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Monochrom and Eye-Fi


davidlei

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Hello!

 

Long-time MP user and brand new Monochrom owner here. I would love to use the Eye-Fi X2 Pro 16gb card with the latter but am bit worried about compatibility. I know the M9 was listed as incompatible due to physical fit, with a risk for damaging the camera. Anyone know if this is the case with the Monochrom as well? I would guess it is since the Monochrom borrows the M9's design. The Internet does not seem to offer any guidance on this...

 

-David

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Hello!

 

 

 

Long-time MP user and brand new Monochrom owner here. I would love to use the Eye-Fi X2 Pro 16gb card with the latter but am bit worried about compatibility. I know the M9 was listed as incompatible due to physical fit, with a risk for damaging the camera. Anyone know if this is the case with the Monochrom as well? I would guess it is since the Monochrom borrows the M9's design. The Internet does not seem to offer any guidance on this...

 

-David

 

When you go to the Eye Fi website and check compatibility they say Leica M bodies....No.

 

Bummer.

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Guest WPalank

Works fine on the M240, as they put a bit of plastic (at least non-metal) where the card transmits. I use it to transmit to my iPad. Again, only on the 240.

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Very controversial. Last time I checked a year ago or so, the consensus seemed to be that while the Eye-Fi would work electronically, there was a risk of breaking connectors inside the M9 card slot.

 

Also, among those who reported success, the practically useless short transmission range was lamented (a foot or a bit more, I think). This due to the metal base plate, as Mike-K already mentioned.

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Very controversial. Last time I checked a year ago or so, the consensus seemed to be that while the Eye-Fi would work electronically, there was a risk of breaking connectors inside the M9 card slot.

 

Also, among those who reported success, the practically useless short transmission range was lamented (a foot or a bit more, I think). This due to the metal base plate, as Mike-K already mentioned.

 

I've read these types of comments before and it isn't true in my experience. Eye Fi works great in M9. Here's a video I made talking about it.

 

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Guest WPalank

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I've read these types of comments before and it isn't true in my experience. Eye Fi works great in M9. Here's a video I made talking about it.

 

 

Thanks John, me too.

Also, I think there have been 2 WiFi Firmware Updates since I created my sloppy video.

Looking Into the iPad 2, WiFi Wireless transfer from the Leica m240 to the iPad 2. | A Leica and a Dab of DEET...

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I have been using two 8gb eyefi cards in my mm & m9 on & off for about 6 months, the only issue being dependable connectivity between camera & iPad due to the metal baseplate & the card going to sleep. You need to keep both fairly close, reconnecting intermittently so that the files flow. Download the latest update for the card & set it up to transmit lowest res 1 or 2mb jpg's only to your iPad & keep the DNG's on the card. This makes it faster to use & review on the go. Buggy at best but it didn't damage or get stuck in either of my m body's card slots to date & I have found it invaluable some of the time. Touch wood...Good for checking images where focus accuracy & camera shake may be an issue & where time allows for fiddling around with compositional elements. Battery drain on the camera is faster so pack spares.

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Folks, thanks for the helpful replies. I'm less concerned about range and really just worried about physical damage. We'll see, I might risk it and see if I can enjoy the limited success some of the others here have. I really want to just use it to off-load jpegs onto my iPhone so that I can share them more readily before the whole to-do of importing into Lightroom, etc.

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  • 2 months later...
Download the latest update for the card & set it up to transmit lowest res 1 or 2mb jpg's only to your iPad & keep the DNG's on the card.

 

 

I can not find such setting from my eye-fi apps as well as from eye-fi control center via computer. Please tell me where to find such setting?

 

At this moment my eye-fi from MM running very slow to my devices.

 

Thanks

 

Jerry

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do the eye-fi card firmware update after purchase & turn your monochrom's sleep/power save function to "off", when using together.

 

No

 

Thats why these cards are a great idea in theory but poor in practice.

 

You need to turn off all sleep functions.

 

Uploading DNG's is tedious and with the double file size of the MM's I would think it would be irritating beyond belief.

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I have a card reader for my smartphone. I also have file management software on the phone. (Some Android smartphones allow a second microSD card to be installed internally to increase storage). Pull the card from the camera, insert into card reader on smartphone, transfer all files including DNG at the full speed of the card. I can perform a rough edit and re-size on the jpegs and send any of them off via email . That's a £5 solution with many more benefits. Hope that helps.

Edited by lucerne
clarity
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  • 1 year later...

I’m using an EyeFi Mobi-Pro with a Monochrom-246 and it works. My Monochrom is on a tripod in a studio setup. The tripod quick-release plate leaves a finger-width gap between the plastic inset in the camera baseplate and the tripod head. The receiving iMac is about 8 meters away and the signal appears to get through OK .

 
I do three raw exposures on the set then move to the iMac where the DNG files turn up in an eye-fi folder in about 80 seconds. I drag the DNGs into Photoshop to check and maybe convert. This routine gets repeated a number of times until things are looking right. I change battery when changing sets.
 
This a still-life workflow - outside Leica’s target usage. I use a Leica because it’s still more or less manual and I’ve been at it for 50 years and have the lenses.
 
Card access on the The Monochrome-246 is a disappointment. There is no longer a USB connector on board. Removing base-plate requires taking the camera off the tripod and unscrewing the quick-release (the thread is in the camera body and not in the plate, a great improvement for safety but the quick-release never goes back on to the original position). I looked into the USB-connected multi-purpose hand grip but was put off by the GPS localisation feature and the price. Anyway it would need an eight meter ‘active’ USB extension cable to reach my iMac.
 
So I got the Eye-fi Mobi Pro with some misgivings, having read here about the M9 warnings (I don’t dare trying it out with the M9 or the old MM). I put it in the new Monochrom 246 it works like a dream for my methodical work-flow - no life-support tubes and wires - nothing hangs out. 
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