Eye Fi Connect X2 Manual Initial Setup

There are different types of cards available on the market and they come with different featureslimitations.

The process can take quite a bit of time, since I have to take a picture, make minute adjustments, then take another picture and retest again.

In some cases I have to repeat the process many times over, which can be very painful.

To simplify and speed-up the process, I have been connecting my laptop (which sits right under the tripod) directly to the Nikon D800E with a USB cable and have been using Nikons Camera Control Pro to dump files into a local folder, from which I pick up and process images using Imatest software.

The problem with this approach has been speed Imatest is pretty demanding when it comes to processing large RAW files from the D800E and my laptop just could not keep up.

So I ended up moving the software to my powerful desktop machine, which created another problem.

Every time I take a picture and need adjustments, I have to walk back and forth between the camera setup and the computer to analyze the results and make adjustments.

USB 3 cables have length limitations and even with active USB 3 extension cables, the maximum length is typically under 10 meters.

And thats just not going to work for me, since I often test telephoto lenses and I have to be more than 10 meters away.

To address these issues, I decided to try some wireless solutions that are available on the market.

The first and the cheapest product to try was the Eye-Fi Pro X2 memory card.

I got a 16 GB version and wanted to see just how well the card with its software could work for my setup.

In this review, I will be focusing primarily on the transfer speed of the card and its usability with the Nikon D800 D800E DSLR.

While I recognize that most of our readers might never have a similar scenario, the below information might be useful to those that want to use Eye-Fi Pro cards for such needs as studio photography, image showcasing using tablets or previewing images as they are being taken.

I will touch upon each topic in this review and try to address some of the concerns.

Eye Fi Connect X2 Manual Initial Setup

Table of Contents What is Eye-Fi and what is it used for How Eye-Fi works Packaging and Manual Initial Setup and Software Nikon D800 Wireless Transfer Failure to initialize Eye-Fi Card iPad Wireless Transfer Summary Where to Buy 1) What is Eye-Fi and what is it used for Let me give a brief description of Eye-Fi without going into technical mumbo-jumbo.

Basically, Eye-Fi is an SD memory card, shaped and sized just like your regular SD card, but with one major difference it has a built-in WiFi device.

In the case of the Eye-Fi Pro X2, it is also fast class 10 storage, which provides minimum of 10 MBs write speeds.

So the idea and the technology behind this little card is pretty amazing.

How Eye-Fi works Once everything is setup and configured, you insert the Eye-Fi card into an SD memory card on your camera (and if it only has a Compact Flash slot, you can use an adapter).

When the camera is powered on, it simultaneously powers on the Eye-Fi card, which connects either to your existing wireless network, or directly to your main device such as a computer, a smartphone or a tablet.

For direct connections, it creates a wireless network and you then connect to it, just like you connect to your wireless access point.

The card then connects to the software app that is installed on your main device and transfers any content that is stored in it.

The software periodically checks if new content is available and if anything shows up, it starts the transfer process.

Eye-Fi cards are capable of transferring images (JPEGRAW), as well as video.