First you need to set up a password-protected account using a computer. The software you’ll need to get started is loaded on the card. The Eye-Fi card comes with its own USB reader. You can set up your Eye-Fi card so that it creates its own wi-fi network if it cannot find another one within range. When your camera is within range of a specified network, your photographs and videos will transfer to your specified computer or device.īut, in fact – and this is the really clever part – you don’t even have to be within range of a wi-fi network for the system to work. Up to 32 networks can be added for your card to use. When you set up the system you can specify which wireless networks the Eye-Fi card uses to transfer your media.
On top of that, the Eye-Fi card has built-in Wi-Fi that transfers photos and videos to your iPhone, iPad, Android device or computer without the need for a cable connection or card reader. It captures and stores the JPEG and RAW images created by the camera. We have tried the cards and they work remarkably well.Īn Eye-Fi card fits into cameras just like a regular SDHC card. This is an amazing feat of engineering and manufacturing. In fact, the transmitter is buried inside an SD card. However, rather than making accessories which attach to the camera, Eye-Fi transmitters fit inside the camera. The Eye-Fi company was founded in 2005 and has also introduced a range of wireless file transmitters. There are now six different Canon wireless file transmitters compatible with top-end EOS models.Ībove Canon Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E4, compatible with EOS 5D Mark II Wireless file transfer first came to EOS cameras in the form of the Wireless File Transmitter WFT-E1, introduced with the EOS 1Ds Mark II in 2004. You don’t even have to be within range of a wi-fi network. Google will charge you an annual fee of $50 for maintaining your 200GB Picasa account but you can always downgrade or even cancel your account later and still keep the Eye-Fi wireless card forever.Wireless file transfer, as the name suggests, allows you to move image files from your camera to another device without the need for cable connections.
PS:If you don’t have a wireless router at home, you can still use Eye-Fi to transfer photos wirelessly by setting up an ad-hoc wireless network on your Windows or Mac OS X machines but the 4GB card that is part of the Google offer doesn’t support ad-hoc networking. The regular online price of the Eye-Fi 4GB card is around $70 but if you buy the same 4GB SD card though Google, you need to pay only $50 - that’s a saving of $20 and you also get 200 GB** of storage space for your photos and videos on Picasa Web Albums.
If you buy a 200 GB account for your Gmail and Picasa Web Albums, Google will send you a 4 GB Eye-Fi Home video card for free (update: offer has expired). Now if you think it makes sense to buy an Eye-Fi card this holiday season as a gift or for your own self, here’s a sweet deal for people in US and Canada. Other than transferring media from the camera to the computer, you may also use an Eye-Fi card to post pictures /videos on Flickr, YouTube, Photobucket, Facebook and host of other social sites even when your computer is off.