The ultimate companion for Sony cameras: Monitor+
This article was translated by ChatGPT automatically, with minor manual corrections.
This is software used to connect to Sony cameras.
This is also software used to connect to Sony cameras.
This is yet another piece of software for connecting to Sony cameras.
Sony has historically released many different versions of apps and software, and sometimes different software may only be compatible with different cameras. For example, my A7M4 and α6000 require different apps for mobile connections; it's not feasible to use Imaging Edge to connect the A7M4.
Even with seemingly tailor-made software for each camera model, there are still various problems in use. Frequent disconnections and slow speeds are minor issues. Even the A7M4, released in 2021, requires a third-party WiFi connection to link the camera and mobile app.
Since the camera itself lacks a browser interface, if your WiFi requires additional web page login verification (as many hotel WiFis do), you might lose the opportunity to transfer photos from your camera to your phone... right? Not necessarily!
Today's featured app is Monitor+. Not only does it solve the tricky problem mentioned above, but it can also turn your phone into a real-time monitor and remote shutter release. Many of my timelapse photos, such as this one, were shot with this app.
This app supports not only Sony cameras, but most mainstream camera brands can be connected to it as well. Photo transfer and basic remote monitoring and shutter triggering functionalities are all free!
Photo Transfer Feature
When out and about, you naturally want to capture some nice photos, and also be able to quickly select a few to edit simply on your phone or tablet before sharing them beautifully on social media.
But if you're using a Sony camera, you might encounter the aforementioned issue with connecting to hotel WiFi. Surely, you can't change hotels just to transfer a few photos, right?
If you happen to have another phone or a friend with you, perhaps setting up a mobile hotspot could be one solution. But in reality, Sony cameras are perfectly capable of direct communication with a phone. In fact, they can even use high-speed WiFi on the 5G band.
At this point, if you've installed the Monitor+ app and connected it to your camera (just by turning on WiFi on the camera), you can open a page to select photos and filter some to transfer to your phone.
Yes, it's that simple.
Real-time Monitoring and Shooting Feature
Besides photo transfer, real-time monitoring and remote shooting are also important features of this app.
The free version allows for basic monitoring and remote shutter functionalities. In addition, the app provides free access to some parameter adjustments and even includes a histogram, which is usually sufficient for typical use.
In short, if you don't need to leave your camera while shooting, the free version can meet all your shooting needs, saving you the money for a remote shutter release cable—you can always adjust settings on the camera itself if needed.
The only thing you might need to be mindful of is that to ensure low-latency real-time monitoring, your phone needs to be connected to the camera via 5G WiFi—just turn on the corresponding option on your camera and the app will guide you through the process.
Other Paid Features
Beyond the basic free functions, if you're willing to pay, the app offers many useful features, including, but not limited to:
- Touch to select focus point
- RGB histogram
- Focus peaking
- Zebra pattern
- Applying LUTs
There are also features like "Follow Focus," "Flip," "Masking," and I'm not sure how the app achieves them, so I won't go into detail here.
Who needs external monitors or wireless image transmission in an amateur setting anymore.
Perhaps my biggest regret now is buying an external monitor that mounts on the camera's hot shoe, which I have never used so far.