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I am totally ignorant about the world of "professional" camera options available today, and I've been thinking about buying a DSLR for the first time instead of using my phone to take pictures of birds out my window.

I've used my partner's Pentax K-70 and I like it a lot, but the "wifi" connection is a cheap and crappy implementation whereby the wifi network is generated by the camera, and the camera isn't smart enough to connect to my existing wifi to let me get pictures off of it.

Are there any cameras that will connect to my actual wifi network and allow me to get photos off them without altering the settings on my phone / tablet?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ The other option is to get a phone that is capable of joining two networks at the same time. Those can be had for a lot less money than what the cameras that can join an external network cost. \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael C
    Commented Jul 16, 2020 at 4:40
  • \$\begingroup\$ Hi @Locane, welcome to the site. It seems to me that the source of your problem is this requirement: "without altering the settings on my phone / tablet?" What's the problem doing that? It's a one time setup and given that network settings are stored on the phone/tablet, switching between networks is easy - at least in my opinion. Can you elaborate on why this is a problem for your workflow? \$\endgroup\$
    – null
    Commented Jul 16, 2020 at 8:11

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Some of Canon's extreme upper tier cameras allow the camera to join an existing network when using an external WFT (Wireless File Transmitter) unit. Even those cameras that also have internal WiFi capability, such as the EOS 1D X Mark III, require that the external WFT unit be used to join an external network.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for letting me know about this - this is what I was looking for. \$\endgroup\$
    – Locane
    Commented Jul 16, 2020 at 18:04
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It's not cheap and crappy. It is designed that way so you can use your phone to control your camera even when there is no Wifi (for instance, outdoors). And making your camera connect to some local Wifi would require to add some serious access control (you wouldn't want someone to steal the pictures in the camera).

But you can replace the SD card in the camera by a card than connect to Wifi networks.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for the reply and tip xenoid. I didn't know about the wifi SD card you linked, but it appears to be the same principle as the camera - its own wifi network and not connecting to an existing one. \$\endgroup\$
    – Locane
    Commented Jul 16, 2020 at 0:33

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