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Connecting a Nikon Camera over Wi-Fi

No router required. The camera joins your phone hotspot directly, so it works outdoors just as well. Set it up once and afterwards the camera connects as soon as you switch it on.

What you need

An Android phone that can share a hotspot, a Nikon Z series camera, and the CamCon app. No cable and no router.

Indoors with a router available, joining the camera and phone to the same router works exactly the same way. In that case skip the first step and start from the second.

Connecting

Five steps. Most people get stuck on the third and the fifth, so pay attention to those two.

Turn on the hotspot on your phone

The camera joins your phone directly, so nothing passes through a router. In CamCon, the Wi-Fi connection screen has a button that opens the hotspot settings for you.

Turning on the hotspot usually switches your phone Wi-Fi off automatically. That is expected, so just leave it.

You will type this name and password into the camera in the next step.
Open configure and you can see the name and password. These are what you type into the camera.
If the band is on 5GHz, a camera that only does 2.4GHz cannot find this hotspot. The phone warns you about exactly that. When the camera will not show up, switch to 2.4GHz here.

Join that hotspot from the camera

Open the network settings in the camera menu, pick the hotspot you just turned on and enter the password. Menu names differ slightly between models.

Newer bodies such as Z9, Z8, Z6III, Zf and Z5

MENU ▸ Network ▸ Connect to computer ▸ Network settings

Earlier bodies such as Z7II, Z6II, Z7 and Z6

MENU ▸ Setup (wrench) ▸ Connect to PC

Only the menu location differs; what you do inside is the same. Either way, create a network setting and leave the connection type on camera control.

Create a network profile with the connection wizard

Choose create profile under network settings and the wizard asks five things in order. Answer them as shown below.

Profile name
Leaving it as WLAN1 is fine
Connection method
Search for Wi-Fi network
Choose the network
Your phone hotspot name in the list
Encryption key
Your hotspot password
IP address
Obtain automatically
In the network menu, open connect to computer and choose network settings.
Choose create profile.
It asks for a profile name. Leaving it as WLAN1 is fine.
A phone hotspot has no pairing button, so you need the search option on top.
You can look up the exact menu location for your model in the maker's official manual. Official manual
Enter your hotspot password.
Entering it manually often leaves the address mismatched so the camera never shows up. Leave it automatic.

Set the connection type to camera control

The same network menu contains an option for the connection type. Be sure to choose camera control.

With image transfer it connects, but only halfway

Photos taken during live view will not arrive right away, and you cannot browse the memory card. CamCon detects this state and tells you, but the setting has to be changed on the camera.

If the card is full of photos, turn auto transfer off first

If auto transfer in the same menu is on, everything already on the card starts coming over the moment you connect. Turn it off before connecting and back on afterwards, and only the photos you take from then on arrive.

Connection type
Camera control
Image transfer
Choose the upper one to get shooting, live view and card browsing all at once.

Search for the camera in CamCon

Open the Wi-Fi connection screen in the app, select the phone hotspot tab and tap search. If the camera has joined the hotspot, the model name appears within a few seconds.

Once this screen appears, the camera side is done.
You do not need SnapBridge

The camera names two Nikon apps, but you can use CamCon at that point instead. It is simply waiting in the standard way and does not care which app connects. A lot of people stop at this screen.

With the hotspot on, the app says so here. Tap search for camera and it starts looking.
Cameras found
My camera name
Auto discovery · maker confirmed
The model name and maker are identified before connecting. Check that it is your own camera before selecting it.

Allow the connection on the camera

Selecting the camera from the list does not connect it right away. A prompt appears on the camera asking whether to allow the connection, and you have to confirm it on the camera itself.

If the app looks frozen, look at the camera

At this point the app is waiting for the camera to answer. Nothing moves on screen so it feels like a failure, but in most cases the camera is simply waiting for your permission.

Some bodies show an authentication code

If a few digits appear on the camera screen, type them into the app. More bodies do not show one at all, so its absence is not a problem.

Camera screen

Connect to the smart device? Press OK to connect.

Once allowed, later connections happen automatically without this step.
Once connected

Photos land on your phone the moment you press the shutter. If a film simulation is on, they arrive with the look already applied. Live view and shooting settings can be controlled from the phone as well.

Models verified over Wi-Fi

These models have been connected and verified on real hardware.

  • Nikon Z9
  • Nikon Z8
  • Nikon Z7II
  • Nikon Z7
  • Nikon Z6III
  • Nikon Z6II
  • Nikon Z6
  • Nikon Z5
  • Nikon Z50
  • Nikon Z30
  • Nikon Zfc
  • Nikon Zf

Nikon models not on this list may well work too. They are simply not listed because we have not verified them on real hardware yet.

If it does not connect

Work down the list in order. The first three solve most cases.

  • Is a permission prompt waiting on the camera?

    This is by far the most common cause. While the app waits, check the camera screen and press the confirm button.

  • Is the connection type set to image transfer?

    If it connects but photos never arrive or the card is invisible, this setting is the reason. Go back to step three.

  • Did it drop once right after the first pairing?

    On some bodies the connection drops once as pairing completes. That is not a fault, it means the registration finished. Connect once more from the app and it stays up from then on.

  • Is the hotspot set to 5GHz?

    Some Nikon bodies only work on 2.4GHz and will not even list a 5GHz hotspot. Switch the band to 2.4GHz in your phone hotspot settings and search again.

  • Has the camera actually joined the hotspot?

    Check that your phone hotspot is the selected entry in the camera Wi-Fi list. A single wrong character in the password prevents the connection.

  • Has power saving switched the camera radio off?

    Cameras switch their radio off on their own after a while without input. Half press the shutter button to wake it, then search again.

  • Is the phone hotspot still on?

    Battery savers sometimes switch the hotspot off on their own. Also check the option that turns it off after a while when no device is connected.

  • Still nothing? Turn the camera off and on again

    A previous session can linger on the camera and block a new one. Power cycling clears it.

You can also connect with a cable

All you need is a USB cable, and it works with far more models than Wi-Fi. Use this route if wireless will not hold, or if you need the originals on the card as well.

Connecting with a Cable