Verdict: Buy ($59.99 – $149.99)
I’ve been “eyeing” the Eye-Fi line of SD memory cards ever since the first one came out about 2 years ago. For those of you not familiar, Eye-Fi makes a family of SD memory cards for digital cameras which automates the transfer of your pictures from your camera to your computer or social sites such as Flickr, Facebook Et cetera. Their line currently consists of 6 different cards, ordered in ascending price:
- Home
- Share
- Geo (targeting MAC users)
- Share Video
- Explore Video
- Pro
Eye-Fi introduced some nice features in their higher-end cards:
- Wifi geotagging (Explore Video, Pro and Geo)
- RAW picture support (Pro only)
- Ad-hoc connection (Pro only)
These new features come on top to the traditional ones supported by the lower-end cards:
- JPEG photo uploads
- Video uploads
- Wireless uploads to online sharing sites
So I went ahead and ordered the Explore Video. It costs $20 more than the next-cheaper model, the Share Video, but I figured the premium would be justified given that a true GPS module for my Nikon D90 would cost me around $250.
The Bad
Unfortunately, the geo-tagging functionality, in my experience, does not work sufficiently well at this time, to justify buying this model over the Share Video. The technology used by the card (WPS), while commendable and impressive, does not achieve a high enough success rate, and will probably disappoint most users. The good news for those, like me, who’ve already bought the Explore Video, or the Pro, is that the geolocation success rate will slowly improve over time as Skyhook is constantly adding to its Access Point (AP) database as well as accepts AP MAC address submissions from users.
WPS was also used in the 1st gen iPhone and some iPods for google maps positioning
If you’re not familiar, unlike a GPS unit which uses radio signals from satellites to determine your position, the Eye-Fi uses Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS) – wifi signals to triangulate your position. Eye-Fi partnered with Skyhook Wireless which has a database of wifi’s MAC addresses mapped to physical locations. This means that there needs to be at least 1 recognizable wifi signal within reach of your camera to allow the card to determine your position accurately. Thus any picture taken away from urban centers will most certainly not be geotagged successfully. Personally, my card has been able to geotag about 11% of my 200 photos taken so far, though, to be fair to Eye-Fi, that’s still a small sample size and I live in western Canada.
The only other qualm I had with my card was at some point, I had set “Relayed Upload” to ‘On’ and “Selective Transfer” to ‘Off’. This forced my card to try and transfer any picture taken to my Flickr account as soon as it detects an open Hot Spot it can use. For some reason, this caused my card to enter a state where the camera couldn’t write or read from it anymore and reported the card as ‘busy’. The only solution for me was to reformat the card, after which it started behaving normally again. Since then, I’ve turned “Selective Transfer” to ‘On’ and haven’t had the problem ever since.
The Good
Everything else with my card is great. I must say Eye-Fi did a great job polishing its features based on identified user pain points & workflows. Before owning an eye-fi card, my pictures would sit for weeks, if not months, in my camera. I hate to say it but, uploading, sorting, organizing and publishing the pictures, became a chore.
The Eye-Fi introduces workflow improvements that works for me. When I take pictures, I usually take multiple shots of the same scene just to make sure I get the best possible results. I then quickly review the different pictures on my camera LCD and tag the ones I want to keep using the “Protect” button on my D90. (This workflow assumes you have set Selective Transfer to ‘On’). And that’s it! Instead of postponing the organization of photos for months after an event actually occurred, as soon as I get home, my camera automatically uploads, tags my selected photos to my computer as well as Flickr, making them instantly viewable by friends and family.
You can also make use of the Eye-Fi in imaginative ways – You can easily set up a live photostream of an event, (wedding, birthday party, conference) and throw in a projector and you have yourself something people will be excited about.
Usage Notes & Tips
- My camera’s battery definitely drains slightly faster with the eye-fi card than an ordinary SD card.
- After a few weeks, I turned off all notifications. They become annoying and I now trust that the card does successfully transfer all my marked pictures.
- Set ‘Selective Upload’ – ‘On’, ‘Relayed Upload’ – ‘On’
- Download the free Eye Fi iPhone app
Recommended buy for Amateurs: Eye-Fi Share Video
Recommended buy for Pros: Eye-Fi Pro