Connect Your Sony Camera Wirelessly: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and LAN

Everything starts from the Camera Connection card on the home screen. Pick a way in — Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, same network, or USB — and the app walks you through the camera-side steps with illustrated guidance. This page is the long version: what each path needs, which bodies we have verified, and what to do when it doesn't connect.

Which way should I use?

Once connected, the wireless link does everything the cable does: Send Recipe to Camera (whole recipe — Creative Look, the eight adjustments and both white-balance axes — into a Custom Look slot or the current settings, listed for confirmation first), the Camera Monitor, and the Recipe Lab. The home card shows the model, connection type and battery, with a one-tap disconnect.

Before you start

• AlphaLuma 1.1.3 or later, iOS 15 or later (the Camera Monitor and Recipe Lab need iOS 16). Update from the App Store if the Camera Connection card isn't there.
• A body with Creative Look. Same rule as USB: bodies with the older Creative Style (α7 III, α7C, α6400, ZV-E10, ZV-1 and the like) can't receive recipes over any path — the camera menu is the authority.
• Permissions. Bluetooth (for pairing), Camera (only to read the QR code), and Local Network — iOS asks the first time the app talks to the camera's address. Declining Local Network makes every wireless path fail.
• Turn off VPN and proxy apps while connecting. They can capture the traffic meant for the camera.
• Quit Creators' App and Imaging Edge. The camera holds one remote session at a time.
• Memory card in the camera. Without one the camera won't enter remote control.

1. Bluetooth — pair once, then automatic

On the camera, open the smartphone-connection screen and leave it waiting (on most bodies MENU → Network → Smartphone Connect; menu names vary by body — the app's guide shows the steps). Make sure Bluetooth is on in the camera's Network menu.

In AlphaLuma choose Bluetooth. The first time, the camera shows a pairing code — press OK on the camera. The app then tells the camera to open its hotspot, reads the network name and password over Bluetooth, and joins it. From the second time on, the whole sequence runs by itself.

If your body separates "PC Remote" from "Smartphone Connect" (α7R V, α7C II, α7CR generation), the smartphone hotspot refuses remote control — confirmed on the α7R V, most likely the same on the α7C II and α7CR. The app detects this and tries a direct-pairing fallback where the camera asks you to confirm the connection on its screen — that fallback is not yet verified on a real body. On these cameras use the same-network path below (verified on the α7R V) until this page says otherwise.

2. Wi-Fi — scan the QR code

On the camera, show the Wi-Fi Direct QR code. On the α7 V, turn on Remote Shooting first (MENU → Network → Cnct./Remote Sht. → Remote Shoot Function → Remote Shooting → On), then open Remote Shoot Function → Wi-Fi Direct Info.; on the α7R V / α7C II generation the same screen sits under Remote Shoot Function too (older firmware calls it PC Remote Function). That screen first shows the SSID and password as text — press the 🗑 (Delete) button to switch it to the QR code. Don't scan the QR code on the Smartphone Connect screen: that one joins the smartphone hotspot, which does not accept remote control.

In AlphaLuma choose Wi-Fi and scan it (or pick a photo of the code from your library). iOS asks once to join the network named DIRECT-xxxx:ILCE-… — accept. You can also type the network name and password by hand from the same screen.

First time only: access authentication. The camera shows a user name and password under Network → Network Option → Access Authen. Info; the app asks for them once and remembers them for that camera. If you later change the password on the camera, the app tells you and asks again.

Your phone shows "No Internet" while it's on the camera's Wi-Fi. That's normal; it switches back when you disconnect.

3. Same network — camera already on your router

Put the camera on your home Wi-Fi (MENU → Network → Wi-Fi → Wi-Fi Connect, access-point mode) and turn on Remote Shooting (PC Remote on some bodies) with connection method Wi-Fi Access Point, with Access Authentication on. In AlphaLuma choose Same network: the app lists the cameras it finds; tap yours. No hotspot, no switching networks, and your phone keeps its internet. You can also type the camera's IP address if discovery doesn't see it.

If it won't connect

In order of how often it happens — these come from real failure reports the app sends us:

• Bluetooth stops during pairing, or the camera drops the connection right away. The camera wasn't on its smartphone-connection waiting screen, you didn't confirm on the camera, or the two devices disagree about a previous pairing. First, on the iPhone: Settings → Bluetooth → (i) next to the camera → Forget This Device (the app can only clear its own record, not the iPhone's). Then pair again and press OK on the camera when the code appears. Only if it still fails, on the camera: Network → Reset Network Settings — that wipes every Wi-Fi the camera knows.
• "Joined the camera's Wi-Fi, but the camera didn't respond." Usually the phone hadn't finished getting an address. Wait a few seconds and retry. If it repeats, check VPN and the Local Network permission.
• "Connection refused" on the camera's hotspot. This body's smartphone hotspot doesn't accept remote control (α7R V generation). The reliable route is the same-network path, which is verified on the α7R V. A workaround we have not verified on a real body: set PC Remote Function → PC Remote → On, Connection Method → Wi-Fi Direct, turn Access Authentication on, then scan the QR under Wi-Fi Direct Info.
• Stuck on "scanning" for Bluetooth. Bluetooth permission for AlphaLuma is off. The failure card has an Open Settings button.
• Password rejected. The reason shows under the field. Re-enter from the camera's Access Authen. Info screen; a changed camera password is the usual cause.
• Nothing is found on the same network. The phone is on a different Wi-Fi than the camera (for example still on a camera hotspot), or the camera isn't in PC Remote / access-point mode.
• Wireless works, but I want the sure thing. Plug in a cable. USB and wireless share the same write flow; nothing else changes.

Supported models — wireless

USB support is the baseline (see the USB guide). Wireless depends on the body's generation, so here is exactly what we have verified ourselves as of the date at the top of this page:

If your body connects wirelessly and isn't marked verified here, tell us the model — that is what moves a row from "expected" to "verified".