Few people know that Android was originally conceived as a software platform for cameras. Andy Rubin, the author of the idea, planned to use it to equip point-and-shoot cameras and professional cameras with wireless support, so that they would upload photos directly to the cloud without saving them to a USB flash drive. However, something did not grow together, and it was decided to reorient the project to smartphones. It is not known for certain what exactly prompted Rubin to change his priorities, but rumor has it that memory card manufacturers were against Android for cameras. However, this does not mean that there is no chance at all to associate them with the cloud.
Canon cameras get support for Google Photos
Google Photos got support for Canon cameras, giving them the ability to upload photos directly to the cloud. To do this, just install the image.canon application (download) on Android in order to establish a connection between the camera and the smartphone, which will be used as a signal repeater. The user will then be able to link their Google account to their Canon ID and either force individual images to be saved to the cloud, or set it to work automatically, provided that your camera supports this feature.
How to pair a smartphone and a Canon camera
To activate the backup function, you need to create a Canon ID account. This can be done by registering in the image.canon application.
- Download the image.canon app from Google Play;
- Complete registration and link the camera;
- Then in the section with connected web services select Google Photos;
To upload images to the cloud, you need to link your Google and Canon ID accounts
- Confirm linking your Google account to your Canon ID account;
- Go to the Google Photos tab and turn on automatic backups.
Now, every time your smartphone is in the pairing zone with the camera, it will check its memory card for new pictures that should be uploaded to the cloud. If desired, you can independently select specific photos to send them to the online storage. However, the pictures will be uploaded in their original quality, and therefore you will need a paid subscription to Google One. The cost of the most basic plan starts at 129 rubles per month for 100 GB, which can always be increased to 1 or 2 TB.
Upload to Google Photos
You can upload photos both in bulk and separately
In addition, it is important to take into account that photos will be uploaded only if connected to Wi-Fi. Even if you have an unlimited cellular plan with high speed internet access, the service limitation is to require a wireless hotspot connection. This is done so that users of limited tariffs are not left without traffic at the beginning or in the middle of the month and do not run into a big expense for the Internet. Well, since Wi-Fi is now almost everywhere, this is clearly not a problem.
Despite the fact that Canon has its own cloud, into which it offers to upload photos, there are cases of lost images. Most recently, the company was even forced to temporarily withdraw the image.canon app that was used to upload images. After some time, Canon developers announced that they had fixed the problem, but no one could return the photos to users. It's good that Google never had such problems. And, therefore, using its cloud is still more reliable.