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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
eye-fi wireless SD card?
Christian del Rosario, Photographer
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 10:38 AM on 12.18.06 |
->> I'm "ass"uming this will apply to all cameras shooting with SD cards...but it's tough to find any details on this:
http://www.eye.fi/FAQ.htm
http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/04/eye-fi-heads-to-beta-this-month/
If this will be a dedicated wifi transmitter to any PC, all for $100....not a bad alternative to the Canon incredibux wifi solution.
I wonder how fast it can transmit images? Would be nice to still motor away with this.
Anyone in the Beta program? |
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Christian del Rosario, Photographer
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 10:44 AM on 12.18.06 |
->> I'm also wondering how much range this will have. And how do you program it...I'm guesisng you'll need to insert it into a laptop/PC to change the security and IP settings....
For the Canon wifi transmitter, do you get the configuration options in the camera menus?
It's amazing they can fit the Tx within the same form factor of the SD card! |
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Chad McCan, Photographer
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Kansas City | MO | USA | Posted: 2:10 PM on 12.18.06 |
| ->> I am a beta tester for the card. It works as advertised, and that's about all I can say at this time, due to limitations on disclosure. |
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John Riddell, Photographer
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Toronto | ON | Canada | Posted: 3:22 PM on 12.18.06 |
->> Q: Is the Eye-Fi Card (aka Eye-Film) available now?
A: Not yet - Eye-Film is still in development. We will announce details of our beta trial in Q3 2006.
Ummmmmm.... |
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Adam Cairns, Photographer
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Jeff Hinds, Photographer
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 6:21 PM on 11.01.07 |
| ->> Well, now we are getting somewhere with this whole download issue. I wonder if the memory will soon be built in to the camera and the camera being able to wifi connect? I'm seriously getting sick of keeping track or which card i shot what on and where they all are, etc...not that it's a major issue but c'mon technology, catch it up here! |
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Jeff Hinds, Photographer
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 6:22 PM on 11.01.07 |
->> Oh, btw, this would be perfect for my p&s for sure!
jh |
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Christian del Rosario, Photographer
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 11:05 PM on 11.01.07 |
| ->> After reading the review...doesn't sound like it'd be too useable unless you are always within your wi-fi network. And it would probably be best with a camera tethered to constant AC power as it seems pretty slow to upload files. Maybe gen II will be faster? Concept still seems cool though. |
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Max Simbron, Photographer, Assistant
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Phoenix | AZ | USA | Posted: 11:10 PM on 11.01.07 |
->> Well, you can always set up your laptop's wireless to work in Ad Hoc mode, and basically connect to that. Then, if you have a wireless aircard, you can use that to move files.
I've tried and done this with the WFT-E2A, mk3, laptop and Sprint wireless.
I won't say it's painless, but if you set it up once, it's fairly easy after that.
Max |
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Christian del Rosario, Photographer
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 1:08 AM on 11.02.07 |
->> Great point Max!
I'm on the fence on this. $100 is not too bad to try this out. Hmmmm...... |
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Chad McCan, Photographer
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Liberty | MO | USA | Posted: 10:26 AM on 11.02.07 |
->> I don't believe it works in ad-hoc mode. This card went from A- to a B- pretty quick in my book. It now "requires" and internet connection to setup the card. You can't just pull over on the side of the road and set it up.
It's not slow for me, and I still use an old 802.11b network.
The biggest problem I see with their current software is that when you are uploading to an online service, the software uploads that photo from your camera to the service first, then downloads that photo to your computer. So if you set it up to do both, expect to wait awhile to see your photos show up on your computer.
It's an awesome product, considering the amount of innovation involved. No one else has even attempted such a feat. Canon wants 9x the money for something that does far less. I think the eyeFi has endless possiblities. They added and changed a lot just by changing the firmware, so look for updates to add/change features. |
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Dennis Wierzbicki, Photographer
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Plainfield | IL | USA | Posted: 10:44 AM on 11.02.07 |
->> Chad,
Have you tested average effective range? I know, it depends on a lot of things, like interference, location of WiFi hub, number and types of walls between you and the hub, etc, but I'm just looking for approximate ranges, like 300 feet, or something similar.
Have any of the beta-testers used one of these during an actual event, like a youth multi-team, multi-day tournament?
Requiring the upload to a web site (BTW, will it work with any FTP site, or does it have to be a photo hosting site?) makes the solution a little less elegant, but I can see your point that the product is a breakthrough in price and features. |
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Max Simbron, Photographer, Assistant
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Phoenix | AZ | USA | Posted: 10:54 AM on 11.02.07 |
->> Chad,
Canon wants 9x the money for something that does far MORE. Have you actually used a WFT-E2a?
Wireless Live View comes to mind, which does more than just let you view your composition. How bout Wireless focus adjustment (which should be a big hit with the remote camera crowd)? Moving files to FTP without using an intermediary computer (you would some sort of router for internet access, of course, but no laptop necessary). You can also use an external USB hard drive or flash drive, or a GPS. In fact, it even sets up an http site that catalogs all your files and an end user can select and download images.
All in all, the unit is VERY full featured. The question is who will use what, and under what circumstances.
If all you need is wireless file transfer, then go for whatever works at a great price point. If you need the other functions, then the WFT-E2a is hard to beat.
Max |
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Chad McCan, Photographer
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Liberty | MO | USA | Posted: 11:45 AM on 11.02.07 |
->> Max, you are right about the new Canon piece. Live View changes everything for that product. That's limited to mk3 users though. I know they make one for the 40d too,. but again, limited to one body.
Dennis, I have used my card at a few different kind of events, including a baseball game, a wedding, a football game, a surprise engagement (uploaded straight to flickr for those who couldn't come).
It's hard to know when you are in range and when you are out, so range is a tough thing to figure out. Unless I had someone sitting at my PC watching the transfer, I wouldn't know. I never had that at any of my events. I will say my card transferred around 2/3rd's of my photos by the time I came back to my pc, with some downtime between. |
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Jeff Mills, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbus | OH | USA | Posted: 3:09 PM on 11.02.07 |
->> From reading the DPReview um...review, it listed the transfer times as only about 210kb/s I belive, and that is pretty slow.
If your shooting raw files at 9 or 10 FPS on a D3 or 1D mkIII for example, after one long touchdown run sequence you'd be backed up for the rest of the half. I think the figure DPR gave was a 2gig card card would take about 3 hours to transfer.
I'd have to say that this might be a cool item for the snap shot crowd. At a kids bbday party for example when aunt Jane takes a photo of the kid blowing out the candles and theres wifi in the house, those photos could all be uploaded to share with grandparents etc on a web gallery without anyone having to lift a finger.
Thats pretty darn cool technology for $99 I've got to admit but its still not ready for primetime.
Sure its 1/10th the cost of other options but those other options actually can deliver for professional sports/event usage. They can move the data, have far more options and in this day and age of things like "live view" are really easier to justify.
I don't know about everyone else but being able to control my camera remotely via laptop is easily worth a few hundred bucks just for the noveltiy of the thing. |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 4:36 PM on 11.02.07 |
| ->> jeff, thanks for that info. I couldn't figure out the tranfer speed....after reading your post....well, I guess that's something we don't need top buy here at the paper...but who knows what might come along in the future. |
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Max Simbron, Photographer, Assistant
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Phoenix | AZ | USA | Posted: 5:36 PM on 11.02.07 |
->> I wouldn't discount it yet. Using the WFT-E2a, I've learned that even at it's speeds (roughly 1MB per second in my real world unscientific testing), I tend to not like to send large images.
So what I do is send small images with higher compression. For cameras with 2 CF card or a CF/SD slot, you can usually write diff filetypes to each card.
You could send a small jpeg file (say a compression 5 small jpeg from a mk3), which comes in at less than a meg, while housing a large jpeg or RAW file on the CF card slot.
Someone on the other end would have a workable low res comp to look at, and can then cherry pick files while you work. When you're done, they can tell you which files to move.
The versatility of the wireless system is there, it's up to us to figure out the workflow that suits us best.
Max |
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Chad McCan, Photographer
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Liberty | MO | USA | Posted: 5:57 PM on 11.02.07 |
->> Max is right. My experience is different than dpreviews. Their article left out every detail you need to understand why they got those speeds.
I think the card is fast enough for what I need. It doesn't transfer raw files, so don't even consider transfer time for that. Why would you want to transfer raw files? |
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Patrick Fallon, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Columbia | MO | USA | Posted: 7:30 PM on 11.02.07 |
| ->> The Eye-Fi can only do JPG anyways, so just set it up in the SD slot on a MKII/III and have it transmit (lower res?) files while you save raw to your CF |
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JohnPaul Greco, Photographer, Assistant
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Milwaukee | WI | USA | Posted: 8:14 PM on 11.02.07 |
->> I have a funny idea who is going to capitalize on this nifty new invention.....real soon! & if I said what I thought, everyone would mark my comment as "Inappropriate "..
Yep!
JP |
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Jeff Mills, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbus | OH | USA | Posted: 9:22 PM on 11.03.07 |
->> Why would you not want to transfer raw files ?
I'm certainly not looking to get into a raw vs jpeg for sports debate though I shoot RAW files for what its worth, unless on a pressing deadline but since most of my work is for media guides etc, time isn't usually a factor as I can turn in a cd with the best image quality possible the next day.
That said, when I'm doing some portraits or commerical work being able to transfer the raw files to the pc for review without having to deal with the darn USB tether issues would be a welcome change for me. |
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Michael Pina, Photographer
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SF Bay Area | ca | usa | Posted: 9:58 PM on 06.14.09 |
->> So any thoughts about the NEW EYE-FI Pro SD card? Raw capability and Adhoc sounds interesting.
http://www.eye.fi/cards/pro.html |
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