Eye-Fi wireless memory cards improve the photo-taking experience. You no longer have to hassle with USB cables or fumble around with manually copying your images off an SD card because your images will be exactly where you want them, when you want them. Once you’ve configured your Eye-Fi card you’ll get that same frictionless experience you get from a smartphone, but with better quality photos and video since you’re using a real camera with a real lens.
In this latest update from Eye-Fi they’ve added capacity, bumped up the speed, improved their management interface, and added a few bells and whistles to make owning one that much more attractive. It will easily change the way you capture, store, and share your photography in fun and interesting ways.
With increased physical storage you’ll be able to snap more photos and shoot more video, which is great for the ever increasing resolutions of newer cameras. I’ve found that the 4GB of the entry level Connect X2 is ample storage for my needs. Since I mostly shoot hundreds of lower resolution images with a point and shoot camera, I rarely find myself running out of space. For professional photographers that demand more from their equipment, the Eye-Fi Pro X2’s 8GB of flash memory and RAW file transfers are where it’s at.
Speedy file transfers mean you get your images out of the camera to where you want them right away. Cutting an entire step out of your photography workflow by bypassing manual file transfer is a big time saver, but being able to access your images even faster means you can preview and edit them as you shoot, which is rather liberating. I find that the newer X2 series Class 6 cards feel a little peppier when taking a shot and transfers seem a little zippier when sent over an 802.11n network. The increased speed makes the entire process feel effortless.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the original Eye-Fi management interface. Sure, it worked, but it felt buggy and it constantly asked you to log in to your account, which got old quick. I’m happy to say that Eye-Fi has completely re-vamped their management interface as a streamlined Adobe Air app that allows you to configure your card to connect to local networks and upload photos and video directly to your computer or to an ever increasing array of online services.
Now that we’ve got the requisite features out of the way, let’s talk about some of the more interesting aspects of the Eye-Fi X2 series cards. Specifically I’d like to address the infinite storage of Endless Memory, expanded connectivity of Hotspot Access, location awareness of Geotagging, and convenience of Direct Mode. All Eye-Fi cards are capable of these additional features, but depending on the card some features may require an activation fee. The good news is that most of the cool stuff is included in the entry level card.
If you find yourself filling up your card with pictures and video that you’ve already uploaded to your computer or online service, you can use the Endless Memory option to configure the card to automatically remove files that have already been transferred. This option works seamlessly in the background and only requires you to set the amount of disk space you’d like to use. This feature is common to all X2 series cards.
Chances are, you’re most likely going to use your camera away from your local network. The Hotspot Access available through Eye-Fi is provided by AT&T Wi-Fi, Easy Wi-Fi, and Harborlink. This will get you seamless access to millions of hotspots around the world. This feature has been available for some time, but has greatly improved with the X2 series cards. Depending on the card, additional fees may apply.
Another nice thing about Eye-Fi cards is that you’ll never ask yourself where you shot a particular photo when you’re using the Eye-Fi Geotagging service. Most smartphones have GPS built in, so it’s a cinch to accomplish with a handset. But most cameras don’t have GPS, so if you’re going for the full-on smartphone experience with your DSLR, you’ll want to pick up the Eye-Fi Pro X2, which has the Geotagging service built-in. You can also add the service if your card supports it.
Direct Mode has to be the coolest thing to come along in the Eye-Fi world since its introduction. It basically turns your Eye-Fi X2 series card into a Wi-Fi access point that in turn talks to an Eye-Fi app running on your smartphone or tablet device. This allows you to cut your computer out of the loop and directly access and upload images and video from your mobile device. Preview your images on a tablet with a pinch-zoom touch interface. Upload your media directly to the cloud as you shoot it. Not only is this a great creative tool for teams, but it’s also perfect for bloggers and journalists working on the front line that are constantly afraid of having their equipment seized.
I would recommend checking out an Eye-Fi wireless memory card to anyone that takes photos with a digital camera. It completely changes the way you use your equipment and opens the door to new possibilities. For instance, since you can transfer your images to a directory on your computer, you can easily include it in projects that require quality imagery such as computer vision or astronomy automation projects. Trigger a process by taking a photo. Have it dump directly into your DropBox account for easy access. You get the idea.
The card itself is bright orange and comes with a USB SD card reader for configuration. Setting up a card to use a local network takes only a few minutes and adding it to your favorite social media service is a snap. You’ll also want to take into account that, even though it’s as tiny as an SD card, it’s still a full-on Wi-Fi radio, so you should have plenty of batteries on hand. You’ll also want to keep your camera powered on a few seconds after you’ve taken a photo to make sure the files have transferred over.
Enter the Make: Projects 2011 Halloween Contest for your chance to win an Eye-Fi Connect X2 wireless memory card.
16 thoughts on “Tool Review: Eye-Fi Wireless Memory Card”
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review might be improved with links to product /prices
ditto
I’ve added a link for you.
The eye-fi is a must have for any hackerspace. Without it, nothing cool ever really gets documented. We’ve got our set up to upload to flickr. A python script then puts the photo in our photo pool, and tweets the link.
http://wiki.lvl1.org/Oculus_LVL1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lvl1
In the most recent update, have they fixed the issue where you have to reboot the device in order to delete images? One appealing use for these devices is “bottomless storage” for time lapse photography, by long-range wi-fi link, but in one particular case recently over a 5 week timelapse, the operators had to hike back to the location to empty the card once a week. It was one thing that marred an otherwise perfect device for the situation. I keep hoping they will change that behavior eventually, and allow for automatic delete at certain points.
To note, apparently not compatible with GoPro Hero HD. Dang.
I bought one of these for the Fuji Coolpix I keep around the house to document my projects.
Here’s the thing: I mostly use Linux computers, which don’t have the Eye-Fi Helper client.
And I don’t leave the camera on all that much.
So the magic upload magic rarely has a chance to work its magic.
Sometimes circumstances work out right, and I find a bunch of photos I’ve taken have appeared on my Flickr page, or my XP computer at work will dutifully start writing pictures to folders on its desktop.
I’d suggest using one of the online services to save your images to. There’s also an oldish Python script you can try… http://returnbooleantrue.blogspot.com/2009/04/eye-fi-standalone-server-version-20.html , but I’m not sure if it works with the X2 series cards, so YMMV. Being a Linux user myself, I’ve never had an out-of-box experience outside of Android (and that doesn’t really count).
My camera supports Eye-Fi but I had no idea what it was until after I bought an expensive, high capacity, Micro SD card.
Well, I would like to choose this one. There are some useful features are there in it.
Unfortunately, as of 11/2/2011 none of their cards support true GPS geotagging. The Geotagging feature offered on their cards is WPS (Wi-fi triangulation) – based. However, this is a feature that can easily be added and integrated for the iPhone (IOS5)[ as it is implemented in the ShutterSnitch App and Android Smartphones. Via Direct-Mode the files can be transferred to the smartphone and the metadata (geolocation) inserted to the file.
However, Eye-Fi has yet to comment on when or IF such a software change will be made to their product. And they are probably reluctant to offer it as it would kill (or at best, replace) their revenue stream from the WPS Geotagging Upgrade they offer; though I should point out, that the geotagging on the smartphones is only possible with Direct Mode enabled Eye-fi cards.
So they’ll sell a boat load of these current cards and wait until sales volume drops and POOF! Introduce a NEW card that has Direct Mode and true GPS Geotagging via the Smartphone it is connected to.
Can the author of this review please contact them for comment? I’m sure they will be responsive to you one way or the other.
Unfortunately, as of 11/2/2011 none of their cards support true GPS geotagging. The Geotagging feature offered on their cards is WPS (Wi-fi triangulation) – based. However, this is a feature that can easily be added and integrated for the iPhone (IOS5)[ as it is implemented in the ShutterSnitch App and Android Smartphones. Via Direct-Mode the files can be transferred to the smartphone and the metadata (geolocation) inserted to the file.
However, Eye-Fi has yet to comment on when or IF such a software change will be made to their product. And they are probably reluctant to offer it as it would kill (or at best, replace) their revenue stream from the WPS Geotagging Upgrade they offer; though I should point out, that the geotagging on the smartphones is only possible with Direct Mode enabled Eye-fi cards.
So they’ll sell a boat load of these current cards and wait until sales volume drops and POOF! Introduce a NEW card that has Direct Mode and true GPS Geotagging via the Smartphone it is connected to.
Can the author of this review please contact them for comment? I’m sure they will be responsive to you one way or the other.
on Tool Review: Eye-Fi Wireless Memory Card 2 hours ago Unfortunately,
as of 11/2/2011 none of their cards support true GPS geotagging. The
Geotagging feature offered on their cards is WPS (Wi-fi triangulation) –
based. However, this is a feature that can easily be added and
integrated for the iPhone (IOS5)[ as it is implemented in the
ShutterSnitch App and Android Smartphones. Via Direct-Mode the files
can be transferred to the smartphone and the metadata (geolocation)
inserted to the file. However, Eye-Fi has yet to comment on when
or IF such a software change will be made to their product. And they
are probably reluctant to offer it as it would kill (or at best,
replace) their revenue stream from the WPS Geotagging Upgrade they
offer; though I should point out, that the geotagging on the smartphones
is only possible with Direct Mode enabled Eye-fi cards. Can the author of this review please contact them for comment? I’m sure they will be responsive to you one way or the other.
on Tool Review: Eye-Fi Wireless Memory Card 2 hours ago Unfortunately,
as of 11/2/2011 none of their cards support true GPS geotagging. The
Geotagging feature offered on their cards is WPS (Wi-fi triangulation) –
based. However, this is a feature that can easily be added and
integrated for the iPhone (IOS5)[ as it is implemented in the
ShutterSnitch App and Android Smartphones. Via Direct-Mode the files
can be transferred to the smartphone and the metadata (geolocation)
inserted to the file. However, Eye-Fi has yet to comment on when
or IF such a software change will be made to their product. And they
are probably reluctant to offer it as it would kill (or at best,
replace) their revenue stream from the WPS Geotagging Upgrade they
offer; though I should point out, that the geotagging on the smartphones
is only possible with Direct Mode enabled Eye-fi cards. Can the author of this review please contact them for comment? I’m sure they will be responsive to you one way or the other.
What is the minimum requirements for the camera to get all the binifits of the Eye-fi card?
Would you please tel me?
Akmal
Hi Folks, please note that Eye-Fi have essentially bricked their earlier devices.
Here’s a link with more info: http://boingboing.net/2016/06/30/eye-fi-orphans-14-products-wh.html
Remember, if you can’t open it, you don’t own it.