By Brad Moore
The Eye-Fi Pro from Eye-Fi Inc. (http://www.eyefi.fi) is the latest, most feature-rich wireless SDHC card in the Eye-Fi lineup — and it should be given that it costs quite a bit more than your typical 4-GB SD card.
Setup is easy: Plug the card into your computer using the supplied card reader, install the software, set up your account, tweak your settings, stick the card in your camera, and snap away.
Overall, I like the card and its many features. You can directly upload to Flickr, Facebook, and other online sharing sites. You have the option to upload everything you shoot, or upload selectively using your camera’s protect function (I recommend the latter). And you can turn on upload notifications via email, SMS, or Twitter.
Many users will find geotagging useful, and Wayport Hotspot access will be handy for photographers in the field without a laptop who want to back up their selects from the day. You can also transfer to any computer that has a wireless card via the ad hoc transfer feature; no need for a router or Internet.
While the Eye-Fi Pro is useful for backing up select RAW images (it takes roughly 30 seconds to transfer a 13-MB file), it’s not really a viable option for downloading the entire 4-GB card (this would take nearly 2.5 hours). This isn’t Eye-Fi’s fault; it’s just the limitation of wireless transfer speed. Kind of like trying to do video chat back in dial-up days, it’s a little ahead of its time.
The bottom line is this card could be useful for field photographers who need to quickly upload selects to the home office. If all the extra features that Eye-Fi Pro has to offer are worth the extra $100 to you, go for it!
Rating: 7 out of 10
This review is brought to you courtesy of “Layers Magazine” (http://www.layersmagazine.com).