Question - Copying from Camera to PC / HDD via WIFI

[Sootchucker]

I've been looking into the options of copying images directly from camera to a PC / HDD via WIFI and have a question for you PC nerds out there

I've seen the WD 3TB My Passport Pro, which as the name suggests is a 3TB HDD wrapped up in a case that supports WIFI transmission at up to WIFI 802.11ac. According to what I can find, 802.11ac is many times quicker than the older 802.11n ( 450Mbit per second vs 1.3 gigabits per second (Gbps)).

Looking at the specs of my main cameras, it seems the X-T3 only has 802.11b/g/n (no ac) equipped hardware, but my Nikon Z6 and my Olympus EM1X both have 802.11a/b/g/n/ac hardware.

Does that mean that the Z6 and EM1X file transfer speed will actually be many times that of the X-T3 (under ideal circumstances with the same card in each), or is the transfer speed limited in some other way ? Basically what I'm trying to find out is if the Passport Pro is a viable "in the field" backup option without having to pop the cards out (which I know I can do), and will transfer speed be similar to using a card reader or many times slower ? I'm also interested as I'm looking to purchase a 3rd Gen 12.9" Ipad pro, and am looking to have my images on the Passport Pro, and wirelessly move them as required onto the Ipad for image processing etc. then export off the iPad back onto the passport pro ?

Hope this makes sense, and thanks in advanced.

 

[LC2]

It depends on a number of things.
1. What is the read speed of your card and can it really sustain it)?
2. What speed will the card reader in the camera really sustain?
3. What is the write speed of the drive in the WD Passport?
4. And probably some other whats...

Doing some theoretical maths.
450mbps = 56MB/s
1.3gbps = 160MB/s

So, if the camera inbuilt reader and processing is NOT a blocker, then the Nikon can send the data faster than most (all?) UHS1 cards.
The Nikon is XQD (don't know about the Olympus) which is faster than uhs2, so faster than the potential wifi top speed
The Fuji is UHS2, so would theoretically outpace the wifi too (even good UHS1 cards will out pace it).

But... what will the camera really sustain over wifi? (Is it in your manual?)
And what is the write speed of the WD Passport?
According to:
https://www.techradar.com/reviews/wd-my-passport-wireless-ssd/4
When it comes to wired transfer speeds, the older Wireless Pro hit 83.5MB/s over USB in our tests, while this newer Wireless SSD hit top speeds of 390MB/s.
Assuming you have a disk rather than SSD, then the 80MB/s number is going to be more applicable, so the difference between 802.11n and 802.11ac (presumably mimo?) isn't going to be as great as you would imagine (using the wired rather than wireless numbers to get a handle on writer speed rather than the WD pro Wireless receiver (which is actually another thing to consider, but given they say ac, then it's likely to be quick)).