Somehow the article manages to repeat this obvious stuff about 7 or 8 times...
I wonder if that hardware on the normal Z6 III is on a daughterboard, and if removing it makes the OS complain (like having no color ink mean some printer-scanner-combos won't scan).
I understand it's probably because the GPS functionality is integrated into the same RF chipset that's handling wifi/bluetooth, but it would be possible to make a "no transmit capability" camera that still has GPS metadata functionality, with GPS receiver chip and an antenna tuned for 1400-1600 MHz, since ordinary consumer grade GPS is a receive-only technology.
But that would still possibly present a problem for serious government use where it can't have an antenna of any form in it.
The camera (even the regular model) does not have its own GPS receiver at all. It relies on a smartphone to transmit GPS coordinates over Bluetooth.
This is pretty common in modern cameras, presumably because most photographers expect to be able to turn their cameras on and off very rapidly, and it would be difficult to maintain a GPS fix with that usage pattern.
What is the point? As long as your camera has a decent clock, you just need to record a gpx during your shooting session with an external device and you can add geolocation after you download your pictures. IIRC Darktable can do that.
Even if it only had RX-only RF capabilities, that means that is a vector for an inbound wireless attack. At the very least, the kind of places that restrict wireless devices probably do not want any pictures or other artifacts to exist tagged with precise location metadata.
I assume the average person buying the standard model could then just disable WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS if they so chose? So this really is for high security situations?
Huh. When I rented a Z7 ii about 5 years ago, I found their Android app to be pretty great. (My next big camera is likely to be a Nikon, in part due to the nice app)
No worries - the crappiness of snapbridge has certainly made me think twice about buying a Nikon in the future. I typically pull directly off of the SD card instead anyways.
The article also explains that retailers have had customers ask for this, which is why Nikon is trialing selling this through those channels instead of direct, as usual.
You don't really have to market something like this. There is a VERY small subset of users that NEED this feature, and they will seek it out. The kind of user that wants this is not as price sensitive as a consumer. A few hundred extra dollars doesn't matter to an organization that needs this for an RF sensitive scientific environment, or a secure facility.
See also: iPhones with cameras removed. You've likely never heard of them and they are not marketed at all, but if you are one of the few that need one, you know they exist, and the price premium doesn't matter. $1400 for a used 2020 iPhone SE, if you're curious. That's a 10x premium on what you would pay for that phone anywhere else.
What I took away from their explanation was that they built this for those contract customers (the kind you are talking about) and have had regular consumers asking for this (who want this for other reasons) - why else would they put it on B&H and not just a contact us page on the company website?
I don't know how you can say with confidence that a few hundred dollars and not marketing this wouldn't have an effect on sales.
Seven years ago, I landed a fairly trivial job with a temp agency, and we were tasked with plowing through document archives and collating them all for the scanning team. Our client was a huge company, and though none of us were sworn to secrecy or anything formal, I figured I would do them a solid, and refrain from bringing in any device with a camera, microphone, or transmitter. At the time, this was possible because I didn't rely 100% on my smartphone for transportation and everything else...
So I delved into the fascinating and still-extant world of standalone MP3 players. I selected a SanDisk Clip Jam, and it had like 8GiB onboard, an sdcard slot of course, an FM radio receiver, and really cool firmware. It was very simple, robust, extremely light, compact and portable. It was the size of a matchbox and it could clip onto your sleeve or belt, or whatever.
And it met all the requirements. It had no BT, no WiFi, no sensors of any kind, and it did that job very well of music playback, however I found it. And it could indeed store arbitrary files, so being the kind of hacker I am, I stashed a copy of my password manager encrypted database, plus a full install MSI of the application. And I included some README.txt that would indicate who owned this thing and how to return it, if lost.
I really miss that thing for its elegant simplicity. With the Swiss Army Knife nature of smartphones, I still long for the specialization and compartmented functionality of separate devices.
The original iPod shuffle was essentially a USB stick with an audio port and some buttons, and I used it in just the same way as this. I think it was only £20 or £30 in price, a great product.
There are some fantastic hi-fidelity audio players coming out of China the last few years that are basically modern homages to the SanDisk Clip concept
I correctly expected "wireless-free" to mean no support for wireless connections, which to me seems the simple and obvious interpretation. It doesn't necessarily mean it's wired (data transfer could be limited to removable memory cards), but B&H says:
"The camera does still have a series of ports for physical, wired connections for data transfer and power supply"
It means exactly what I expected. The wireless connectivity has been removed (for regulatory compliance in situations where wireless isn't allowed), but wired connectivity is still there.
37 comments
[ 32.2 ms ] story [ 129 ms ] threadI wonder if that hardware on the normal Z6 III is on a daughterboard, and if removing it makes the OS complain (like having no color ink mean some printer-scanner-combos won't scan).
In other products: less weight, smaller size.
But that would still possibly present a problem for serious government use where it can't have an antenna of any form in it.
All wires are antennas...
This is pretty common in modern cameras, presumably because most photographers expect to be able to turn their cameras on and off very rapidly, and it would be difficult to maintain a GPS fix with that usage pattern.
This is for high security, or high RF sensitive environments. Governments and institutions are the target market.
Unless they significantly improved that app, in the last eight years or so, it may not be a great loss.
people should know that a USB-C to USB-C cable can easily import to the photos app on an iphone with a decent UI
The newer Nikon cameras dont require snapbridge for using wifi.
Sorry to disappoint :(
I guess modern integration has put Bluetooth and other devices together with GPS in one module.
Yes, evaluate market demand by making it more expensive and doing 0 marketing. /s
Am I crazy in thinking that doing it this way is close to meaningless?
You don't really have to market something like this. There is a VERY small subset of users that NEED this feature, and they will seek it out. The kind of user that wants this is not as price sensitive as a consumer. A few hundred extra dollars doesn't matter to an organization that needs this for an RF sensitive scientific environment, or a secure facility.
See also: iPhones with cameras removed. You've likely never heard of them and they are not marketed at all, but if you are one of the few that need one, you know they exist, and the price premium doesn't matter. $1400 for a used 2020 iPhone SE, if you're curious. That's a 10x premium on what you would pay for that phone anywhere else.
I don't know how you can say with confidence that a few hundred dollars and not marketing this wouldn't have an effect on sales.
So I delved into the fascinating and still-extant world of standalone MP3 players. I selected a SanDisk Clip Jam, and it had like 8GiB onboard, an sdcard slot of course, an FM radio receiver, and really cool firmware. It was very simple, robust, extremely light, compact and portable. It was the size of a matchbox and it could clip onto your sleeve or belt, or whatever.
And it met all the requirements. It had no BT, no WiFi, no sensors of any kind, and it did that job very well of music playback, however I found it. And it could indeed store arbitrary files, so being the kind of hacker I am, I stashed a copy of my password manager encrypted database, plus a full install MSI of the application. And I included some README.txt that would indicate who owned this thing and how to return it, if lost.
I really miss that thing for its elegant simplicity. With the Swiss Army Knife nature of smartphones, I still long for the specialization and compartmented functionality of separate devices.
https://hiendportable.com/xduoo-x2s-english-review/
https://www.reddit.com/r/DigitalAudioPlayer/comments/1rm7fj8...
All of my Nikons are wireless-free. Some of them are even battery-free.
"The camera does still have a series of ports for physical, wired connections for data transfer and power supply"