Ever since we started selling the Eye-Fi wireless SD Card last week, we’ve been getting questions from pros about how they can use this at weddings and events. Places where they’re not guaranteed an Internet connection.
Turns out there is a way to use Eye-Fi without Internet.
The basic setup depends on the fact that when setup to download photos only to your computer, and not to send them to an online photo service, Eye-Fi doesn’t need an Internet connection at all. It just needs to be on the same access point/router as your computer.
So you’ll need to pack a wireless router that you’ve pre-configured with the rest of your gear. Here’s how it works:
Step 1
You’ll need to set up your Eye-Fi and router before your event, when you have an internet connection. Connect the router you’ll be taking with you to an Internet connection, and connect to it with your laptop. Put your Eye-Fi into the reader, the reader into your laptop, and load up the management interface at http://manager.eye.fi
Now configure your Eye-Fi NOT to upload to any photo sharing services, and only to download to your computer.
Step 2
Put the Eye-Fi back in your camera, and remove the Internet connection from your router. Make sure it still has power and your laptop is still connected to it wirelessly and that the Eye-Fi manager software is running.
Do some test shooting. As long as you’re within range of your router, photos taken should download directly to your computer, even though it doesn’t have an Internet connection.
Step 3
Don’t forget to pack your router and laptop for the shoot! When you arrive, plug in the wireless router (without Internet) somewhere central so you’ll have a strong signal wherever you go.
Fire up your laptop and connect to the router you just set up. (Careful not to connect to any other wireless hotspots that might be available.)
Finally, start shooting!
Cool, right? Wireless photo capture for $99 instead of the $1,000+ Canon and Nikon will charge you!
Update: Here’s some tips on maximizing your Eye-Fi’s wireless range when shooting at events, including a portable router recommendation.
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[…] First, make sure you’ve read these instructions for setting up Eye-Fi to work without Internet. […]
Pingback by Photojojo Blog » Maximize Your Eye-Fi Range for Event Shooting — November 7, 2007 @ 3:24 am
Can I use the eye-fi SD card in one of the picture frames to wirelessly send pictures from my computer to the picture frame and viceversa.
Comment by John Walsh — November 8, 2007 @ 1:28 pm
Hmm, that’s a very interesting question, John. We’ll look into it for you!
Comment by Daniel — November 8, 2007 @ 9:11 pm
Hey John!
Looks like the eye-fi can only receive, so I guess you couldn’t use it to send photos to the frame — which would be totally freaking awesome.
Maybe that’s something to write Eye-fi about, though, and let ‘em know you want it!
Comment by Daniel — November 8, 2007 @ 9:25 pm
Great tips and great card. I wish to do the dynamic slide show. It seems when I start the slide show, the new photos are added to the folder, but not included in the slide show, unless I stop and restart the slide show, tried on Flcker and Google Photos, and just on the computer, any ideas?
Thanks
Comment by Troy — November 10, 2007 @ 8:23 am
On your computer, it depends on the application you’re using to do the slideshow. I’ve heard some of the screensaver slideshow apps will actually pull in new files as they loop around.
As for Flickr, I think you need to refresh the slideshow page every so often. Or set up a frameset to do it automatically if you’re handy like that.
Amit
Comment by Amit Gupta — November 10, 2007 @ 2:48 pm
[…] Wenn man so wie ich nicht will das erst alle Daten zu Eye-Fi selber übertragen werden dann gibt man bei der Auswahl des Fotodienstes einfach ein das man das später konfigurieren will. Bei Photojojo gibt es eine Anleitung wie man die Karte und einen AP so konfiguriert das sie keinen Zugriff auf das Internt brauchen. Leider benötigt man immernoch einen Access Point. […]
Pingback by paparazzo.net » Blog Archive » Eye-Fi — November 14, 2007 @ 10:04 am
What’s the range like? How far away can you be from your router?
Comment by Bakari — November 15, 2007 @ 5:50 pm
Why do you disconnect the router from the internet?
I interpretate the sceme on the Eye-Fi-site in the way, that if you don’t configure the upload to the internet, the Eye-Fi would not send the pictures to the Eye-Fi-server. Is this incorrect?
If it is necessary to isolate Eye-Fi from the internet, pulling the plug wouldn’t be my favourite way to do this.
I would prefer to use the firewall of the router:
1. Identify the MAC-Adress of Eye-Fi
2. Pin the MAC to a static IP usind the dhcp-server of the router.
3. Disable the internet access for this IP (or direct for the MAC, if possible) in the firewall.
Comment by Thomas Schewe — November 15, 2007 @ 5:53 pm
Another quick question: if I have Apple’s Airport Express built into my PowerBook G4, will that be sufficient for wireless transfer?
Comment by Bakari — November 15, 2007 @ 5:54 pm
Thomas — You are correct. If, after configuration, you tell Eye-Fi you only want photos to download to your computer, they will go directly to your computer without hitting the eye-fi server. You need not disable your net connection to make this happen.
Bakari — The airport express router is sufficient for transfer, yeah. If you mean that you’ll use your powerbook as a wireless access point (sharing a net connection that comes from a wired connection, for example), yes that should work.
Comment by Amit Gupta — November 16, 2007 @ 9:55 pm
Which screensaver slideshow apps pull in new files as they loop around?
I want to display pictures for a graduation event in real time as the pictures are taken.
I’ve tried XP, Picasa, google screensaver, and a few others. New files are are added only after restarting the screensaver.
Comment by Russell — November 23, 2007 @ 12:40 am
Russell:
The only screen savers that do this, that I’ve found thus far is the online Phanphare http://www.phanfare.com/ There is a free trail and it works, but it’s not a free service. eye-fi does upload to phafare. It works great, wish it were free, if anyone knows of a free app that loops and includes the new files downloaded, (or uploaded) Would love to hear about. Phanfare works great, btw.
Comment by Troy — November 24, 2007 @ 8:53 am
I found that to get photos to transfer wireless to only my computer I not only had to block the MAC address on my router, but also had to set a Upload to Web photo sharing service to on. If I only had Upload to Computer on, the file did not transfer. This is fine as the file only goes to the computer, but conflicts with the directions I read here and on their site. Hope that helps anyone. Sure wish the Eye-Fi could do ad hoc w/o needing the router. Sure wish I could control which photos went to the Web.
Comment by Ted Rheingold — November 24, 2007 @ 7:57 pm
I guess I can adapt (simplify actually) the small slideshow player application I did for this digital frame project (to recycle a pre-historic laptop). Apart from a simple slideshow (with fade transitions) taking in consideration new files placed in a specified folder, it can be set to only show the latest picture on the folder, for example (for use while shooting live in a wedding for example and showing the last picture on a projector). Tell me if you are interested and I will dedicate an hour or two to do this app. Also if you have more ideas or suggestions on what to add, just reply on my blog. The digital frame project post I am talking about is here for more details: http://fcolaco.com/blog/2007/05/10/digital-frame-with-some-extras-from-old-laptop/
I will order an eye-fi soon. I guess it will be interesting for developing other applications. Suggestions accepted
Comment by Fernando Colaco — November 26, 2007 @ 9:34 am
Just one simple question. Does this work in an ad-hoc wireless network? Because that’s the system I am using with my 2 PCs and a Mac. Only one (of the PCs) has the net connection and shares it trough the ad-hoc net. No router. Just an USB-ADSL modem in that computer. Can someone reply please?
Comment by Fernando Colaco — November 26, 2007 @ 9:39 am
Russell:
Slickr works, you can point it to the save directory for eye-fi or to your flickr account. However system requirements are a little steep for older hardware. Any others anyone has found? Something with low system requirements, and that will continuously refresh the slideshow list.
Comment by Bob — November 26, 2007 @ 11:10 pm
I think ad-hoc nets are for file-sharing, not for connection sharing. Ad-hoc networks don’t work, but infrastructure (the kind where you share a net connection) should
Amit
Comment by Amit Gupta — November 27, 2007 @ 1:56 am
I share my internet connection with the other 2 computers (not connected) with n ad-hoc network. No router. Will that work?
Comment by Fernando Colaco — November 27, 2007 @ 2:04 am
Hey Fernando, you’re probably best off asking Eye.fi support about your particular set up: http://eye.fi/help/
Ad-hock networks are not supported, but I think you may be using your ’sharing computer’ in infrastructure mode, not ad-hoc.
Amitt
Comment by Amit Gupta — November 27, 2007 @ 2:35 am
Bob: Slicker would not work on my laptop, phanfare dose work, but is a fee based soultion,
Fernando: I would love to see a simple light app that could do such a thing.
Amitt: I can’t wait to open my mailbox today as another package from Photojojo will be there waiting for me.. more eye-fi and some other goodies.. you guys rock!
Comment by Troy — November 27, 2007 @ 8:35 am
Russell & Troy:
This one seems to work and has modest system requirements and command line options. http://www.kaptech.co.uk/PictureSlideShow.htm
The slideshow from phanfare.com is very nice and much better featured, but I’m already invested in flickr. I’d still like to try a few others though.
Comment by Bob — November 28, 2007 @ 12:02 am
The finesse of the pan, zoom and other features would work if it did real time updating during a slide show. It would be ideal for an application to rescan a directory for new pictures instead of caching images. The kaptech app cites that is possible however each screen saver app thus far will only update after restarting the program. Fernando, your idea with online picture frame is genius, Great work.
Comment by Russell — November 29, 2007 @ 10:34 pm
Bingo…Fast Stone Image Viewer is the application that solves the image refresh challenge. The extra bonus… well 156 different screen transition effects . I’m happy
http://www.faststone.org/
For the most part my progressive dependency on instant results from google seemed to put a kink in the pipe from finding this solution just under my nose.
Many Eye-Fi questions are answered in the Eye FI FAQ http://support.eye.fi/faq/
thanks everyone
Comment by Russell — November 29, 2007 @ 11:40 pm
when you are shooting directly to a laptop are you still restricted to JPEG files? I shoot RAW. Also can I use a SD to Compact flash converter in my camera?
Comment by charlie — November 30, 2007 @ 3:10 pm
So the card not only has a wi-fi chip inside but also some sort of ftp programme to send the images to eye.fi website?
Am I correct in assuming that images are first transferred to EYE-FI before being sent onto flickr /vox / picasa etc..
It would be great if I could change the settings and have the images sent direct to my own website.
Comment by Bash — November 30, 2007 @ 5:41 pm
@charlie: JPEG-only! An SD to CF adapter should work. We sell one that we’ve found to work well.
@Bash: Yeah, they go first to Eye-Fi, then online services. You can also have them sent to Gallery.
–Amit
Comment by Photojojo — December 1, 2007 @ 6:04 am
When the images are sent to the eye.fi website are they sent via https?
I like the product but not the way it works, I would much prefer the use of an ad hoc connection mode or have access to the code so it transfers images to my own server without need of a third party.
Comment by Bash — December 1, 2007 @ 6:21 am
Russell:
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.. this program works Great! And is just what I needed for this weeks company party
Did I say thank you? It’s really a nice program, FastStone.
Cheers
Comment by Troy — December 1, 2007 @ 10:01 am
Can you PLEASE add AD-HOC functonality?
Comment by David Moor — December 2, 2007 @ 9:49 pm
I’ve got the Eye-Fi running on my main computer via a WiFi-Router. Now I want to use the Eye-Fi with my notebook. I have a ASUS ML-330g access point but this device has no DHCP server so the Eye-Fi software cannot get a valid IP adress. Any hints?
Comment by Andreas Niggemann — December 3, 2007 @ 2:01 pm
IS there a way to use that D-Link DWL-G730AP pocket router to connect to a wifi connection around & act as a repeater to work in sync with the eye.fi?
It would be more powerful than the SDCards wifi by far?
Comment by Mitch — December 3, 2007 @ 11:48 pm
Mitch:
There are wifi repeaters that you could use that just boost all wifi signals within its range. That could potentially boost the eye-fi’s signal as well as your wifi router’s signal.
Comment by Aaron — December 7, 2007 @ 5:13 pm
I have successfully added this to my wireless router and can’t wait for the next gig where I don’t have internet access! Using my 30D, the upload time was really quick when I selected small jpg. The time it took to transfer large jpgs was not shabby, too.
At first, I couldn’t get it to transfer when I unplugged my router from the internet. But after I added both MAC address of eye.fi and my laptop to the safe list in my router settings, it worked.
Highly recommend!
Comment by joincharles — December 29, 2007 @ 2:54 am
did this card work outside USA? on the webpage its wrien “The Eye-Fi Card is currently only supported in the USA. ” is this mens that the card did not work outside the US? why did it not work? or is this onley mean that the card is onley approved to be used in us, but works outside US?
Comment by kalle — January 2, 2008 @ 1:08 am
What adapter should I buy for the my SD camera to use your product?
Comment by Mark — January 2, 2008 @ 1:57 am
[…] Re: Eye Fi limitation, any ideas on a fix? I found this on the net explaining how to upload your pictures without the internet. Photojojo Blog How to Download Photos with Eye-Fi without an Internet Connection The deal killer for me was that it does not support RAW files. […]
Pingback by Eye Fi limitation, any ideas on a fix? - Pro Photo HOME — January 10, 2008 @ 1:03 am
Frankly they missed a huge oportunity..
The ability to Place the card in your E-Photo Frame and drag and drop FROM you home network (ie. PC) TO your (WOULD BE) wireless E-photo frame.
It’ll happen…
Comment by Randy — January 10, 2008 @ 9:30 pm
I (sort of) apologize…(didnt read all posts first)
I thought of using the device for ONLY the exact post that #2 (John Walsh) said….and was disappointed that this is not its main invention.
I was eager to ask it so I posted…before reading.
Now that I have read back and see that John thought the same thing as me. I am simply trying to “tell eye-fi” that many people have thought this.
I pictured that it had simple code to become a Network Drive specifier… SMB compatable of course.
Good Luck..
Sincerely,
Randy
Comment by Randy — January 10, 2008 @ 9:40 pm