Aperture 2 Posted May 17, 2012 Share #1 Posted May 17, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) The problem: I travel a lot for the work - week(s) long travels - and one of my few hobbies is to make some photographs along the way. I also like to share what I see with my family back at home and to save out of the SD card my pictures from time to time. The problem is that I do not wish to move around with my personal computer or even an iPad in addition to the company PC, files etc...(I travel as light as I can). It thus happens some times that I take a picture with my Leica and then I take a second one “similar” with my iPhone as it is connected to the internet and enables me to share it immediately. This crazy behavior is due to the fact that the Leica give me image quality and the iPhone the connectivity but is a little non-sense :-( The only solution I could think of to have the best of both worlds (quality and immediate on-the-spot connectivity) was a Wi-Fi link between my camera and the iPhone => I got interested in the “Eye-Fi” card. Technical back-ground: “Eye-Fi” is a SD card that incorporates a Wi-Fi spot. This enables to transfer your pictures between camera and computer wireless. The supposed usages are camera tethering for example to a computer or an iPad. It can also directly back-up your pictures to a web host through Wi-Fi Regarding the usage in M9 several negative points have been raised: the original Eye-Fi card might damage M9 SD reader (size differences) the M9 metal body limits the range of the Wi-Fi to useless short range (few meters) the power consumption of the Eye-Fi Wi-Fi is an extra burden for the M9 battery In fact the M9 is listed as not compatible camera in the Eye-Fi official site. My experience: Knowing that some members of the forum use the Eye-Fi card without problem I decided to try my self, but to minimize the chances of problems I ordered the new “SanDisk Eye-Fi” cards instead of the original “Eye-Fi” ones hopping that the card will be exactly the same size as the usual “SanDisk” SD cards. The purchased card arrived yesterday and I see (on naked eye) no difference at all between this one and the other SanDisk cards. I have carefully inserted it an extracted it several times from my M9 without noticing any single problem or difference with standard cards. Maybe the incompatibility reports were not founded or maybe “SanDisk” production is better regarding dimensional tolerances than the original “Eye-Fi” cards, in any case it works for me. Regarding the Wi-Fi range of the card inside the M9 metal body for me it is also not a problem as the usage I intend is to send pictures from my M9 to my iPhone - hardly one meter away so it is a non-issue. Concerning the battery usage it is also not a problem as you can control the operation of the Wi-Fi network: how ? the card Wi-Fi network is “ON” only when a new picture needs to be transferred; the card WI-FI shuts down about 1mn after last transfer (this can be parametered) This means that each time you take a picture your “Eye-Fi” card uses battery for the picture storage and the Wi-Fi network thus decreasing the battery autonomy, right ? In fact it is not the case and this is what I wished to share in this post: the “SanDisk Eye-Fi” card is not the “PRO” version, this means that it cannot send RAW files but only JPG ones. I was not aware of that when I ordered it and I was not so happy when I realized it until I discovered the following: if I put my Leica M9 in RAW+JPG or JPG the SD card will power the WI-FI and send the JPG to my iPhone BUT if I put my M9 in RAW only (as it is the usual way) the WI-FI network of the card is not powered ! (I scanned the WIFI networks during the tests). Of course it is a logical behavior as the card has no valid file (JPG) to transfer.... This means that I can use the SanDisk Eye-Fi card as a normal SD card without any energy extra cost for my travel pictures and when I wish to share something or back-up directly to the web a picture I only need to add the JPG option to the RAW file in the M9 menu and the camera will then - and only then - send the JPG file to my iPhone ready to be forwarded by e-mail. You can thus effectively control the operation of your WIFI card. This can also be useful if you wish to use your camera in a plane for example as you will not need to change the card to operate the camera without WIFI (...some one could test to see if I’m 100% correct on that ?). Sadly this energy saving behavior / wireless activity control for the M9 is not possible on the X1 as the JPG alternative cannot be avoided thus the “Eye-Fi” card will start each time you take a picture the WI-FI network. Obviously this control will also not be possible if you use “PRO” versions of the “Eye-Fi” cards as they are able to transfer DWG files and will thus always be “ON” when you make a picture. I hope this post will help some one. Best regards from Belgium Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted May 17, 2012 Posted May 17, 2012 Hi Aperture 2, Take a look here SanDisk Eye-Fi in M9: possible and controllable. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
jaapv Posted May 17, 2012 Share #2 Posted May 17, 2012 Except that Eye-Fi warns against using these cards in a digital M, (“ may damage your camera” ) and that the reach of the connection is severely limited due to the metal housing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aperture 2 Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share #3 Posted May 17, 2012 Dear Jaap, thank you for recalling the warning on the producer web-site, I do not wish to have fellow forum members angry with me due to a problem after "trying this at home" ! So up to each one yo make his own decision regarding the risk associated by this unsupported usage of the Eye-Fi card. My bet (with my own M9) is that the only problem was (is) a mechanical one linked to the SD cards size. This is based on the threads I found regarding this topic in this forum and others but maybe Eye-Fi is aware of other non-mentioned problems. Of course we can always think about the WI-FI signal bouncing around inside the metal case and "cooking" the electronics...I hope it is not the case ! In fact the X1 is also metal-body (except the card/battery door) and said camera is listed as compatible in Eye-Fi Web-site...so I hope I'm not doing a big mistake. If a problem arise I will post it in the thread. In the mean-time if any one more knowledgeable regarding the possible risks linked to the usage of this card in the M9 could gently share any information he/she as on the topic... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pop Posted May 17, 2012 Share #4 Posted May 17, 2012 Doesn't the iPhone read SD cards? Some phones do indeed accept micro SD cards; those cards work well in am M9. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aperture 2 Posted May 17, 2012 Author Share #5 Posted May 17, 2012 No, the iPhone cannot read SD cards because it has no reader and because the SD reader of the iPad is not recognized by the iPhone - funny . In any case the idea is to have direct transfers from M9 to Internet without any specific manipulation. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlorianM Posted May 25, 2012 Share #6 Posted May 25, 2012 Thanks for the post, I am curious, does the sandisk card geotag the photos? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill W Posted May 26, 2012 Share #7 Posted May 26, 2012 Advertisement (gone after registration) I bought the Eye-Fi for my wife so she could just have photo's load to her computer. She uses a Nikon D40x. It is an older version now I am sure. I could not get it to work despite all my efforts. I am not a total idiot but we never used it. It is sitting in a drawer some where. I never tried to use it in my M9. If anyone is interested in trying it, I will ship it to you for the cost of mailing. Just PM me. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaapv Posted May 26, 2012 Share #8 Posted May 26, 2012 Thanks for the post, I am curious, does the sandisk card geotag the photos? How could it without GPS.? There seems to be a very nice iPhone app that does that for you on any card and camera though. (geocamera) I haven't tried it out yet, but it seems interesting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted May 26, 2012 Share #9 Posted May 26, 2012 The Geotagging thing is that the card supports it. Apparently earlier versions use to strip that data when sending it to the computer. I think, now, it keeps the info. But only if the camera Geotags to begin with. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aperture 2 Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share #10 Posted May 27, 2012 Yes Geo tagging is possible but solely through WI-FI as the card has no GPS receptor. The principle is that the card scans the present WI-FI network around the camera to provide an estimate. Obviously this system will be of no use outside urban areas and even in urban areas it will depend on the database of the hotspots. I see also two other problems: - the extra power consumption will not be limited to the JPG file export but will be continous (with refresh of position every x seconds or minutes) - the 100% metallic body of the M will strongly shield the external WI-FI signals making this system probably useless unless you are a few meters away from the emitter. => My personal opinion is that it is probably not a very good system for our cameras. As JAP said there are very nice softs that can make geotagging of your M9 pictures with the iPhone - see for example "gps4cam" on the apple store (I did not used it yet but the reviews seem nice). My version of the card do not support geotaging out of the box (by opposition of the "PRO" version. As far as I understood the EYE-FI web site information I can upgrade to geotaging as a paid service (there are other paid services as bigger internet storage place for example). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aperture 2 Posted May 27, 2012 Author Share #11 Posted May 27, 2012 One more think, I asked San Disk support if they could tell me if the incompatibility between original EYE-FI and the M9 stated in EYE-FI web site concerned also the SAN-DISK version. The answer was that they have not tested this card on the M9 thus they could not answer. So not very helpful but I did my best to try to clarify the issue...sorry ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted May 27, 2012 Share #12 Posted May 27, 2012 One more think, I asked San Disk support if they could tell me if the incompatibility between original EYE-FI and the M9 stated in EYE-FI web site concerned also the SAN-DISK version. The answer was that they have not tested this card on the M9 thus they could not answer. So not very helpful but I did my best to try to clarify the issue...sorry ! Someone from Eye-Fi chimed in on Leica Rumours site comments about the M9 and Eye-Fi. It seems the greatest incompatibility is with the M9's lack of shielding and the interference caused by the Wifi creating banding and noise in the images. The Geo-Tagging thing is interesting, I did not know that were the case. The card for me would be very useful and I look forward to seeing how or if the product develops. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pentiumpc Posted May 27, 2012 Share #13 Posted May 27, 2012 I have 3 eye-fi cards (Eye-Fi brand) 1 in the 2nd slot of my 5Dmk3, 1 in an EP3 and another in my M9. The card works pretty well in my M9 with little or no issues except for the short range. I use it only in direct mode since the range is short, in direct mode the eye-fi card will create an ad-hoc wifi spot, I log into that with my iPhone/iPad and use shutter snitch to receive and review the shots. In term of Battery life, I don't feel that there is any significant different whether I use a normal SD card or the Eye-fi. There is no GPS built into the card, it uses a wifi database to determine it's location. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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