Transfer Photos from Digital Camera, over Wi-Fi, to PC or Cloud

Taking photos with a mobile phone is convenient especially for a reason, because it is possible to share the photos on social media immediately, without having to wait to go home and transfer the photos to the computer. In addition, with the automatic backup applications it is possible to upload all photos online via Internet connection in a cloud space, which becomes immediately accessible from any computer, avoiding the effort of connecting cables and using complex programs.
If we use a reflex camera or a compact digital camera for work or for fun that does not have an integrated Wi-Fi connection, in this guide we will show you the methods we can use to automatically transfer camera photos to Wi-Fi on one smartphone tablet or on a computer, so that you can later upload them online.

Wi-Fi transfer photos from your digital SLR camera

More and more SLRs have Wi-Fi connection and automatic upload of photos to the cloud, but if we have an old-fashioned reflex camera or without Wi-Fi connection, we can remedy it with one of the methods visible below.

Wi-Fi SD card

The most practical and fastest method to transfer photos of the reflex or digital camera to Wi-Fi is to use an SD card with Wi-Fi included, such as the Toshiba FlashAir W-04 (€ 45).

Once this card is installed inside the reflex or compact digital camera, simply install the specific app on your Android or iPhone smartphone, start it and wait for the configuration of the card (inside the app we can connect it to the Wi-Fi network). Fi at home and enable viewing as a network drive). Once the configuration is complete, the SD card will be visible from any device connected to the same Wi-Fi network and we will be able to transfer all the photos saved with the reflex or with the digital camera comfortably on the computer or inside the internal memory of the smartphone. At the end of the copy on our phone we can set the upload of the photos from the smartphone to Dropbox, Google Photos or OneDrive, so as to always have a copy saved on the cloud, without fear of damage or theft.
If we want the synchronization of the SD with the cloud to be completely automatic, we can use one of the apps indicated in the guide Automatic backup app for Android and cloud synchronization, so as to synchronize the network folder visible from the SD card with any other compatible folder or cloud .
If we do not know how to access the network folder created by the reported SD card, we recommend you read our guide on how to access shared Windows folders from Android, the best file managers on iPhone and iPad to manage files and shares and how to share files and folders on the computer network on Windows PC .
Other Wi-Fi SD cards and compatible Wi-Fi adapters (also for microSD) that we can use on our reflex or on the digital camera are:

1. Canon w-e1 - Wi-Fi adapter for Canon EOS cameras (Canon dual slot only, € 39)
2. GuDoQi Adapter for Micro SD WiFi Memory Card (26 €)
3. GuDoQi Wireless Wifi 32GB SDHC Class 10 Memory Card (35 €)

USB OTG cable

Another effective method to transfer photos from the reflex to the cloud involves the use of a USB OTG cable, to be connected to our smartphone and used to be able to quickly access the memory of the reflex (or its SD card).

First let's get the right USB OTG cable based on the smartphone model we have; three types of USB OTG cables are currently available:

1. Classic USB OTG cable (Android) : UGREEN OTG cable Micro USB 2.0 adapter (7 €)
2. USB OTG Type-C cable (modern Android and other devices) : Aukru USB Type C to USB 3.0 Host OTG Cable (5 €)
3. Apple USB OTG cable : USB adapter for iOS compatible camera (13 €)

Once you have chosen and purchased the right USB OTG cable, connect it to our smartphone, connect to it the USB cable of the reflex or digital camera and, thanks to the help of a file manager, we will finally be able to access the reflex folders, containing all the shots taken. If we don't know which file manager to use on our phone, we recommend you read our guides to the Best Android File Managers to manage files and folders on your phone and the Best file managers on iPhone and iPad to manage files and shares . Once we have access to the folders of the camera, we can copy the photos to the internal memory of the smartphone and enable automatic backup to a compatible cloud service such as Google Photos or Dropbox.
If we wanted to automate the process, we can also act directly within the Google Photos app, indicating in the settings the reflex folder (always connected via USB OTG) as one of the folders on which to perform automatic backup. We can deepen the procedure by reading our article on the Google Photos App with unlimited backup from Android, iPhone and PC .

Conclusions

As we have seen, even with a reflex or a compact digital camera of a few years ago we can benefit from the advantages of the cloud, inserting an SD card equipped with Wi-Fi or indirectly uploading photos via our smartphone (which becomes effects a Wi-Fi access point for the camera).
To learn more about the best cloud apps to use for photographs, we invite you to read our guide to the Top 10 "cloud" web apps for storing photos online . If, on the other hand, we are looking for a very quick method to move photos from your smartphone to your PC via Wi-Fi (including SLR photos), we can read the article on how to transfer photos from Android and iPhone to PC via WiFi .