(Edgertronic with Zyxel Wireless access point and USB battery
velcro-mounted to side)
(Edgertronic with Zyxel Wireless access point and USB battery
velcro-mounted to side)
I didn't like working with my laptop tethered to the camera over the Cat-5 cable, so I rigged it to use a wireless interface by velcroing a Zyxel Nano-Wireless access point to the side of my camera. The large silver-blue device above the access point is a 1500ma/h USB battery which is sufficient to power the wireless access point for 2-3 hours.
Since edgertronic recommends Google Chrome browser (I hate browser dependencies, but, whatever) I loaded Chrome on my iPad and iPhone, then powered up the Zyxel.
This is what it looks like on my iPad when I'm connecting to the Edgertronic. I named the wireless access point's SSID "Edgertronic" and used the default encryption key that came with the Zyxel. What's nice about this is that the iPad remembers the key for the access point, so if I'm in the field or studio, it automatically connects to the camera since it doesn't find my home wireless network. Switching is super easy.
Configuring the Zyxel is easy - you plug a laptop into the LAN port and go to the IP address listed on the back, then enter the admin login and password.
(click to enlarge)
You can see the access point's settings, which are pretty much all that you need to configure it as an interface for the camera. Since the camera defaults to IP address 10.11.12.13, I set up the access point to be a DHCP server that will give out addresses in that range. The access point is 10.11.12.1 and doles out addresses from 10.11.12.13 to 10.11.12.15. That means if I turn the camera on first, it'll almost always wind up on .13 and my iPad and/or iPhone will wind up on .14. I can also access it wirelessly from my laptop if I prefer.
(Lan interface set-up including DHCP server configuration)
(Wireless access point set-up)
If you're not familiar with networking, always remember the IP address you set your access point to, otherwise it can be hellaciously hard to manage it. It's possible, for example, to screw up and put your access point on a different network (e.g.: 10.11.10.XX) and have it give out DHCP addresses in an unreachable network (e.g.: 10.11.12.XX) - just be careful and take it one step at a time. The Zyxel is nice because it has a full complement of blinky lights on the front that will give you a good idea what's going on.
My suggestion is to configure the Zyxel separately from the camera. Just set the Zyxel up as an access point, connect to it with your iPad or laptop via the LAN port, and configure it to suit. Once you've been able to talk to it and it gives you a DHCP address, it'll work fine for the camera. Just plug the cable into the LAN port on the Zyxel and the other end into the back of the camera. You can get 1-foot CAT-5 cables from amazon.com for about $2.
(Screen shot of U/I from Chrome on an iPad)
One nice thing is you can squinch the image on the screen or pan it around to suit while you're composing a shot.