Finally got FTP working!

I've been struggling with basic connectivity issues with my recently purchased Sony (A7C), my first Sony camera.
It's been a pain, to say the least and I expected much better from a "high tech" company like Sony.

Imaging Edge is flaky, at best, and the one time I managed to connect it to my iPhone it insisted on sending 2MB pics even though "Original" was ticked in the menu.
I tried following YouTube guidance to use FTP to the iPhone - didn't work. Couldn't find how to send it to the Mac..... but by combining advice from several online videos, I have finally succeeded in transferring JPG and raw files direct from the camera to my NAS.

And it works like a charm! It will send the files immediately if on the same wifi network, and if not I just have to enter the menu and send them when I am.

Also eventually got a bluetooth link established with the phone so I now get GPS information with the files. Super!

As I said, more of a struggle than expected, but when done, really worth it! If you haven't set these up yet, it is really worth the effort.

I gave up on wi-fi and used a card reader with my A7 IV, but maybe you could post the links/instructions that eventually worked?

Figuring out FTP has been on my to-do list for a while now. Maybe I should give it a try.

I gave up on using Imaging Edge to use wifi to the phone. Just didn't work.
Decided to use FTP to the Synology NAS.

This is the video I found most useful, but didn't make some things clear.....

youtu.be/RHfU3eklSr0

For the Synology side it was pretty simple, I think I just created a new shared folder and allowed it to connect to FTP (or something, your server instructions will help!)

Connecting to the wifi network was OK with Wifi Settings / WPS Push..... choose your network and then put in password when prompted (I think, was a few days ago!)

On the camera go to: Network / FTP Transfer Function. / Server Setting / Sever 1 / Destination Settings / And type in the IP address of your server in the Host Name box (e.g. 192.172.72.48.... or whatever the IP address of your NAS is which you'll get when connected to it. I left the Port as 21 which was already filled in.

Where I was coming undone was here: Network / FTP Transfer Function. / Server Setting / Sever 1 / Directory Settings. ..... All you need to do here is type the name of the shared folder you created on the NAS,,,, no need to put a path (which I'd been doing). So the folder I'd made on the NAS was called "Sony" and that's all I needed to type in here.

Underneath Directory Settings is "User Settings" and you type in the user name and password for the NAS.

The go out and switch FTP Function "ON" and it should work. (FTP Function on is Network / FTP Transfer Function / FTP Function.....

On page 3 of the FTP transfer function, you can select to auto transfer... will do it automatically when shot. On page 2, a selection called FTP Transfer will let you transfer manually.

The above is giving me a headache (and readers too, I'm sure! 🤣 ) and it was a lot of mucking around.

And after posting the above, I'm sure some readers are wondering why go to all that trouble when you can just stick a cable in the USB-C slot and transfer that way or take the card out and stick it in a reader. And I wholeheartedly agree!!!

However, it's sort of "because it's there". This is a first step for me - next step is to find out how I can connect the camera to the NAS from anywhere.... I can upload or download files from my phone to the server anywhere I have wifi or 4g, and I'm pretty sure I can make the Sony do that too.... especially useful for the A7C as it only has one card slot.

If I ever find out how to do it, I'll keep you posted. Meantime if anyone knows, I'd love to hear! 🍻

I’ve had to carry an old Pixel phone just to use as an FTP ssd for my A7C. I’ve never been able to get iPhone to work as an ftp drive unless the iPhone is awake and the ftp app is running. It won’t even work if the app is running in the background.

Anyhow, glad you found a solution

Well that didn't last long. For some reason this morning the camera wouldn't connect to the server.... "failed to acquire an IP address".
It found the wifi, found the server, but couldn't get an IP. I'd set it up with a static rather than dynamic address, so nothing changed.

I rebooted the server, the modem, the router - no luck.
Went into the server and gave it a new address which I then put in the camera's FTP settings. No luck.

Back to cables and USB ports for me.....

Still can't connect to an iPhone either. Don't know why Sony seems to have so much trouble with this - we have a Playstation which works fine, so they do know what they're doing - they just forgot to tell the camera division! 😂

Maybe Phone (and fw) can be not working well with the camera. I have a Huawei p20 and it connects fast to anything. Also both a6600 and a9 using the QR code. And transfer is ok. Not slow not fast.

Where I work we have 50 spinning bikes where people can connect to bike via Bluetooth and follow a program. Quite often (1 of 300) a phone can't connect. Mostly iPhone but both old and new phones. Sometimes a restart works.

Yup, I think you're right, Sony and Apple probably not best friends! Having said that, the NAS isn't Apple, it's Synology so not sure what went wrong there.....
And thanks for tip on restarting iPhone, which I tried but didn't work for transferring pics.