Thumbs Up - Eye-Fi Pro X2 card

[Ranger 9]

A while back I was asking if there's any way to shoot "tethered" with my Pana G1, so I could review my files on my laptop computer as I shot.

Eventually I found that this can't be done. Pana doesn't support the standard tethered-shooting protocols and doesn't offer any documentation to help programmers write their own.

Now, though, I've found I can accomplish the same thing by using Eye-Fi's new Pro X2 wireless SD card. Unlike the cheaper Eye-Fi cards, it can handle raw files and make an ad-hoc connection to my laptop's built-in WiFi. And unlike the older Pro card, it's pretty fast and reliable.

In fact, I was impressed enough to write this review on my website (shameless plug.) I hope someone will find it useful!

 

[cosinaphile]

good info.......... thanks

 

[Brian Mosley]

Interesting article, so how long does it take to updload each raw file to your computer? and does the software geotag raw files?

Cheers

Brian

 

[cstevens]

A great review, thanks.

Agree with Brian, the one thing missing is the transfer time Can you do a benchmark please.

Dont suppose you have any Nikon gear to test a NEF too

 

[Ranger 9]

Scroll down, guys, there's some transmit-time info (and a graph) about 3/4 of the way down!

Short answer: At distances under 10 feet, it was taking me about 12-13 seconds to receive each Panasonic G1 raw file from the Eye-Fi card. As distances go up, the times get longer, rising into the high 20s at a range of 40 feet.

Note that that's for a plain raw file only; if you're sending JPEG files (smaller) the times will be shorter, and if you're sending raw+JPEG (larger) the times will be longer.

And: I didn't want to pretend to be too precise, because WiFi times and ranges vary a lot because of factors you can't control: interference (from other wireless routers, cordless phones, light dimmers, etc.) and camera body materials, to name two.

(Camera body materials? Yes; for example, Eye-Fi's chart says the Leica M9's range is limited to about 15 feet because the camera's metal baseplate absorbs most of the signal!)

 

[Flagg]

thx for the review.

Small quenstion though, I'm getting my new NAS tomorrow and I was wondering if I could send the files over the interwebs to my nas. (via FTP or http transfer)

I know I can send them to Flickr and maybe I can manage to let my NAS talk to flickr and synchronize it.

But I would be extremely happy if I'm able to send them directly to my NAS at home while on vacation. That would be quite reassuring to know that when our luggage is stolen, lost, washed away or whatever, the pictures are allready at home.

[edit] and while I'm typing I started thinking...

I'm bringing my laptop anyway, so I can use that one to transfer them to the NAS if it can't be done straight from the sd card.

 

[MU43-guy]

I've got the Eye-Fi X2 and Eye-Fi X2 Pro and both cards are simply amazing.

Paired up with their Android app on my phone and tablet, it works flawlessly. Actually, sometimes it works too well! Often when testing out a new lens I'll take random shots, and really don't want to save those so I delete them immediately afterwards. I find that 95% of the time, it's already been transferred to my pc by the time I view it for a couple of seconds and hit delete.

 

[starlabs]

Great writeup, thanks!