WiFi camera review: Nikon S7c

The Nikon S7c is one of the latest digital cameras to include WiFi capabilities.

The 7.1 Megapixel camera sports a 3x zoom, 3-inch LCD, and a stylish design, but let’s not kid ourselves. The WiFi is the reason this camera is so attractive.

This article describes how WiFi can be used on the S7c:

1. Wirelessly transfer images to any computer on a home network.
2. Send photos via email.

Wireless transfer

Rather than physically connecting your camera to a computer, you can wirelessly transfer the contents of your camera to any computer on your network.

This process is a bit slower than a physical connection, but still quite handy if you don’t like dealing with cables and cords.

Send photos via email

This feature has been the cause of some misinterpretation. With the S7c, you cannot email photos directly (as an attachment). Rather, the photos get uploaded to Nikon’s web site, where you can share and download.

The actual email that gets sent is simply a link to the Nikon web site - no attachments, no photos in your inbox.

This may be upsetting to bloggers who like to email posts directly to the web. In this case, bloggers would want to email photos to photo-sharing sites, like Flickr. This cannot be done with the S7c. However, Nikon recently announced an updated model called the S51c, which allows users to upload photos from the camera directly to Flickr, or their own blog.

Still, the email feature on the S7c is quite handy, and shouldn’t be overlooked.

You can store as many email addresses as you’d like, and email to multiple recipients all at once.

I have noticed some flakiness when attempting to send the email. If you’re too far from the wireless access point, the email sending fails. Sometimes I’ve had to stand directly next to the router in order for it to work, but perhaps that’s the fault of the particular router I own.

Each recipient will receive a cleanly formatted HTML email with thumbnails embedded for previewing.

On the Nikon web site, users will be able to download the photos, or view them directly:

The photos are stored, free of charge, on the Nikon web site for up to two weeks.