Why no cameras with 3G connectivity?

[Photomage]

I'd love to have a camera body which has built-in 3G networking. So, the camera can connect to the internet while I am out and about, and upload photos on the spot.


3G data speeds are quite fast, upto 5.8 Mbit/s on the uplink. So, plenty fast enough for uploading photos.


Seems odd that neither Canon or anyone else has added this to their range.


If an iPhone 3G can do this then there's no reason why a DSLR can't.

[Anthony]

One reason is At&T (or others) probably wouldn't like the massiveamountof bandwidth required. They won't even let you download music from iTunes, apps larger than 10MB, etc. on the 3G network.





Also, Canon can't even make a WiFi transmitter for less than $1000, so I would shudder to think how much that would cost :)

[Tom Alicoate]

This idea will be reality someday. 3G comes with a contract though. I wouldn't want to have to pay for an all-you-can-eat data package for the times I would need this. I have never been able to get those kind of speeds with my 3GEVDO card either. My raw files are 10-12 MegaBytes each. It takes a long time to upload them with USB let alone an airlink.


I personally would prefer to have an option to write directly to a USB drive along with the CF.


Tom

[Photomage]

This is the type of scenario I'm thinking of.


A news photographer at a local sporting event could have their photos appear in almost real-time on the newspaper's website.


They would only need to transmit JPEGs in small-size, i.e. <span class="nieuwscontent"]1936 x 1288 pixels, and just keep the full-sized RAW file on the camera for later use.

[Anthony]

"They won't even let you download music from iTunes on the 3G network."





Great timing for me to say this (not), today they opened up iTunes on the iPhone to the 3G network [:)].