Hacking Nikon’s Cheap WU-1a Wifi Dongle For Higher End Cameras

Nikon has some cool features in its WU-1A wifi dongle for the D3200. This sweet $60 dongle adds wifi capabilities to the D3200, adding a nice range of features like the ability to watch the Liveview display on a smart phone, or take pictures from the same smart phone and have the download to the phone automatically.

How about getting the same functionality on the D800 or the D4? This is a whole new game and will set you back a nice $550 for the D4’s WT-5A or $740 for the D800’s WT-4A.

Hardware hacker Joe Fitz reversed engineered the WU-1A to work with the higher end cameras. And by hacking we mean the real deal, including disassembling the unit, reading cheap datasheets by candle light and sniffing the USB traffic.

Interim results are shared in the embedded video below and in a slide show Joe made for BsidesPDX security convention.

While the final project have not been released yet, you can follow the progress on a thread on Nikon Hacker

Thank for sending the tip, Jason.

[Hacking the Nikon WU-1A via HackADay]