Wireless camera control can appear enigmatic to newcomers. Changing a camera setting is easy—but creating an economical ecosystem for deployment onto film sets that offers reliable connectivity is something that requires some consideration and strategy. For those who may be new to the whole “camera control” thing—or even those who aren’t and just want some insight about the vernacular—you’ve come to the right place.
Whether you are a DIT, AC or other position in camera department who needs to keep the camera bodies under your thumb, there’s never been a better time to learn about the Ethernet protocol, source the best hardware solution and deploy your very own camera control ecosystem.
As freelancers, we can never guarantee what we’re gonna face on set. Nevertheless, many of us often find ourselves working with the the same types of cameras on a regular basis—or a few different types, but never every cinema camera ever made.
As of 2024, there’s a variety of “bridges” available that are now made for camera control specifically; they have mounting points and form factors that are designed to mount to a camera build and be less intrusive to AC’s than generic wireless solutions. A bridge, in networking terms, allows you to have reliable wireless connectivity to the camera body through an external box which will interface with the camera body.
Besides price, what you’ll want to determine for camera control purposes is: Which camera body (or bodies) do you most frequently use in your workflows? I have put together two excellent one-stop resources that let you browse the current selection of camera bodies and determine two things:
Do you need Gigabit Ethernet? If so, you’ll want to invest in a bridge that supports Gigabit, or you’ll be unable to communicate with the camera body.
Which cable(s) will you need for your camera body? Generally bridges employ Lemo 0B 2-Pin power input (voltage ranges vary), but the data cables will differ based on the bridge and camera body type. Most bridges employ RJ45, but some offer other connectors instead or in addition.
Like the name of this website, I encourage you to make your own bridges and/or cables for camera control. Two bridges—TeeHee and Spudnik—are currently open-source and very accessible for you to make on your own as they use stock PCB’s that are relatively inexpensive. If you have a 3D printer and know the fundamentals of soldering, you’re all set. Even if you don’t, both TeeHee and Spudnik have documentation for DIY solutions if you’re so inclined, removing the friction and research needed to build something from scratch.
Beyond bridges, you can also solder your own cables. There’s no one right way to make your own of something, of course—but I have provided the hardware information for component vendors on the respective cable’s product page.
Camera control for cinema cameras just means you’re using an interface besides the camera body’s onboard menu to change a setting, like white balance. With a common RJ45 cable, most cinema cameras allow you to run a wired connection from their Ethernet port to a computer and access a GUI hosted by the camera itself. This would suffice if the camera body were constantly locked off or on sticks. Camera control nowadays, however, often implies a wireless connection of some sort, allowing the user to remotely control the camera settings from afar. Wireless camera control is most useful for remote head shots, like those captured on a crane, but is equally beneficial for general use, especially in multicam environments where all the camera settings need to remain in sync.
“Bridge” is actually borrowed from network topology and terminology. As the term implies, you are bridging two separate wireless interfaces. For camera control, we need to bridge the camera body’s Ethernet interface so it can communicate with your wireless network.
A mesh network contains multiple access points all unified under a single SSID. For camera control, a mesh network is often employed at traditional WiFi frequencies (e.g. 2.4Ghz) so you can create an environment that allows the bridge (e.g. TeeHee) to dynamically hop between the different available access points based on signal strength. Both the access point(s) and bridge hardware need to be compatible with mesh networks for you to benefit from mesh hopping.
You can… but it won’t be as reliable as using a dedicated, external bridge.
The reason wireless bridges are often used for camera control is because “WiFi” is just a checkbox for cinema camera manufacturers so they can list it as a feature. As such, the WiFi on most camera bodies is not all that capable: Camera body WiFi does not support mesh hopping, and a camera body’s internal WiFi radios are weaker than those of a dedicated wireless bridge.
There are multiple frequencies currently sanctioned by the FCC for consumer and general use that you’ll find integrated into camera control hardware right now in the US. In ascending order, they are:
915Mhz (range 902-928Mhz)
2.4Ghz
5Ghz
6Ghz
Each frequency has its pros and cons. The biggest takeaway when choosing a frequency is transmission distance: The lower the frequency, the further a signal can travel.¹
In practice, a 915Mhz signal will be able to travel further than a 2.4Ghz signal under the same theoretical conditions. A mesh network can help overcome such range limitations, but it requires additional hardware (i.e. access points) and planning.
For the purpose of camera control, the above list of US frequencies also applies to Canadian film sets. For sub-1Ghz options in Europe, 433Mhz and 866Mhz (and neighboring frequency blocks) are employed for camera control devices in order to comply with regional frequency requirements.
¹ Lower frequencies, in a scientific tradeoff for transmitting further, are unable to accommodate the larger data rates of higher frequencies. Camera control commands don’t require much bandwidth, so the data throughput of a given frequency isn’t super relevant.
WiFi connections being broadcast at both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz frequencies are arguably the most prevalent on today’s film sets. From VTR streaming to remote control of cinema lighting fixtures, traditional WiFi bands are now used nearly universally across departments. That also means it can get crowded, so planning accordingly is important.
6Ghz is a spectrum that the FCC only recently made accessible in the US to be implemented as part of the WiFi 6E standard and beyond; therefore, not many devices use it… yet. The most common 6Ghz products currently found on set are certain Teradek product lines (which also often run at 5Ghz).
While sub-1Ghz frequencies are most commonly used on set by sound department (think wireless mics), the 902-928Mhz range is actually sandwiched in between the ranges that sound department will use. This is because 902-928Mhz has been allocated by the FCC in the US for RFID applications. In Europe, 868Mhz and neighboring bands are often analogous to 915Mhz and its neighboring bands as they are employed in the US.
Typically the camera’s instruction manual will delineate how to access its web GUI, often under a section called “web remote.” Arri cameras will utilize a custom URL based on the camera body’s serial number, while Sony and Red cameras often reference the actual IP address of the camera body.
OpenWrt is an open-source project that is essentially a multipurpose OS for wireless devices. Because it’s open-source, it’s constantly being improved by the community. TeeHee comes pre-configured with OpenWrt and specific settings, meaning it’s ready to work as a camera control bridge out of the box.
For advanced users, should you want to customize precisely how TeeHee operates as a network bridge, or repurpose TeeHee for a task besides camera control, OpenWrt allows for virtually unlimited configuration options.
TeeHee was created to make camera control accessible, both in terms of skill set and price point. Self-contained systems like Semote are excellent at what they do, but due to the esoteric R&D required to develop them, they aren’t always value-adds due to their upfront cost. For freelance DIT’s who may only work a handful of short-form jobs a year that require camera control, investing several thousand dollars into a closed system may not make financial sense.
Within the discourse of TeeHee, wireless bridges and Ethernet control protocol, still cameras do not support camera control due to camera-side hardware limitations.
