Eye-Fi Share 2 GB Wi-Fi SD Flash Memory Card EYE-FI-2GB (OLD VERSION)
by Eye-Fi
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Eye-Fi Share 2 GB Wi-Fi SD Flash Memory Card EYE-FI-2GB (OLD VERSION)
Customer Review: Huge step toward wireless camera of the future
Summary: 4 Stars
We all know that in the future you will take photos and videos and they will wirelessly float up to the net, but camera manufacturers have failed to deliver a compelling product in the category that works with a wide variety of online services.
I have been using the eye-fi card on and off for a while now (beta and gamma programs). Overall it works very well and increases the convenience of digital photography a lot.
In my mode of use, I shoot with it around the house and then the let the photos float up wirelessly to phanfare (disclosure: I am CEO of Phanfare). With Phanfare it works especially well because I can still get to the fullsize original images from the desktop client and from my Phanfare website.
You configure the card in two places. First, you have to configure it communicate with wireless networks you trust. Second, you need to configure your account at Eye-fi to transmit to the online service of your choice. That means telling Eye-fi your username and password, for example, for Phanfare. You do this once.
After the initial provisioning, which is the most difficult step, the card just works. Because the camera sees the card as a standard SD card there is absolutely no increase in complexity from the camera side. You shoot and the images show up in your online account. The good folks at Eye-Fi set an option for Phanfare to allow you to suppress publication of new images by default. That way I can shoot, and then go into Phanfare and choose what to publish, shoeboxing the rest.
Because there is no way to see what the card is doing from the camera side, you need to have the camera on long enough to transfer the images. That is why I said I mostly use it when shooting around the house, because there the camera gets enough on-time within my wireless network that the images float up without my thinking about it. Also, the eye-fi card uses more battery power than a standard card and it is around the house that I worry least about that.
I own a DSLR and a point and shoot. It is with the DSLR that I find the card most useful (Canon EOD-5D with compact flash adapter for Eye-fi SD card). I rarely shoot raw and the the DSLR only shoots images. With my point and shoot, I almost always take one video along with the photos and Eye-Fi won't move that up to Phanfare. Hence, I still need to tether the card to get the video, and that is tedious. Plus Phanfare has no built-in de-dupe to figure out what is already on the service versus on the card.
Note that the Eye-Fi card can also be used in studio mode where it just moves images to your PC. That is not interesting to me and I don't use it that way.
I am far from unbiased, but for Internet mode, the Eye-Fi card works especially well with Phanfare because it meshes so well with out vision for merging the desktop and Internet. Our desktop client automatically synchronizes with the network cloud, showing you your whole collection (unlike a Picasa for eg. which just gives you a view of your local disk). Hence, even when I use the Eye-Fi card, the images I take feel like they are locally accessible on my PC, even though they really live on the net.
the pros on this product are:
*moves images in the background to internet without USB acquire wizard.
*greatly enhances the convenience of still image photography
*works with all cameras
*works with 17 online services
the cons are
*reduced battery life
*no way to see what the card is doing or control the card from the camera
*does not handle video
*does not handle raw
*does not automatically connect to open public access points
All in all, this is a very innovative product and a great gift, especially for a parent who is challenged by their camera. You buy it, provision it, and then they have a magic camera. I love mine. When you get it, you will just stare it and wonder how they packed a full wifi implementation plus memory card into the diminutive form factor of the SD card.
Customer Review: Didn't work at first, but excellent customer service saved the day!
Summary: 5 Stars
This card is supposed to work "out of the box" but ours didn't. When you plug the USB adapter (with the card in it) we got recognition of a generic removable hard drive, but neither the instant set up wizard nor even the "Eye-Fi" icon/label of the drive.
I downloaded the Eye-Fi manager separately from their own website successfully and manually installed the manager. But, when I tried to run it, I was given the "insert a recognized card" message when the card was inserted.
I figured I had a dud and was about to return it, but I decided to contact Eye-Fi support first, on the off chance they had any suggestions. I got FANTASTIC (and almost immediate) email support with detailed instructions to reformat the card. (I would have thought that this would have ruined my chances entirely, but in fact it worked). I'll copy the instructions I was given below in case anyone else has the same problem as this is not on their FAQ or troubleshooting page.
Since then it has worked exactly as advertised. Sitting in the living room on our laptops snapping pictures, and then seeing them show up not two minutes later on Picasa was really cool, I have to say. Later, my mom took the camera to my niece's Christmas concert and as soon as she got home (and turned on the camera -- very important) the pictures uploaded to both the computer and Picasa without incident.
The only confusing part of the process was in the set up of a Picasa account, actually, and that's not the fault of the card at all. It's handy to know that you don't even need to set up the web album before configuring your card. When you are in the Eye-Fi manager and choose your online photo system (at least for Picasa), you'll be given an option at that time to create a new web album account.
I'm very pleased with this purchase, with the delivery from Amazon, and most of all with the customer service from Eye-Fi.
Here are the steps I was given for a "non responsive" card, though you may wish to verify with them before going through the process yourself. I know I felt more comfortable having an email from them that gave me permission to reformat! :)
Discussion Thread
Response (Wanda) - 12/18/2007 08:03 AM
Good Morning, Sarah,
Would you please be so kind as to try one more thing for me ;) Please format your Eye-Fi Card in your Mac by following these procedures:
1) Shut down the Eye-Fi Manager agent running in the upper right-hand corner of your computer by clicking on it and selecting "Quit"
2) Insert the Eye-Fi Card into the USB card reader and into a USB port on your MAC
3) Make sure that all of the pictures that you have on the Eye-Fi Card in the DCIM folder, and want to keep, have been transferred off of the card
4) Click on Go at the top of your Mac Finder window
5) Click on Applications
6) Double-click on the Utilities folder
7) Double-click on the Disk Utility icon
8) In the left side of the Disk Utility panel you should see "1.9 GB SD/MMC Card Reader"
9) Click on "No Name" underneath "1.9 GB SD/MMC Card Reader" to select it
10) Click on the "Erase" button in the middle near the top of the Disk Utility window
11) Choose "MS-DOS File System (FAT16)" from the "Volume Format" pull down menu
12) Enter "Eye-Fi" in the Name Field underneath the Volume Format field
13) Press the "Erase" Button in the bottom right-hand corner of the Disk Utility window and wait ... this may take several minutes.
14) Remove the Eye-Fi Card and USB card reader from the computer.
15) Double-click on the Eye-Fi Manager icon in your Dashboard and start the agent running again in the upper right-hand corner of your computer
16) Insert your card back into the USB card reader and into your computer
17) The Eye-Fi Manager should now launch
Please reply to me whether this procedure fixes your issue or not?
Have a wonderful day,
Wanda
Customer Review: Great card. A few technical things people missed on other reviews. (UPDATE 10/10/08)
Summary: 5 Stars
A few things to consider after getting the card:
1) Warm up time. If you haven't used the card for awhile or move to a different Access Point/Wireless router. It will sense it can't get a connection and goes through the access point list until it gets a connection if you have multiple WPA-TKIP entries it will add to this time. Hence the slowness of getting it started. Once it knows which AP to talk to. Uploads start within a few seconds after you take the picture.
2) As i tested it. It has the maximum security of WPA/2-TKIP. It can't do AES ecryption. They say WPA/2-PSK but don't mention at what level. It may frustrate some users trying to set it up. I spend 2 hours of pain until i reduced security on my wireless router.
3) The client is only required to setup the card. Afterwards the only reason why you need it is to recieve files onto a computer or setup more wireless access point.
4) Here's the big one. It always requires an internet connection. It always has to call home to the eye-fi service. Transfer to your computer is limited to you line's UPLOAD bandwidth. What it does is uploads your photos to the eye-fi service. The eye-fi service then sends it to your online service and then waits for contact from the eye-fi Client on your computer. Once the client connects it'll start downloading the image to the computer. So you can turn your computer off. Take a bunch of pictures. Turn your computer on and it'll start downloading all the pictures.
Almost 1 YEAR UPDATE
What can i say. The company is awesome. They've kept up with updates so early adopters can "upgrade" their cards to the newest features.
In fact all the new cards are the same card in reality just priced differently because of the features.
So with all the updates My old Problems #3 and #4 have been somewhat solved.
#3 - You still need to pre-configure the card. But now you can now pay $15 dollars a year for Hotspot access. So now you can go to a closed hotspot service and it'll connect. Check Eye-fi to see what hotspots you can use.
#4 - With the Eye-Fi Home edition they introduced the feature where it uploads to your computer first. And with the "Share"(original) and "explore"(geotag+hotspot 1 year subscribtion included) versions it'll upload to your internet spots afterwards. So now you can setup your computer and wireless router in a room. Take pictures and after a few seconds it'll show up on your computer. Also provided that you have the card setup with the access point and computer ahead of time. You can now shutoff the internet connection and it'll still work. Eg. Cheap man's wi-fi camera without internet connection. So if you bring a laptop and Wireless router (anything with DHCP enabled). You can shoot wirelessly directly to the laptop in the field even with zero internet connection. The coolest update.
You many have noticed there are various versions of the card. In reality ALL the cards are all the same. You can future upgrade even the most basic one. It'll end up costing nearly all the same. All it needs are firmware updates.
On another note. I never wrote about this but i was kinda mad that once you registered the card you couldn't tranfer the card to another address. I honestly thought i'd get rid of the card. But i didn't. Whats really nice. If you camera gets stolen and you have enough "open" access points pre-configured and maybe even the hotspot service. You might even catch the criminal like this lady did. http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Wi-Fi-Wireless-Memory-Card-helps-catch-thief
As they can't re-register the serial numbered card. And maybe you'll even get your pictures too.
Customer Review: Wonderful for the computer illiterate
Summary: 4 Stars
I am the family tech support guy. My mother and sister have not pulled their pictures off their cameras on their own. I bought these for them for christmas so WE could see their pictures. I was so happy with them I got one for myself as well. It has changed the way we share pictures and allows them to send to family members as well. I have a DSLR what uses compact flash so I bought a CF to SD adapter. It works, but because the adapter is made of metal range is significantly reduced. Works great in my point and shoot. I plan on buying another for that camera.
Setup is not as easy as you may think, but should be able to be done by most folks who have ever installed and updated a program. If you get this it is ONLY for transmitting your pictures up from your camera to your PC and to a shared service. Certain best price retailer clerks like to tell you it would work for your digital picture frame...it does NOT. Stick to claims on the box. All the usernames and passwords also tend to confuse novice users.
For the more techie folks:
If your network/SSID is hidden you will have issues. It needs to be visible.
I was able to get it to work across multiple subnets but I had to setup a one to one NAT
does not work with a transparent proxy so forget it working in China or most corporate offices
GET the Hotspot access for $15 a year if you travel it would be worth it.
No ad-hoc network support even with DHCP
No static IP functionality
Supports multiple WIFI APs, but you have to be there WITH internet access in order to add them.
Can support GEO tagging of where you upload for $15 yearly.
It will NOT work in your digital picture frame (if you try to upload your pictures to the frame via this card no go, but it will upload them while in the frame).
MAC client has issues...lots of quirky bugs.
Allows you to set privacy options for all photos when posted online.
Pros: post setup it has freed my family's pictures from their SD cards and allows them to order from the web at home without having to upload them manually (which they have no clue how to do even with easy-share). It even sends text messages or emails when it starts/finishes uploads so you can turn your camera off.
Cons: Had issues with non-broadcast SSID or network, but enabling it made it work. For what little security this offers it should not be a large problem. computer has to be on the same subnet/network for this to work best. it may function without it, but I had issues.
Only missing one star because of the following:
firmware and software updates required.
If you are on a MAC and use iPhoto I would tell you to wait a bit until the software is a bit more mature. Stick with plugging the camera in as it should be easy enough. I had issues with typing in the browser window, and uploading photos to it into iPhoto and by the look on the forums I am not the only one.
Not only would I buy another I plan on it and I have given two as gifts.
Customer Review: Would be great, if it were just hardware
Summary: 1 Stars
From a hardware standpoint this is absolutely awesome, and I love it, but sadly, this is highly software dependent, and EyeFi the company gets in the way.
Hardware: robust enough; good enough speed for a DSLR, but not great: it's on par with any of the cheap but good sd cards; wifi speed is again good enough for what it does, but I doubt it ever reaches a full 5MB/s transfer, and it gets interrupted all the time, causing some images to take 3 or 4 attempts to be transferred, and others to not be transferred at all.
If it worked without their draconian software, this would earn it an easy 2.5/5 stars, maybe 3/5 if the wifi was more stable.
Software: this is where everything falls down. Their software is the only way to get _any_ of the features of this card. It's a combination of a local only web app and a small native applet that downloads the files and stores them. That sounds fine, BUT:
It will only work if the machine it's on has internet access. Thanks to that, it will stop working if it detects there is a firmware OR a software update. Software updates happen fairly regularly.
If their servers are down, or are unreachable, you can't even configure your eyefi card, much less use it (I'm experiencing that right now as I try to change the wireless password it has stored).
The applet is poorly written, it crashes periodically.
The web app is poorly written, it frequently stalls, misrenders important segments and it's never completely clear about what it's doing. For all you or I can tell, it may be opening up my machine to 101 security holes, or it may be uploading random thumbnails to their server for quality control. You don't know, I don't know, their docs never make it clear.
Why the software is so restrictive becomes more clear when you start using the software. You see, many of the EyeFi's most attractive features are only available on a subscription basis. If you don't have a subscription, there's buttons next to each blocked function trying to get you to buy it.
If EyeFi goes under, your $100 memory card is now just a plain, unimpressive 2Gig card that uses a little more battery than a normal card.
They want you spend $100 on a 2gig memory card that requires you to buy a subscription to use it's features. That's just not right.
If eyefi decides to release software that lets owners of the cards use their hardware in a reasonable, non restrictive fassion, then it would be an awesome, 5/5 star item.
They don't seem like they will get there, so wait to buy one until some kind, bored soul publishes hacking instructions. Then we can use the hardware we legally purchased how we see fit.
Again, don't bother buying it unless you really can't live without it.