GPS and then switch the Airplane mode back ON again--this may work for me if I don't forget doing it when arriving to a new location.

 

[Viathelens]

Later: nope, I just can't make it work although I did get another step forward so that Snapbridge says it's paired, but the camera and phone still don't communicate. How about an alternative question? Is there a different way to send an image wirelessly to my phone such as a third-party app... I do have a card reader to get the pix off the camera when I'm in front of the computer but I'm frustrated that I can't send just one or two pictures to my phone for emailing or social media from the field. Feels like it shouldn't be this hard?

If at the computer, I use a mac, I simply air drop the finished image to the phone. I don't know if that's just a "mac thing" or not. I don't do anything else using wireless so no help with from camera to phone.

 

[JP Onstwedder]

I use an app called MyTracks to create GPS trails. Back at the computer I use Houdah to link those trails with the raw images from my camera. That embeds GOS data into the raw file header which Capture One reads—I’m sure Lightroom can do the same. Not seamless but it works well and doesn’t use a lot of battery

 

[foxysport]

I have returned from about 8 days full-on birding expedition in Taiwan (mainly mountains) with Z8 used exclusively. The first three days I was staying away from using the GPS from SnapBridge but for the rest, I had Auto-Link switched on. All of these later photos turned out perfectly geotagged and I had never had to use more than two or maybe a little bit of the third battery even though the camera was used extensively during the full day when light was available--up to 13 hours a day. To me, that's a success as I would never had been able to geotag 25K photos with any accuracy as I had no idea where we were and the driving start-stop pattern was really difficult to track.

 

[gmart7717]

I connected to Nikon Image Space and to Lightroom. Imaging Cloud is a bit of a mystery to me, too. I thought there would be a few picture controls available for download but there were none, or I couldn’t find them. I think Imaging Cloud is very much a work in progress.

I cannot make my Z8 connect to Lightroom via wifi. Do you mind sharing your procedures?

Thanks

 

[wotan1]

I got Snapbridge to work on my z9 some time ago but have not been happy with Snapbridge and stopped using it. Part of the problem is that I now have two Z9's and I also changed phones plus I moved and have new WIFI settings. Too much of a pain to sort all that out for how little Snapbridge does for me.

I think they are getting close to getting Nikon imaging cloud into the Z 8 and 9 and reportedly it works much better.

I am getting the Z50ii today and it is Imaging Cloud compatible. I am going to get it set up and give it a run.

My niece is coming to visit for a week next week. She wants to learn photography so we will be doing a lot of shooting and processing together while she is up here weather permitting.

The younger generation is an alien species. Hopefully photography can be a bridge to interspecies understanding.

 

[JAJohnson]

I cannot make my Z8 connect to Lightroom via wifi. Do you mind sharing your procedures?

Thanks

I used Nikon Imaging Cloud with my Z6III. At this time the Z8 is not supported by Imaging Cloud.

 

[Temumisiu]

Hi. I wanted to revisit that subject, since from the beginning I'm unable to pair/connect/do anything with Snapbridge on Android. It never worked/discovered the Z8 camera. I got two different Samsung phones and same effect. I think I've tried all known potential solutions found in the net, modified WiFi to WPA2 settings, tried Bluetooth, but for some reason phone never detects the Z8. I've tried doing everything either inside the Snapbridge app or via generic system menus available on the phone and nothing is discovered.

WiFi network from the Z8 is never visible in available networks. When trying Bluetooth, Snapbridge is constantly spinning on "searching..." and that's it. I even started wondering if my Z8 has this connectivity at all

On the phone I have WiFi analyzer app and I don't even see Nikon to be transmitting anything.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to make this working? It's the worst camera->app experience I've ever had among any of the manufacturers. I'd really appreciate for any advice

 

[RGG_Photography]

Nikon has not covered itself in glory given the finicky nature off the SnapBridge app. I rarely use it anymore.

Most of the camera <-> phone apps feel like they were written by high schoolers. Why is it that when I 5-star keepers in my Sony, that there's no option in the app to filter by star rating?

 

[peachfront]

Hi. I wanted to revisit that subject, since from the beginning I'm unable to pair/connect/do anything with Snapbridge on Android. It never worked/discovered the Z8 camera. I got two different Samsung phones and same effect. I think I've tried all known potential solutions found in the net, modified WiFi to WPA2 settings, tried Bluetooth, but for some reason phone never detects the Z8. I've tried doing everything either inside the Snapbridge app or via generic system menus available on the phone and nothing is discovered.

WiFi network from the Z8 is never visible in available networks. When trying Bluetooth, Snapbridge is constantly spinning on "searching..." and that's it. I even started wondering if my Z8 has this connectivity at all

On the phone I have WiFi analyzer app and I don't even see Nikon to be transmitting anything.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to make this working? It's the worst camera->app experience I've ever had among any of the manufacturers. I'd really appreciate for any advice

Snapbridge does work with Android but the directions were unclear to me. I tried so many things I forgot which one worked for me to get it working on the Z8. I But I did get it working for my last trip to Peru, so I will try to leave a few clues. I couldn't back up 11,000 unedited photos but I was able to send some selections to my phone for WhatsApp, texts, and social media... I also have a tactic of keeping the Z8 on airplane mode until I have time to pick out the photos for upload that I intend to send, so I'm not trying to send too many at a time.

Also maybe make sure you don't still have Snapbridge set up to work for an earlier camera. I have a Z7ii & thought I could link them both. Nope. I had to remove the Z7ii. I do not know why or if that was really necessary but I'm afraid to change anything now that I've got it working... So I use Snapbridge ONLY for transmitting selected z8 pictures. For the z7ii, I backup by having the camera write each photo to both cards. (Note if it matters: My phone is a Samsung Galaxy s24 Ultra, my previous phone was a Galaxy 8 and I just used the old Nikon Windows Utility. I think it is still working but that phone is on its last legs. Still, these are good phones so I wouldn't blame your phone.)

 

[peachfront]

Recognizing that the Z8's battery is rather limited in capacity, I found that using airplane mode is the only way I can achieve enough longevity to make shooting worthwhile (alternatively, one could use a power bank and not care). While, I can't quantitate the actual decrease in performance, it was significant enough that I quickly abandoned the technique and went back to using airplane mode. The method that I employ to remember locations and gps information is to take a quick snappy with my phone. It's good enough for my purposes and if I really capture something from a unique perspective, it is something I may or may not want to share.

I am far from expert but this is what I do too.

 

[Replytoken]

Hi. I wanted to revisit that subject, since from the beginning I'm unable to pair/connect/do anything with Snapbridge on Android. It never worked/discovered the Z8 camera. I got two different Samsung phones and same effect. I think I've tried all known potential solutions found in the net, modified WiFi to WPA2 settings, tried Bluetooth, but for some reason phone never detects the Z8. I've tried doing everything either inside the Snapbridge app or via generic system menus available on the phone and nothing is discovered.

WiFi network from the Z8 is never visible in available networks. When trying Bluetooth, Snapbridge is constantly spinning on "searching..." and that's it. I even started wondering if my Z8 has this connectivity at all

On the phone I have WiFi analyzer app and I don't even see Nikon to be transmitting anything.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to make this working? It's the worst camera->app experience I've ever had among any of the manufacturers. I'd really appreciate for any advice

Did you get a chance to look at the videos linked in post #18?

--Ken

 

[Hooligans Imagery]

Try this link - its for the Z9 but should work for the Z8 for step by step.

Z9 and SnapBridge

This morning I connected the Z9 to my iPhone via SnapBridge WiFi. It works with the Z9 just like it does with any other Nikon body. The WiFi connection setup was easy. JPG and RAW files transferred fast. JPG format transfers automatically. RAW format must be transferred manually. I am still...

www.nikoncafe.com

 

[Temumisiu]

Try this link - its for the Z9 but should work for the Z8 for step by step.

Z9 and SnapBridge

This morning I connected the Z9 to my iPhone via SnapBridge WiFi. It works with the Z9 just like it does with any other Nikon body. The WiFi connection setup was easy. JPG and RAW files transferred fast. JPG format transfers automatically. RAW format must be transferred manually. I am still...

www.nikoncafe.com

Thank you Everyone for all the suggestions. Unfortunately none of them works for me. Most of the described issues refer to dropping connection etc. My Z8 was never discovered by any of the phones I tested. I'm doing everything from the link above, but for some reason Z8 is never detected by either Snapbridge or by generic phone menus - either when doing that using Bluetooth or via WiFi. Clean app install, no previous connection on any of other cameras etc.I wonder if my Z8 is even transmitting anything... It never was discovered by any of the phones :/ I've run out of ideas how to troubleshoot it. If you have any other suggestions how to check if Z8 is not dead when it comes to Bluetooth or WiFi, I'd appreciate it.