M
iniaturization has brought us amazing advances—tiny transistors, micro-
scopic nanotubes, bite-size Frosted Mini Wheats, and now the Eye-Fi.
Combining a 2GB flash card with a Wi-Fi radio, this affordable hybrid card lets
you easily upload pictures directly from your camera to the web and your PC.
Setup is easy. You plug it into your PC and run the included software, pick from a
list of photo-sharing sites (including SmugMug, Flickr, and Facebook), create an Eye-
Fi account, and configure security (40-128 bit WEP, WPA-PSK, or WPA2-PSK). For our
test, we uploaded images to SmugMug from our Canon EOS 1D-MkII N.
Like magic, images we shot popped up on our SmugMug page and the cli-
ent PC. Of course, Wi-Fi capability in a digital camera isn’t new—but it’s never
been this cheap, this tiny, or this universal. Because the Eye-Fi is a standard-
size SD card, it should work in almost any camera.
So what’s wrong with it? Speed. It took roughly 6 minutes to transfer
a 5MB image over our corporate LAN, which has 14Mb uploads and 30Mb
downloads. Bang out 35 photos, and you’ll have to leave the camera on for
the evening to upload your pics. Fortunately, the images are also stored on the
card, so if you shut down, you can resume your upload later. What is wacky
is that images are sent from the card to Eye-Fi’s server, which then disperses
them to your website or PC. The impact on battery life is difficult to gauge but
is certainly a drag. The card also can’t upload video or RAW files and doesn’t
work with access points without security or in peer-to-peer mode.
Despite all these warts, the Eye-Fi is still very cool. You could, for example,
use it to post snaps of your hot New Year’s party to the web as it’s happen-
ing. The card’s also handy for tuckered parents who don’t have the energy toupload images of little Timmy to a web page for grandma to see. With the Eye-Fi,
you bang out a couple of shots and set your camera down. There are clearly
improvements to be made, but for
$100, it’s a fun toy to try own.
—Gordon Mah UnGEye-Fi Wireless Flash Card
It’s gimmicky but fun
reviews TesTed. Reviewed. veRdicTized
8
eye-fi flash card
$100, http://www.eye.fiThe convenience of automatic uploads offsets the Eye-Fi’s
sluggish performance.