Eye-Fi Pro Card, available now.

gillat

Guys,

I wanted to update you prosumers, gearheads, DSLR-lovers, pros and aspiring pros (did I forget anyone?). :scratch

We've just announced the Eye-Fi Pro, and it's selling through us, through Amazon, B&H and a few other prosumer shops. http://www.eye.fi/cards/pro.html

The main features that differentiate the Pro card from our other cards are:

RAW
peer-peer / ad-hoc.

You all know what supporting RAW means, so I won't need to explain this.

What does peer-to-peer OR ad-hoc mean? It means that you don't need a router anymore, to upload photos directly to your computer. Just point the Eye-Fi Card at your ad-hoc network, and the photos will start streaming in immediately. :barb

It also means that you can use things like Windows Mobile (WinMo) or Nokia phones, with free ad-hoc based router software, and from anywhere that there is cell-coverage, stream photos back to your studio, to SmugMug, or anywhere else that you'd like, in real-time, from anywhere. Until now, this was only possible with something like the MiFi or CradlePoint. Now, with any device that's online, that supports ad-hoc -- you can be online with the Eye-Fi Pro card. :clap


Please don't ask (and torture me:whip), about a CF version. We don't have it. So this is only for those of you that have SD based bodies, or dual slot CF/SD. Oh, and no, please don't use CF adapters. They don't work for several reasons.

Thanks --

Ziv.

Andy

This is really exciting! I can't wait to get mine, I'm gonna order now. WTG Ziv, so cool to see you guys growing like this!

davemj98

Ziv; this is so cool, I know it does not work for me YET, I still have hope.

Shane422

So is this a hardware change, or can the older cards be upgraded with new firmware. I was an early adopter but I don't use my eye-fi any more because I only shoot RAW.

gillat

davemj98 wrote:

Ziv; this is so cool, I know it does not work for me YET, I still have hope.

Dave, yup, I know. Stay tuned... It's all I can say...

gillat

Shane422 wrote:

So is this a hardware change, or can the older cards be upgraded with new firmware. I was an early adopter but I don't use my eye-fi any more because I only shoot RAW.

Shane, great question. The answer is -- no. Sorry. We've been giving tons of free updates to our users, since the very beginning. The latest selective-upload is also a free upgrade to all of our users.

But the new Pro cards add raw and ad-hoc and they require a new card purchase. You want the 4GB cards anyway. They have much faster write-speeds.

Thx --

Ziv.

DoctorIt

gillat wrote:

It also means that you can use things like Windows Mobile (WinMo) or Nokia phones, with free ad-hoc based router software, and from anywhere that there is cell-coverage, stream photos back to your studio, to SmugMug, or anywhere else that you'd like, in real-time, from anywhere. Until now, this was only possible with something like the MiFi or CradlePoint. Now, with any device that's online, that supports ad-hoc -- you can be online with the Eye-Fi Pro card.

I was just about to post a thread about this, when, lo and behold, it's stickied right here!

I've tried to find a definitive answer for myself, but I'm not a network geek... does an iPhone qualify as "any device that's online" ??? I've become a very lazy photo-sharer lately, thanks to the iPhone. Snap snap, two more finger taps and it's smugshot'ed or posted straight to FB, immediately from wherever I'm standing.

gillat

Sorry. I didn't understand the question.

DoctorIt

gillat wrote:

Sorry. I didn't understand the question.

Can I stream photos directly to the web with an Eye-fi Pro via my iPhone?

I will re-quote the important part of your post:

It also means that you can use things like Windows Mobile (WinMo) or Nokia phones, with free ad-hoc based router software, and from anywhere that there is cell-coverage, stream photos back to your studio, to SmugMug, or anywhere else that you'd like, in real-time, from anywhere. Until now, this was only possible with something like the MiFi or CradlePoint. Now, with any device that's online, that supports ad-hoc -- you can be online with the Eye-Fi Pro card.

Also, for clarification to all on this forum, are you a representative of Eye-fi? If so, it's nice to have a direct point of contact for a product many people on this forum use.

Thanks,

gillat

Now I understand.

If you're an Eye-Fi customer, which means that you have an Eye-Fi account, you could download the free Eye-Fi app from the app store, and use it. It'll give you the same functionality as the Eye-Fi Card. Photos will go from the iPhone, to any of our 30 partner sites, AND to your PC/Mac wherever it is on the net :-)

If your PC/Mac is off, next time that you turn it on, the photos will come to it. Just like with the Eye-Fi Card.

Thanks --

Ziv.

DoctorIt

My clarification wasn't so good. I don't need the Eye-fi app to post photos taken with the iPhone's built-in camera. Let me try again, the question goes to the ad-hoc and iPhone integration.

Let's say I'm on a hike (in a 3G service area), I would like to be able to:

1. take a photo with my camera (a Canon DSLR, for example), in which I'm using an eye-fi SD card

2. send this photo to my iPhone (eye-fi card connects to iPhone via ad-hoc?)

3. upload this photo to the web (Smugmug) using the iPhone

This would be a really cool feature.

gillat

Sorry, unsupported by Apple. So if you'd like to do that, I would either:

• Use a MiFi instead (same monthly cost for service)
• use a Symbian phone
• use a WinMo phone

MiFi would be my first choice, by far...

DoctorIt

gillat wrote:

Sorry, unsupported by Apple. So if you'd like to do that, I would either:

That's what I thought, I wanted confirmation straight from the source. Thanks.

Art Scott

Gillat,
Have you tried shooting your eye-fi in the 2nd slot (SD slot) of the Nikon D300s??

Photometric

Gillat,

Been looking at the card, and it looks like real workflow improvement especially during on location shoots where you want to display the images on the screen of a laptop for customers to select without playing with cards. However, for $150 I was looking for warranty information since it's a significant purchase for SD memory. Can you point me to the place where the warranty information is displayed?

TIA


************EDIT*************
Just found it. As a suggestion, you might want to put the link in a little more visible location, since it looks like the background, I had to really look for it and that gives the impression you're hiding the warranty terms which doesn't send the right message.

gillat

Art Scott wrote:

Gillat,
Have you tried shooting your eye-fi in the 2nd slot (SD slot) of the Nikon D300s??

Art, of course. Take a look a this page:

http://www.eye.fi/how-it-works/camera-compatibility?postTabs=1

The D300s is Eye-Fi Connected. There is even GUI in the camera for us. It's the best integration.

That's my main camera, and I've already put 20K frames on it. If I'm in the studio, I shoot raw to the CF and small JPG to the Eye-Fi Card. For everyday use, or events, I shoot in backup mode, and make the SD slot primary. Of course, you can also shoot in Selective Transfer or Selective Share modes...

To summarize -- the D300s is perfect for the Pro or Pro-sumer wanting to use an Eye-Fi Card.

Thx --

Ziv.

gillat

************EDIT*************
Just found it. As a suggestion, you might want to put the link in a little more visible location, since it looks like the background, I had to really look for it and that gives the impression you're hiding the warranty terms which doesn't send the right message

Good feedback. BTW, even though we only say that there is a 1 year warranty, we've even supported customers that have had issues with cards in unsupported countries, and beyond the warranty period. In short -- the warranty period is there, for legal reasons, but we go way beyond, in many cases.

gillat

However, for $150 I was looking for warranty information since it's a significant purchase for SD memory.

One more thing -- If you compare $150 to 4GB SD --sure, it's more, although there are plenty of pro SD cards that cost close or more than that. I agree that the normal 4GB card costs way less.

But when you consider this, against a vertical grip that has Wi-Fi, that costs $1000 + the body, etc..., and you compare our features, with geo, webshare, etc..., to a Wi-Fi grip that you could use in the studio -- $150 is a huge bargain ;-)

Here is a good link --

http://www.eye.fi/how-it-works/features/advanced

Thanks --

Ziv.

Jeremy Winterberg

I know you said to not hassle you, but I would definitely get one if it was a cf card... unfortunately my D300 doesn't support SD cards... So I guess I'm putting in my vote to hurry along the CF card research and development!

gillat

Jeremy Winterberg wrote:

I know you said to not hassle you, but I would definitely get one if it was a cf card... unfortunately my D300 doesn't support SD cards... So I guess I'm putting in my vote to hurry along the CF card research and development!

Feel free to mention it anytime :-) I promise that it'll never get too old :-)

BTW, I had a D300 as well. LOVED it. The D300s is way better :-)

Jeremy Winterberg

gillat wrote:

Feel free to mention it anytime :-) I promise that it'll never get too old :-)

BTW, I had a D300 as well. LOVED it. The D300s is way better :-)

I don't really need the video... and its also $600 more than what I paid for my D300... Its working pretty well for me. Although full frame would be pretty nice... D700...

gillat

Jeremy Winterberg wrote:

I don't really need the video... and its also $600 more than what I paid for my D300... Its working pretty well for me. Although full frame would be pretty nice... D700...

Once you get used to a luxury, it's hard to imagine going back.

Advantages:

• dual slot
• HD video
• Eye-Fi Connected with Eye-Fi GUI and power mgmt
• better imaging
• slightly improved buttons

Agreed though -- full frame would have been nicer. But Nikon doesn't have many lenses that support full frame. It's more painful than with Canon, IMO.

Jeremy Winterberg

gillat wrote:

Once you get used to a luxury, it's hard to imagine going back.

Advantages:

• dual slot
• HD video
• Eye-Fi Connected with Eye-Fi GUI and power mgmt
• better imaging
• slightly improved buttons

Agreed though -- full frame would have been nicer. But Nikon doesn't have many lenses that support full frame. It's more painful than with Canon, IMO.

True... they don't have many lenses... but they do have the ones I need...

My favorite crop lens is the 17-55mm 2.8 (which is currently my only lens, just switched to nikon from canon actually haha)...

on full frame I would replace it with a 24-70 2.8, and there's the 70-200 2.8 (or the 80-200 2.8 that I had with canon, both of which Nikon has and are very nice), the 135 f/2-D DC (Definitely on my dream list), and that's all I need. I could get by with two lenses, but I would like to have the 135 for the uber smooth bokeh.

Anyways... enough of OT convo... back to the Eye-Fi!

gillat

Totally agree. They're all there. You just need to work harder. Ken Rockwell has a good write-up about it as well.

I also only have 2 lenses. The 18-200 VR and the fixed 50mm. I use the fixed 50mm for anything important, and the 18-200 for stuff that requires me to move around (events, kids, etc...)... :-) But the fixed 50mm is my fav.

du8die

gillat wrote:

Guys,Please don't ask (and torture me:whip), about a CF version. We don't have it.

If you have to say "don't ask and torture me about a CF version", I'm led to believe that there is a large enough demand for a CF version (I'd buy two). I just don't understand your business model - develop a product that reaches a portion of the market, and ignore calls for product (and revenue) from the rest of the market.

Someone else is gonna do it better, and cheaper, and make it CF compatible.

ziggy53

du8die wrote:

If you have to say "don't ask and torture me about a CF version", I'm led to believe that there is a large enough demand for a CF version (I'd buy two). I just don't understand your business model - develop a product that reaches a portion of the market, and ignore calls for product (and revenue) from the rest of the market.

Someone else is gonna do it better, and cheaper, and make it CF compatible.

Everyone seems to assume that it is just as easy to build a CF version of an Eye-Fi card. It would seem that it is not as easy.

The electronics is quite a bit different between an SD card and a CF card.

All that said some people have had good luck with using an SD to CF adapter, although I believe that Eye-Fi does not recommend it. (One on-line store claims that the SD to CF adapters only work with the Eye-Fi Home version of the card.) Also you may have to alter the SD/CF adapter to get it to work well. If you want to try an adapter, make sure the adapter has SDHC compatibility at least.

Here is the Eye-Fi comment:

http://support.eye.fi/product-info/camera-compatability/compatibility/known-issues-with-compact-flash-card-adapters/

Art Scott

I think I was the 1st to post a request for a CF EYE-FI card......and it may have seemed i was pestering.....when in reality I want to get back to FF and all of the FF's (Nikon) only have a CF slot.....as to adapters....if the manufacturer says not to use an adapter, that is good enough for me.......but seriously EYE-FI seems as it could be really good in studio and wedding work......especially with a dual card slot camera.....I probably will keep shooting the top crop sensor that Nikon puts out as I wear out my current D300's for wildlife and landscape.....but portraits and weddings I want to go back to FF......I still find it difficult to get the framing I want on a DX sensor (no matter the brand....it is the aspect ratio).....but from the film days I can crop the way I want on a FX sensor cam.....so I just may be moving up to the D3 series this year and it would be great to EYE-FI in my studio................yes it would......................

gillat

du8die wrote:

If you have to say "don't ask and torture me about a CF version", I'm led to believe that there is a large enough demand for a CF version (I'd buy two). I just don't understand your business model - develop a product that reaches a portion of the market, and ignore calls for product (and revenue) from the rest of the market.

Someone else is gonna do it better, and cheaper, and make it CF compatible.

du8die,

First of all, thanks for the comment. Yes, believe me, I hear it all the time.

A few points:

• SD is 85% of the market
• CF is 5% of the market and is shrinking
• Most of Nikon's DSLR's are SD. The high end are on CF, and the mid-tier (D300s) is dual-slot CF & SD and is Eye-Fi Connected
• Canon's most popular DSLR's (they sell a lot more of the consumer cameras than the mid-tier cameras) are SD.
• Canon's mid-tier are CF
• Canon's high-end DSLR's are dual-slot CF & SD
• Sony's latest 3 DSLR's are SD

Feel free to scrape Flickr's data (it's wide open, and is totally free to the public), to see what are most people shooting with.

SD is in the mainstream

CF is with the vocal, passionate, enthusiast, semi-pro, etc...

Believe me when I say -- I get it :-) I'm a pro myself, but for me, the D300s is the perfect camera. I wish it was FF, but I'm dealing with the fact that it's not.

I can't tell you whether or not we'll ever have CF. We're a small company that needs to focus on where the large mass market sales #'s are -- and that's where SD & SDHC comes into play.

gillat

Everyone seems to assume that it is just as easy to build a CF version of an Eye-Fi card. It would seem that it is not as easy.

Ziggy,

You're correct. It's a whole engineering effort.

Thanks for the warm words. You're awesome.

gillat

Art, I use my D300s in the studio, and on-location.

In the studio, when RAW can keep up with me, I do the following:

RAW to the CF slot
JPG to the Eye-Fi SD slot
My MacBookPro is showing the shoot in real-time

On-location, when I tend to shoot much faster, and my CF cards can't keep up with me, I shoot Large & Fine JPG to both slots, and use the D300s's backup functionality.

I can't rave enough about the D300s... It's the best Eye-Fi Connected DSLR in the market.

In terms of Eye-Fi Connected GUI and power mgmt in the camera, it's like the D3000 and D5000. But the D300s is clearly a few notches up ;-)

I sold my D300, mostly because I wanted the D300s's dual-slot and HD movie recording capability. Well, of course, I also wanted an Eye-Fi Connected camera :-)

ziggy53

New Eye-Fi Pro X2
Just announced:

http://www.eye.fi/blog/new-eye-fi-pro-x2

Faster, bigger and better networking, what's not to like?

Also check out the new "Eye-Fi Center" software.