Print Directly From DSLR Camera

Recently we have covered about how to directly print from your mobile phone, which is an amazing thing to be able to do. But what if you wanted to take and print some higher quality photographs with a digital SLR camera instead of the camera on your mobile phone? Within this blog post we will talk you through about some of the options available to allow you to easily print directly from DSLR Camera.

 

Traditional Method

The traditional method for printing out the amazing photographs you have taken using your digital SLR camera would be to wait until you are back at home or near a computer and printer, upload the photos to your computer then print out the ones you like. In a lot of instances this is simply too slow.

If we take the news industry as a prime example, if they had to go through this process then they may miss out on being the first to publish vital news. Another example could be if you are at an event and you simply want to take the photographs and print out the good ones for immediate sale, then again this method would simply be too slow and ineffective.

 

Introducing WiFi Adapters for Digital SLR Cameras

With most digital SLR cameras, they don’t come with built in wireless capabilities. What we are starting to see more of on the market is cameras with the capability to add on this functionality which is fantastic news for anyone wanting to share photographs faster with those who need them.

 

Nikon D3200

The Nikon D3200 has the capability to connect a small wireless device which can then connect with your mobile phone as can be seen in the image below;

 

Nikon D3200 DSLR Wireless Adapter

Nikon D3200 DSLR Wireless Adapter

Image courtesy of Nikon

 

So what does this actually do? The Nikon WiFi adapter allows you to take control of the camera to a certain degree by either taking photographs of viewing photographs directly from your mobile phone.

Firstly you will need to download an App for your phone which makes all of this technology work. If you are on Android then download Nikon’s Wireless Mobile Utility App and if you are on iOS then download the equivalent version from iTunes.

Once you have downloaded the application, you will be presented with a few different options which allows you to either take a photograph or browse the memory card and download the photos to your mobile phone;

 

print directly from DSLR camera

Nikon Wireless Adapter Andriod App

 

From here on you have the photographs on your mobile phone which means you can utilise all of the usual features and Apps in relation to your photographs.

 

How to print directly from DSLR camera

In an ideal world, it would be amazing to be able to simply press on ‘Print’ on your digital SLR camera and for the photograph to get sent to the printer of your choice. At the moment, this capability isn’t available on a large scale other than via PictBridge as mentioned later, although we have no doubt that this is being worked on by some of the top manufactures.

As was explained earlier about how you can send photographs to your mobile phone using a Wifi adapter for your DSLR camera, you can now utilise the power of mobile printing or even cloud printing. If you haven’t read our previous posts about the topic, then I would suggest starting there. In summary, once your amazing photographs are on your mobile phone you can simply press on ‘Print’ and send these photographs directly to your printer. Taking this one step further, if your printer is back at the office, or even on the other side of the world, then you can use Cloud printing technology to print out photographs from anywhere.

So while this isn’t quite a direct camera to printer setup, this does provide more control about which pictures to print (you can even edit photographs via your mobile phone with some applications) along with increasing the speed at which you can print. If you are looking to simply press on ‘Print’ on your camera then PictBridge may be an option, although this is limited by the length of the physical cable between the camera and the printer.

 

PictBridge

PictBridge is an industry standard that is designed to allow easy print directly from DSLR camera to your printer without the need to utilise an intermediate device such as a computer. This technology is underpinned via a USB connection between the camera and the printer.

What this means is that you can easily print out directly from your digital SLR camera to a connected printer. One key item to note here though is that you need to ensure both your camera and your printer are PictBridge ready. You can tell if they are by looking for the PictBridge logo on both devices;

 

PictBridge Logo

PictBridge Logo

 

While the PictBridge technology may work well in some instances, the main item to note is that it is limited by the cable between the camera and the printer. What if you need to print but aren’t physically located near your printer and still want to send your photographs to print? Thankfully we can look at some technologies we have covered previously such as mobile printing and cloud printing.

If you are looking for a printer with PictBridge technology built in then we suggest reviewing some of the printers below to see if they are suitable for your needs;

  • Brother MFC9320CW WIFI Colour Laser Printer
  • Dell P713W Wifi Multifunction Inkjet Printer
  • Brother HL3070CW WIFI Colour Laser Printer
  • Canon PIXMA iP2000

Summary

Hopefully the above give you a few pointers about how to print directly from DSLR camera using a few different methods. Printing can be as straight forward as a cable to the printer, or sending the photographs via your mobile phone to the printer nearby or even to the printer back in your office. Whatever is most suitable for your needs, it is always good to understand the technology available to print out your photographs from your DSLR camera.

 

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