So we at SmugMug gave the Eye-fi cards quite a robust workout on Friday night at our party. Two Canon 1Ds Mark IIIs fitted with CF cards for the RAWs and Eye-fi cards for the jpgs, which went automagically and instantly up to the party gallery which we displayed on giant monitors all around They performed flawlessly.
So, do you mean you set your MKIII to RAW and .jpg and the EYE-FI just transmitted the .jpg files? And, then, if you wanted to grab the RAW files later it was no problem? If so, GANGBUSTERS!
So, do you mean you set your MKIII to RAW and .jpg and the EYE-FI just transmitted the .jpg files? And, then, if you wanted to grab the RAW files later it was no problem? If so, GANGBUSTERS!
OH...OK...I re-read your post......I have never used the second slot on my MKII...so, that is how it works....COOL!
2. If, I'm not near my wifi, what does the card do? Is it looking for a connection every X minutes?
4. What happens if I turn my camera off during a transfer? Is the file that was interrupted transferred at the next opportunity? or will that require a manual transfer.
4. Will you be selling a USB reciever sometime so we can go without a router.
6. Is the card using 802.11a, b, or g wireless protocol? What transfer speeds is the card capable of?
Someone wants to buy this for me, so I'm bumping this in hopes of more opinions on the product and perhaps some answers to the questions below:
Anyone?
I'm not sure how often the card looks for a network. But when I'm not near my router, I set the camera's meter back to 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes. That saves the battery.
I think if the transfer is stopped, it sees that that file didn't transfer and starts it again at the next opportunity.
I'm still waiting to hear about the USB myself.
It uses 802.11g and I was told it is capable fo 4MB/s. 802.11g tops out at 50 MB/s, so it is still has room to get faster.
Please see responses below. We also have answers to most if not all of these questions on our FAQ section. I personally use the Google Search functionality, on our site, to find things. Anyway, here are the direct
2. If, I'm not near my wifi, what does the card do? Is it looking for a connection every X minutes?
When you're not around Wi-Fi, the radio is sleeping. It's looking for a connection every minute, so it wakes up for a couple of seconds, scans, and if it doesn't find a known SSID, it goes back to sleep
4. What happens if I turn my camera off during a transfer? Is the file that was interrupted transferred at the next opportunity? or will that require a manual transfer.
The Eye-Fi Card knows exactly when the transfer got interrupted, to the byte. It will resume next time the power is restored and the card is around a known Wi-Fi network. It's a consumer-based product. We had to make it as bullet-proof as possible.
4. Will you be selling a USB reciever sometime so we can go without a router.
Not today. The Eye-Fi Card needs a router, since it's geared toward home networks. But you can buy the D-Link Travel router, for $40. It's a great USB-powered router/AP. It works great. I use it all the time.
6. Is the card using 802.11a, b, or g wireless protocol? What transfer speeds is the card capable of?
It uses b & g. The transfer speed will depend on how good your router is, and how far you are from it. If you have a great router, and you're within a good range, you'll get good speed. As you get further away from the router, the speed will reduce.
Please see responses below. We also have answers to most if not all of these questions on our FAQ section. I personally use the Google Search functionality, on our site, to find things. Anyway, here are the direct
When you're not around Wi-Fi, the radio is sleeping. It's looking for a connection every minute, so it wakes up for a couple of seconds, scans, and if it doesn't find a known SSID, it goes back to sleep
The Eye-Fi Card knows exactly when the transfer got interrupted, to the byte. It will resume next time the power is restored and the card is around a known Wi-Fi network. It's a consumer-based product. We had to make it as bullet-proof as possible.
Not today. The Eye-Fi Card needs a router, since it's geared toward home networks. But you can buy the D-Link Travel router, for $40. It's a great USB-powered router/AP. It works great. I use it all the time.
It uses b & g. The transfer speed will depend on how good your router is, and how far you are from it. If you have a great router, and you're within a good range, you'll get good speed. As you get further away from the router, the speed will reduce.
Thanks ---
Ziv.
Is there a CFcard in the works or proposed anytime in the near future?
BTW your FAQs did not address this issue.
Thanx
Just a post to bump this back up to see if Ziv has any more info.
Are there any plans for a CF card? I know there's an adapter available, but I would imagine a CF size card may enable something like a 4GB WiFi card to be made. (just dreaming)
Any plans on enabling the upload of non-JPEG formats?
This seems like a fantastic product. Thanks for the info Ziv. I know it's tough rolling out this new product and being bombarded with ideas, wishes, etc. Thanks again.
I have a question, is it possible to write
movies to the card and have them transfered
at the same time, or is there some sort of buffer
on the card that prevents partialy written files
to be transfered?
Also I'd like to know if I could just plug the card into
a cardreader on my mac and have files transfered
to another wifi destination?
“To consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk.”
― Edward Weston
So we at SmugMug gave the Eye-fi cards quite a robust workout on Friday night at our party. Two Canon 1Ds Mark IIIs fitted with CF cards for the RAWs and Eye-fi cards for the jpgs, which went automagically and instantly up to the party gallery which we displayed on giant monitors all around They performed flawlessly.
Just got an eye-fi Explore(This thing is cool!)
Now I just need to figure out... How do you tell it what gallery to send photos to?
Explorer & Remote Areas
Can the Explorer geotag photos if the photos are taken in very remote areas? I think it relies on a wireless network to get the coordinates and I'm wondering how good the coverage is? (Can I take a photo of the Hole-in-the-Rock in SE Utah and have that photo geocoded accurately?)
I usually travel with a gps and use it's track logs to geocode my photos with RoboGEO but the EYE-FI Explorer would save a few steps if the coverage is good enough.
Typically, something that tags photos will have some form of a GPS on it. You couldn't really depend on WiFi for that. Position can be roughly calculated from cell towers though.
There are a couple of ways to calculate position using GPS. You first collect the data from the satellites (their ephemeris data) and from that you calculate where you are (Lat/Lon). The later step can be performed after the fact and it takes much less time (and power) to gather the ephemeris data and record that than it does to receive it then calculate the position.
I'm guessing (and Ziv can correct me) that the Eye-Fi records ephemeris data and calculates latitude and longitude when you upload the images.
Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
Nope, the Explore uses the mac address from WiFi Networks, it's pretty cool actually..
The service that it uses is called SkyHook wireless(http://www.skyhookwireless.com/) From what I understand, the new iphone is also using it as well...
As for getting the data from places like hole-in-the-rock, I don't know about that specific place(they have a coverage map that sorta works here), But from what I've experienced it wants dense areas with with lots of wifi networks, so I really wouldn't rely on it way out in an urban area like that...
Nope, the Explore uses the mac address from WiFi Networks, it's pretty cool actually..
That is pretty cool.
i wonder what percentage of photos people want tagged will be outside wifi or cell range? Like Yosemite or any of my local open space parks? I'm sure the number is small.
I wonder how often Skyhook "maps" the environment?
Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
i wonder what percentage of photos people want tagged will be outside wifi or cell range? Like Yosemite or any of my local open space parks? I'm sure the number is small.
I wonder how often Skyhook "maps" the environment?
I think that they periodically do a full re-map, though at this point I think that they are still working on adding more coverage.
They do have it set up so that it self repairs, if a wifi network is out of place, it figures it out, based on the other networks in the area.
looking at the map, it appears to be working now, but as for coverage, most of it, is over on the east coast, though there is some coverage on the west...
Eye-Fi shooting
I recently purchased an eye-fi card, have taken about 2,189 photos with it since purchasing it over 2 weeks ago. I have run into some minor quirks with it, but overall, impressed with the the ability to geotag the photos since I travel to various places where I live. The big pro of the card, is that it allows me to have a couple of places to have backups of photos (whether the photos are good or bad). The con that I have observed, the upload to smugmug is very very slow. Regardless of whether I am sitting in front of the computer that it is tethered with or out about somewhere where I live. The upload is very very slow, painfully slow. When I plug the card into the computer to download the pictures, the upload from the computer is slow also.
Before anyone asks, what O/S and it depends on your network connection at home.
Duo Core Laptops with 4GB RAM, 2 GB Video Ram and plenty of hard drive space( over 2 terrabytes)
Windows Vista Business
MacOS
Verizon FiOS Business account (15 mbps down/4 mbps up), so my Internet speed is ok.
ActionTec wireless router (the only wireless connection I use is the eye-fi card, the main computer is plugged into ethernet)
Canon, Nikon
Besides the slowness, there were a few quirks in the eye-fi manager, but the uploader definitely needs to be programmer like a multi-threaded ftp application with a robust start/stop feature. The smugmug side should provide the member a way of customizing the settings instead of just dumping into Other with all the settings set wide open.
One can customize after the upload has started but that is painful since if one is shooting at let's say a racetrack where access to a computer is limited, one has to verify it later.
The email notification is a nice touch, indicating to you that pictures have started to upload, interrupted and completed.
I have not tried the eye-fi uploader from smugmug yet..
We're having a special promotion that we're running with SmugMug, and only with SmugMug :ivar Take advantage of it, since it's for a limited time only. Ask me anything you'd like, and I'll reply here, so that everyone would get to read the answers.
Thanks for the great post. Please find answers below:
The upload is very very slow, painfully slow. When I plug the card into the computer to download the pictures, the upload from the computer is slow also.
We're working on improving the speed but yes, I believe that your uplink is faster than what we do today. Most people are on DSL or cable, on less then 1mbps up, so in their case, their uplink is the bottleneck, not us. In your case, since you have such an amazing connection, we're the bottleneck. I wish I had your connection :-)
Besides the slowness, there were a few quirks in the eye-fi manager, but the uploader definitely needs to be programmer like a multi-threaded ftp application with a robust start/stop feature. The smugmug side should provide the member a way of customizing the settings instead of just dumping into Other with all the settings set wide open.
In the Eye-Fi Manager, you can choose Private or Public, and we'll upload correctly. You can go and change those settings anytime. Also, we create a folder with today's date, and upload into that. Later on, you can go in, and rename the folder.
I have not tried the eye-fi uploader from smugmug yet.
The Eye-Fi link in the Uploaders section points to http://www.eye.fi/smugmug There is no Eye-Fi uploader. The only uploader is our Eye-Fi Card :-)
I think that they periodically do a full re-map, though at this point I think that they are still working on adding more coverage.
They do have it set up so that it self repairs, if a wifi network is out of place, it figures it out, based on the other networks in the area.
looking at the map, it appears to be working now, but as for coverage, most of it, is over on the east coast, though there is some coverage on the west...
skyhook has about 80% coverage in the US, and they also have coverage oversees. They keep driving around, remapping MAC address to GPS locations :-)
i wonder what percentage of photos people want tagged will be outside wifi or cell range? Like Yosemite or any of my local open space parks? I'm sure the number is small.
I wonder how often Skyhook "maps" the environment?
80% of all photos are actually taken indoor. GPS doesn't work indoors. The way that we do geo doesn't work if you're in the middle of nowhere, with no access to even remote wi-fi. It's not a perfect world, but for most shots taken, our approach would work.
Actually a combo would be ideal, like the new Nikon D90 which is Eye-Fi optimized, AND has a GPS accessory. It's absolutely my next camera :-)
Is there a CFcard in the works or proposed anytime in the near future?
BTW your FAQs did not address this issue.
Thanx
Hi,
We are looking into CF :-) I can't comment more about it, but I can tell you that today, CF adapters work great. Well, there is a caveat -- the CF adapter will PROBABLY reduce your wi-fi range, especially if you leave the adapter as it is. The reasons is -- the front metal plate on the adapter shields us, AND we're buried into the camera, AND, we're at 90 degrees rather than pointing toward the outside. So the adapters work, but unless you modify them a bit, which is totally geeky, they will reduce your range. This is why we can't officially support them...
So, do you mean you set your MKIII to RAW and .jpg and the EYE-FI just transmitted the .jpg files? And, then, if you wanted to grab the RAW files later it was no problem? If so, GANGBUSTERS!
The Eye-Fi Card uploads JPG's only, today. If you have 1 card slot, and you save raw+jpg, both files will be written to the card, as with any normal card, but only the JPG's will upload wirelessly.
2. If, I'm not near my wifi, what does the card do? Is it looking for a connection every X minutes?
Yes, every about 2 minutes, the wi-fi portion will wake up, and scan for wi-fi networks. If none are found, we go back to sleep.
4. What happens if I turn my camera off during a transfer? Is the file that was interrupted transferred at the next opportunity? or will that require a manual transfer.
Have faith in the Eye-Fi firmware engineers :-) The card will pick up at the next byte that wasn't transfered.
4. Will you be selling a USB reciever sometime so we can go without a router.
you can buy the D-Link travel router, and power it via USB. It's a tiny router, and works great. Today, we don't do ad-hoc. One day, we may :-) But I can't promise if or when. But ya, just carry the travel router with you, and you'll be able to upload to your laptop anywhere you go.
6. Is the card using 802.11a, b, or g wireless protocol? What transfer speeds is the card capable of?
g, but we don't take the full advantage of g's 54 mbps. The card is tiny :-) Isn't amazing it does all this magic, even though, today, it's slow? :-)
I have a question, is it possible to write
movies to the card and have them transfered
at the same time, or is there some sort of buffer
on the card that prevents partialy written files
to be transfered?
Also I'd like to know if I could just plug the card into
a cardreader on my mac and have files transfered
to another wifi destination?
Today, we only upload JPG's. You can write any file type to the card, because the card behaves like a normal, "dumb" memory card. When the card sees a JPG, it starts to upload it, if it's around a known wi-fi network. If you have the Explore card, and you're around an open hotspot OR a Wayport hotspot (ALL McD's, some hotels, some airports), the card will also upload.
OR, through the current SmugMug promotion, SmugMug users get free geo and free roaming with the Share or original Eye-Fi Cards :-)
Even if you plug the card into a reader, movies won't upload via wi-fi. You could transfer them "the old fashion way", through the reader, to either OS X or Windows.
Today, we only upload JPG's. You can write any file type to the card, because the card behaves like a normal, "dumb" memory card. When the card sees a JPG, it starts to upload it, if it's around a known wi-fi network. If you have the Explore card, and you're around an open hotspot OR a Wayport hotspot (ALL McD's, some hotels, some airports), the card will also upload.
OR, through the current SmugMug promotion, SmugMug users get free geo and free roaming with the Share or original Eye-Fi Cards :-)
Even if you plug the card into a reader, movies won't upload via wi-fi. You could transfer them "the old fashion way", through the reader, to either OS X or Windows.
Thanks :-)
Thank you for the thorough explanation!
“To consult the rules of composition before making a picture is a little like consulting the law of gravitation before going for a walk.”
― Edward Weston
Today, we only upload JPG's. You can write any file type to the card, because the card behaves like a normal, "dumb" memory card. When the card sees a JPG, it starts to upload it, if it's around a known wi-fi network. If you have the Explore card, and you're around an open hotspot OR a Wayport hotspot (ALL McD's, some hotels, some airports), the card will also upload.
OR, through the current SmugMug promotion, SmugMug users get free geo and free roaming with the Share or original Eye-Fi Cards :-)
Even if you plug the card into a reader, movies won't upload via wi-fi. You could transfer them "the old fashion way", through the reader, to either OS X or Windows.
Thanks :-)
I am not up on how the Wayport hotspots work BUT I just did a search (Google & then from site shown there) for the possibility of there being one at either of the two McDonalds in Centralia, IL. And neither of them are shown! Not unexpected as both franchises are owned by the same people. And the older one especially they have not kept equipment otherwise upgraded.
So, it might be advisable to say MOST McDonalds as there seems to be at least two that do not have it.
I am not up on how the Wayport hotspots work BUT I just did a search (Google & then from site shown there) for the possibility of there being one at either of the two McDonalds in Centralia, IL. And neither of them are shown! Not unexpected as both franchises are owned by the same people. And the older one especially they have not kept equipment otherwise upgraded.
So, it might be advisable to say MOST McDonalds as there seems to be at least two that do not have it.
Jane B.
Hi Jane,
Great feedback. Could you try it? From what we've been told, Wayport is now at more than 10K McD's locations, and you may be pleasantly surprised. On my end, let me look into it. Of course, the other cool part is that any open hotspot that doesn't have that initial HTML splash screen, will work for us. So if you walk into a restaurant, coffee place, etc..., and they have free wi-fi that you could just get onto, w/o having to go into your browser and "agree to the terms and conditions" -- the Eye-Fi Card will also, just get on and start to upload (either the Explore card, or the Share/Classic card through the SmugMug promotion).
Hi. I realize this thread is old and maybe I missed a newer one but I had a question about the eye-fi card....
If I am at my home, or in a wi-fi spot that I have access too, does the card upload WHILE I am still shooting? Or does it wait for me to be done and initiate something?
Hi. I realize this thread is old and maybe I missed a newer one but I had a question about the eye-fi card....
If I am at my home, or in a wi-fi spot that I have access too, does the card upload WHILE I am still shooting? Or does it wait for me to be done and initiate something?
Thanks
It will upload whenever the card is not being actively written to or read from, so if you are actively shooting it will wait until there is a pause in the action (once writing has stopped) to initiate a connection and start transfer. Put another way, the card takes a back seat to the camera's primary function and is careful to never interfere with read/write on the card. In my experience it takes anywhere from 5 seconds to as much as maybe 30 for the card to make the initial connection to the network but once transfers begin they are very quick. Hope this helps.
It will upload whenever the card is not being actively written to or read from, so if you are actively shooting it will wait until there is a pause in the action (once writing has stopped) to initiate a connection and start transfer. Put another way, the card takes a back seat to the camera's primary function and is careful to never interfere with read/write on the card. In my experience it takes anywhere from 5 seconds to as much as maybe 30 for the card to make the initial connection to the network but once transfers begin they are very quick. Hope this helps.
Thanks! That makes perfect sense and makes this eye-fi card look even more appealing!!
Comments
So, do you mean you set your MKIII to RAW and .jpg and the EYE-FI just transmitted the .jpg files? And, then, if you wanted to grab the RAW files later it was no problem? If so, GANGBUSTERS!
OH...OK...I re-read your post......I have never used the second slot on my MKII...so, that is how it works....COOL!
Anyone?
I'm not sure how often the card looks for a network. But when I'm not near my router, I set the camera's meter back to 30 seconds instead of 30 minutes. That saves the battery.
I think if the transfer is stopped, it sees that that file didn't transfer and starts it again at the next opportunity.
I'm still waiting to hear about the USB myself.
It uses 802.11g and I was told it is capable fo 4MB/s. 802.11g tops out at 50 MB/s, so it is still has room to get faster.
Please see responses below. We also have answers to most if not all of these questions on our FAQ section. I personally use the Google Search functionality, on our site, to find things. Anyway, here are the direct
When you're not around Wi-Fi, the radio is sleeping. It's looking for a connection every minute, so it wakes up for a couple of seconds, scans, and if it doesn't find a known SSID, it goes back to sleep
The Eye-Fi Card knows exactly when the transfer got interrupted, to the byte. It will resume next time the power is restored and the card is around a known Wi-Fi network. It's a consumer-based product. We had to make it as bullet-proof as possible.
Not today. The Eye-Fi Card needs a router, since it's geared toward home networks. But you can buy the D-Link Travel router, for $40. It's a great USB-powered router/AP. It works great. I use it all the time.
It uses b & g. The transfer speed will depend on how good your router is, and how far you are from it. If you have a great router, and you're within a good range, you'll get good speed. As you get further away from the router, the speed will reduce.
Thanks ---
Ziv.
MM
Zenfolio
Is there a CFcard in the works or proposed anytime in the near future?
BTW your FAQs did not address this issue.
Thanx
Are there any plans for a CF card? I know there's an adapter available, but I would imagine a CF size card may enable something like a 4GB WiFi card to be made.
Any plans on enabling the upload of non-JPEG formats?
This seems like a fantastic product. Thanks for the info Ziv. I know it's tough rolling out this new product and being bombarded with ideas, wishes, etc. Thanks again.
movies to the card and have them transfered
at the same time, or is there some sort of buffer
on the card that prevents partialy written files
to be transfered?
Also I'd like to know if I could just plug the card into
a cardreader on my mac and have files transfered
to another wifi destination?
― Edward Weston
Just got an eye-fi Explore(This thing is cool!)
Now I just need to figure out... How do you tell it what gallery to send photos to?
Thanks,
Ben
Can the Explorer geotag photos if the photos are taken in very remote areas? I think it relies on a wireless network to get the coordinates and I'm wondering how good the coverage is? (Can I take a photo of the Hole-in-the-Rock in SE Utah and have that photo geocoded accurately?)
I usually travel with a gps and use it's track logs to geocode my photos with RoboGEO but the EYE-FI Explorer would save a few steps if the coverage is good enough.
There are a couple of ways to calculate position using GPS. You first collect the data from the satellites (their ephemeris data) and from that you calculate where you are (Lat/Lon). The later step can be performed after the fact and it takes much less time (and power) to gather the ephemeris data and record that than it does to receive it then calculate the position.
I'm guessing (and Ziv can correct me) that the Eye-Fi records ephemeris data and calculates latitude and longitude when you upload the images.
The service that it uses is called SkyHook wireless(http://www.skyhookwireless.com/) From what I understand, the new iphone is also using it as well...
As for getting the data from places like hole-in-the-rock, I don't know about that specific place(they have a coverage map that sorta works here), But from what I've experienced it wants dense areas with with lots of wifi networks, so I really wouldn't rely on it way out in an urban area like that...
Ben
That is pretty cool.
i wonder what percentage of photos people want tagged will be outside wifi or cell range? Like Yosemite or any of my local open space parks? I'm sure the number is small.
I wonder how often Skyhook "maps" the environment?
They do have it set up so that it self repairs, if a wifi network is out of place, it figures it out, based on the other networks in the area.
looking at the map, it appears to be working now, but as for coverage, most of it, is over on the east coast, though there is some coverage on the west...
I recently purchased an eye-fi card, have taken about 2,189 photos with it since purchasing it over 2 weeks ago. I have run into some minor quirks with it, but overall, impressed with the the ability to geotag the photos since I travel to various places where I live. The big pro of the card, is that it allows me to have a couple of places to have backups of photos (whether the photos are good or bad). The con that I have observed, the upload to smugmug is very very slow. Regardless of whether I am sitting in front of the computer that it is tethered with or out about somewhere where I live. The upload is very very slow, painfully slow. When I plug the card into the computer to download the pictures, the upload from the computer is slow also.
Before anyone asks, what O/S and it depends on your network connection at home.
Duo Core Laptops with 4GB RAM, 2 GB Video Ram and plenty of hard drive space( over 2 terrabytes)
Windows Vista Business
MacOS
Verizon FiOS Business account (15 mbps down/4 mbps up), so my Internet speed is ok.
ActionTec wireless router (the only wireless connection I use is the eye-fi card, the main computer is plugged into ethernet)
Canon, Nikon
Besides the slowness, there were a few quirks in the eye-fi manager, but the uploader definitely needs to be programmer like a multi-threaded ftp application with a robust start/stop feature. The smugmug side should provide the member a way of customizing the settings instead of just dumping into Other with all the settings set wide open.
One can customize after the upload has started but that is painful since if one is shooting at let's say a racetrack where access to a computer is limited, one has to verify it later.
The email notification is a nice touch, indicating to you that pictures have started to upload, interrupted and completed.
I have not tried the eye-fi uploader from smugmug yet..
Principle Photographer/Co-Founder
Body Bumpers, LLC
PH: 717 918 1262
Fax: 831 480 5873
url: www.body-bumpers.com
email: mteicher@body-bumpers.com
I wanted to point this out to you:
http://www.eye.fi/smugmug
We're having a special promotion that we're running with SmugMug, and only with SmugMug :ivar Take advantage of it, since it's for a limited time only. Ask me anything you'd like, and I'll reply here, so that everyone would get to read the answers.
Thanks
Ziv.
MM
Zenfolio
Thanks for the great post. Please find answers below:
We're working on improving the speed but yes, I believe that your uplink is faster than what we do today. Most people are on DSL or cable, on less then 1mbps up, so in their case, their uplink is the bottleneck, not us. In your case, since you have such an amazing connection, we're the bottleneck. I wish I had your connection :-)
In the Eye-Fi Manager, you can choose Private or Public, and we'll upload correctly. You can go and change those settings anytime. Also, we create a folder with today's date, and upload into that. Later on, you can go in, and rename the folder.
The Eye-Fi link in the Uploaders section points to http://www.eye.fi/smugmug There is no Eye-Fi uploader. The only uploader is our Eye-Fi Card :-)
thanks again ---
Ziv.
MM
Zenfolio
skyhook has about 80% coverage in the US, and they also have coverage oversees. They keep driving around, remapping MAC address to GPS locations :-)
MM
Zenfolio
80% of all photos are actually taken indoor. GPS doesn't work indoors. The way that we do geo doesn't work if you're in the middle of nowhere, with no access to even remote wi-fi. It's not a perfect world, but for most shots taken, our approach would work.
Actually a combo would be ideal, like the new Nikon D90 which is Eye-Fi optimized, AND has a GPS accessory. It's absolutely my next camera :-)
MM
Zenfolio
Hi,
We are looking into CF :-) I can't comment more about it, but I can tell you that today, CF adapters work great. Well, there is a caveat -- the CF adapter will PROBABLY reduce your wi-fi range, especially if you leave the adapter as it is. The reasons is -- the front metal plate on the adapter shields us, AND we're buried into the camera, AND, we're at 90 degrees rather than pointing toward the outside. So the adapters work, but unless you modify them a bit, which is totally geeky, they will reduce your range. This is why we can't officially support them...
But all that said, check out these links:
http://support.eye.fi/faq/troubleshooting/#faq-388
http://photojojo.com/store/awesomeness/eye-fi-wifi-memory/
http://seattlewireless.net/~mattw/2007/11/11/d200-with-eye-fi/
Thanks :-)
MM
Zenfolio
The Eye-Fi Card uploads JPG's only, today. If you have 1 card slot, and you save raw+jpg, both files will be written to the card, as with any normal card, but only the JPG's will upload wirelessly.
Thanks.
MM
Zenfolio
Yes, every about 2 minutes, the wi-fi portion will wake up, and scan for wi-fi networks. If none are found, we go back to sleep.
Have faith in the Eye-Fi firmware engineers :-) The card will pick up at the next byte that wasn't transfered.
you can buy the D-Link travel router, and power it via USB. It's a tiny router, and works great. Today, we don't do ad-hoc. One day, we may :-) But I can't promise if or when. But ya, just carry the travel router with you, and you'll be able to upload to your laptop anywhere you go.
g, but we don't take the full advantage of g's 54 mbps. The card is tiny :-) Isn't amazing it does all this magic, even though, today, it's slow? :-)
MM
Zenfolio
Today, we only upload JPG's. You can write any file type to the card, because the card behaves like a normal, "dumb" memory card. When the card sees a JPG, it starts to upload it, if it's around a known wi-fi network. If you have the Explore card, and you're around an open hotspot OR a Wayport hotspot (ALL McD's, some hotels, some airports), the card will also upload.
OR, through the current SmugMug promotion, SmugMug users get free geo and free roaming with the Share or original Eye-Fi Cards :-)
Even if you plug the card into a reader, movies won't upload via wi-fi. You could transfer them "the old fashion way", through the reader, to either OS X or Windows.
Thanks :-)
MM
Zenfolio
Thank you for the thorough explanation!
― Edward Weston
no prob. From now on, I'll respond much quicker, because I've turned on email notification ON
MM
Zenfolio
I am not up on how the Wayport hotspots work BUT I just did a search (Google & then from site shown there) for the possibility of there being one at either of the two McDonalds in Centralia, IL. And neither of them are shown! Not unexpected as both franchises are owned by the same people. And the older one especially they have not kept equipment otherwise upgraded.
So, it might be advisable to say MOST McDonalds as there seems to be at least two that do not have it.
Jane B.
Hi Jane,
Great feedback. Could you try it? From what we've been told, Wayport is now at more than 10K McD's locations, and you may be pleasantly surprised. On my end, let me look into it. Of course, the other cool part is that any open hotspot that doesn't have that initial HTML splash screen, will work for us. So if you walk into a restaurant, coffee place, etc..., and they have free wi-fi that you could just get onto, w/o having to go into your browser and "agree to the terms and conditions" -- the Eye-Fi Card will also, just get on and start to upload (either the Explore card, or the Share/Classic card through the SmugMug promotion).
Thanks :-)
MM
Zenfolio
If I am at my home, or in a wi-fi spot that I have access too, does the card upload WHILE I am still shooting? Or does it wait for me to be done and initiate something?
Thanks
It will upload whenever the card is not being actively written to or read from, so if you are actively shooting it will wait until there is a pause in the action (once writing has stopped) to initiate a connection and start transfer. Put another way, the card takes a back seat to the camera's primary function and is careful to never interfere with read/write on the card. In my experience it takes anywhere from 5 seconds to as much as maybe 30 for the card to make the initial connection to the network but once transfers begin they are very quick. Hope this helps.
Thanks! That makes perfect sense and makes this eye-fi card look even more appealing!!