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Connecting a Sony Camera over Wi-Fi

Sony spreads the settings across three places: joining Wi-Fi, switching PC remote on, and the access authentication setting. The first two are required; for access authentication you choose whether to leave it on or turn it off.

What you need

An Android phone that can share a hotspot, a Sony Alpha 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.

This brand has not been verified on real hardware yet

The connection path is in place, so following the steps below has a good chance of working. We simply have not been able to test it on a camera of this brand ourselves. Telling us either way helps a lot.

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 step 1 of the camera connection screen, pick Turn on phone hotspot and a button appears that takes you straight to the phone's tethering settings.

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

In the network menu, switch Wi-Fi connect on, open the access point settings, pick your phone hotspot or your router and enter the password.

MENU ▸ Network ▸ Wi-Fi ▸ Access Point Set.
Camera screen
My phone hotspot name
Other nearby Wi-Fi
You can look up the exact menu location for your model in the maker's official manual. Official manual
The camera has a Wi-Fi frequency band setting

The same Wi-Fi screen has a band selector. If it is on 2.4GHz, your phone hotspot has to be on 2.4GHz too or it will not appear in the list. If one side is on 5GHz they simply cannot see each other, so match these two values first when the camera is not found.

In the network menu, open Wi-Fi.
Switch Wi-Fi connect on and check the frequency band.
In access point set., pick your phone hotspot.
Once joined, it reports completion along with the SSID.

Turn PC remote on and decide on access authentication

Under PC remote function in the network menu, switch PC remote on. Then open network options and check the access authentication setting. The two items live on different screens.

CamCon connects with access authentication left on

Leaving it on protects what you exchange with the camera and keeps other people on the same Wi-Fi from reaching it. Turning it off also connects, but without that protection.

In the network menu, open smartphone connection / PC remote.
Choose PC remote function.
Turn PC remote on. It also tells you to run an application that supports remote operation.

Leaving it on (recommended)

Set a user name and password on the camera, then enter those same values when the app asks. You only enter them once, on the first connection.

MENU ▸ Network ▸ Network Option ▸ Access Authen. Settings

The camcon and a123456789 in the pictures below are values chosen just for this guide. Use whatever you like; there is no need to copy them.

Set the user and the password, then press OK. These are the two values you will later type into the app.
You can type the password yourself or have Generate Password make one. It must be at least eight characters.
Access Authen. Info in the same menu shows the values again. The fingerprint listed there is what the app compares on connecting, and it differs from camera to camera.

Turning it off

Switch access authentication to Off and the app connects without asking for a login. In exchange the traffic is not protected, so this is not advisable on Wi-Fi you share with others.

Switching to Off brings up a warning that traffic will not be encrypted. Press OK to apply it.
Some models cannot turn it off

On recent models such as the α7 V (ILCE-7M5), access authentication is fixed on and Off cannot be selected. On those cameras, connect using the method above. CamCon connects either way, so there is nothing else for you to do.

Search for the camera in CamCon

Once the first two steps are done, the app moves on to step 3 and looks for the camera on its own. If the camera has joined the hotspot, the model name shows up in the list within a few seconds.

This is step 1 of the camera connection screen. Pick one of the three ways: phone hotspot, the same router, or the camera's own Wi-Fi. The guidance that follows matches your choice.
The model name and maker are identified before connecting. Check that it is your own camera before selecting it.

Select the camera in the app to finish

When the app finds the camera, pick it from the list. If you left access authentication on, you confirm the login and the fingerprint once and then it connects; if you turned it off, it connects straight away.

If you left access authentication on, the app opens this dialog. Enter the values you set on the camera.
Next it shows the fingerprint. Check that it matches the one in Access Authen. Info on the camera, press trust, and the connection is done.
Once connected, a PC marker appears on the shooting screen alongside the Wi-Fi indicator.
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.

If it does not connect

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

  • Is PC remote switched off?

    If you only joined Wi-Fi without turning PC remote on, the camera will not accept control requests. Check PC remote function again in the network menu.

  • You entered the login but it says authentication failed?

    Open the access authentication information screen on the camera and check the user name and password again. If you generate a new password, the value you entered earlier no longer matches.

  • 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