Transfer photos wirelessly from Sony cameras

FTP is protocol which I haven’t used for many years. I configured FTP servers like vsftpd or ProFTPD in the past, but this time I decided to look at the SFTPGo.

The main reason why I wanted to run own FTP server on my laptop is to transfer photos from my camera Sony A7 IV wirelessly (no cables / SD card swapping).

SFTPGo

Let’s look at the way how you can run the FTP server on MacOS:

Install SFTPGo:

brew install sftpgo

Create test user and set admin account:

sftpgo resetprovider --force --config-dir /usr/local/var/sftpgo

cat > /tmp/sftpgo-initprovider-data.json << EOF
{
  "users": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "status": 1,
      "username": "test",
      "password": "test123",
      "home_dir": "${HOME}/Pictures/ftp",
      "uid": 501,
      "gid": 20,
      "permissions": {
        "/": [
          "*"
        ]
      }
    }
  ],
  "folders": [],
  "admins": [
    {
      "id": 1,
      "status": 1,
      "username": "admin",
      "password": "admin123",
      "permissions": [
        "*"
      ]
    }
  ]
}
EOF

sftpgo initprovider --config-dir /usr/local/var/sftpgo --loaddata-from /tmp/sftpgo-initprovider-data.json

Configure SFTPGo:

cat > /usr/local/etc/sftpgo/sftpgo.json << EOF
{
  "ftpd": {
    "bindings": [
      {
        "port": 21
      }
    ]
  },
  "httpd": {
    "bindings": [
      {
        "port": 7999
      }
    ]
  },
  "sftpd": {
    "bindings": [
      {
        "port": 0
      }
    ]
  }
}
EOF

sudo brew services restart sftpgo

Restart the SFTPGo:

sudo brew services restart sftpgo

You can check the WebAdmin interface to see the details about created user: http://127.0.0.1:8080/web/admin/users

SFTPGo WebAdmin User

SFTPGo WebAdmin Users

Sony Camera FTP + WiFi settings

Now you need to configure the Sony camera (Sony A7 IV) and connect it to the WiFi + Configure FTP Transfer.

• Configure Wi-Fi connection to you Access Point / wireless router (or you can create Personal Hotspot on your iPhone like I did):

  flowchart LR
      A1[Network] --> A2(Wi-Fi) --> A3(Access Point Set.) --> A4(...your WiFi AP...)
  

  Sony A7 IV WiFi AP Configuration

Make sure your Mac is connected to the same WiFi as your Sony camera

• Find your local IP address on the Mac by running the ifconfig command in the terminal:

  ❯ ifconfig en0
  ...
    inet 172.20.10.4 netmask ...
  ...
  

• Configure FTP:

  flowchart LR
      A1[Network] --> A2(Transfer/Remote) --> A3(FTP Transfer Func) --> A4(Server Setting) --> A5(Server 1)
        A5 --> B1(Display Name) --> B2(SFTPGo)
        A5 --> C1(Destination Settings) --> C2(Hostname) --> C3(172.20.10.4)
          C1 --> D1(Port) --> D2(21)
        A5 --> E1(User Info Setting) --> E2(User) --> E3(test)
          E1 --> F1(Password) --> F2(test123)
  

• Enable FTP:

  flowchart LR
      A1[Network] --> A2(Transfer/Remote) --> A3(FTP Transfer Func) --> A4(FTP Function)   --> A5(On)
      B1[Network] --> B2(Transfer/Remote) --> B3(FTP Transfer Func) --> B4(FTP Power Save) --> B5(On)
  

  Sony A7 IV FTP Configuration

• Initiate FTP transfer (copy photos from your camera to your Mac):

  flowchart LR
      A1[Network] --> A2(Transfer/Remote) --> A3(FTP Transfer Func) --> A4(FTP Transfer) --> A5(OK)
  

  Sony A7 IV FTP Transfer

The camera configuration including WiFi configuration, FTP, and photo transfer can be found here:

Enjoy … 😉