[amoringello]

I've been using Eye-Fi with my K-5 (under Mac OS) and it works brilliantly!

Naturally! Maybe just a bad weekend for me. (only part of which included dropping my DA*50-135 lens and popping an internal element out of it socket -- joy!)

I'll probably give the Eye-Fi another try, but really fearful of using on a paying gig now.

[syoon1970]

IF anyone has K-5 and Eye-Fi Pro/X2 card combination working consistently, can you share your setup/knowhow, please.

I have K5 Firmware 1.01, latest Eye-Fi card firmware and Eye-Fi helper 3.2.4, and often get Memory Card Error. After (re)initialising, the card works ok for a time (including file transfers), then seemingly randomly causes memory card error. This can be on power up, or during use between shots. Once I get this error, it sometimes recovers after powering the camera off then on again, but more often needs to be re-initialised.

Any suggestions?

[amoringello]

None. EyeFi is supposedly working on a downgrade firmware *fix*, but its been weeks with no word on progress.

I have not figured out a way to make the EyeFi card work again. It seems to change behavior day to day without my doing anything special.
When you say "...but more often needs to be re-initialised.", do you mean the camera or the card? (and how? is that through the EyFi software? can that be done without Internet access - most of their software functionality requires internet access, even though have of that is geared towards being off the internet and using adhoc networking -- ARGH!!!!!)

Anyway, if you've possibly found a way to get the card to work for a while, I'd love to give it a whirl.

I was able to use it for a job a few weeks ago, but was really worried I loose my data.
Sadly, I've come to rely on the instant view workflow. Still, I have not used it since.
The card may stop working at any moment and corrupt to the point that photos are lost.

[syoon1970]

No, I don't think I've found anything special. By "initialise" I mean I just delete the hidden eye-fi directory on the card, and plug into the PC for the software to re-initialise the card. So far, it has worked for me each time, but not for very long.. I have also lost shots I thought I had a couple of times..

I'm going to be patient and wait for the next card firmware update (or perhaps the next K5 firmware??), but not sure I will perservere after that..

[jrforman]

I have an eye-fi card that is working well in my K-5 but I HAVEN'T upgraded to the most recent firmware. (am using eye-fi helper 3.2.2. Can't figure out a way to determine card firmware version but it says one is pending.) I didn't upgrade because of some of the issues.

I did find this in DP review regarding the K-7. It was posted about a month ago.

If you have K-7 and are running into issues with your Eye-Fi card with the latest firmware release, please know that we are working with Pentax on a fix for it.
In the meanwhile, please email support@eye.fi with the MAC address of the Eye-Fi card you use in the K-7 and we will set your card to receive a firmware update that works on the K-7.
Eye-Fi Support

Hope that helps.

[Manel Brand]

Bluetooth would be painfully slow. Even Bluetooth EDR is 2 Mbps only which is 0.2% of GBit Ethernet. Even at 2 Mbps, a single K-5 image (20MB) would take more than 1 minute to transfer. And most Bluetooth stacks miss the EDR option...

Sooner or later, cameras will feature an embedded server connecting via WLAN and DHCP and offering its services via HTTP/FTP. That would be the preferred solution for tethering to. Hell, my audio amplifier does it already now, I can change its volume over a web frontend

A possible solution on the making: (read don't no where that this can achieve 300Mb/s)

Wi-Fi Direct Products Connect Without A Network -- InformationWeek

[glanglois]

Well, the K-r already has irSimple wireless support built-in, which does up to 4Mbps:



"High-speed infrared data transmission system
The K-r is the first PENTAX digital SLR camera equipped with the IrSimple™ high-speed infrared data transmission system. Since this system allows the user to transfer image data to IrSimple-compatible digital devices with great ease, users can effortlessly post images taken with the K-r on their own blogs via a cellular phone. This system also makes the K-r a brand-new photo communication tool, as it also allows users to exchange their image data using a pair of K-r, and even let them engage in a simple match game using Exif data attached to the images such as aperture or shutter-speed values."

Perhaps that is one wireless evolution path for Pentax. Maybe the K-5 already has irSimple built-in, and just requires a firmware patch to enable it

To the photographerSimple (me) that sounds very much like a hardware thing.

I note from the IRSimple page: "Uses the FIR (Fast IrDA) specification for the speed of the physical layer (up to 4 Mbps)." That's bits, not bytes.

If one assumes a 20 MB (upper case B) file (raw+ JPEG), one may guess at 200 Mb after the addition of parity bits, protocol/framing overheads, etc. On top of that, we may deal with turnaround time for ack/nack, retransmissions, and the inevitable latency caused by the lower speed of red light in a nitrogen-based medium.

OK, I made the last part up.

When I see phrases like "up to" and "physical layer", I start dividing by two - or ten. Sounds fine for small file sizes from, say, camera phones.

I'm afraid I don't understand how useful this tech would be. OTOH, I'm a devoted Luddite. Proof: instead of Falk's Web-enabled volume control, my audio system uses a ....... knob. I have to turn it. One way is louder, the other is softer. I need that intuitive UI.

[MrPetkus]

I'm thinking about getting the Eye-Fi X2 Pro card and have some questions regarding geotagging support - perhaps an owner here has the answers.
1) Can RAW images be geotagged or just JPEGs?
2) If yes - does it work with DNG or PEF - both?
3) How accurate is it? Is there an actual GPS receiver in the card?

Cheers

[MrPetkus]

I think I found the answers to questions 1 and 2 -- the Eye Fi site mentions JPEGs but not RAW. If it worked with RAW then no doubt it would have been mentioned as a feature.

Oh well - no silver bullet.

[amoringello]

No GPS in the card. Dunno how it works, but perhaps in conjunction with the EyeFi software (on laptop) to determine its location based on WiFi connection???
Had no need for it, so I haven't looked into it, but the card itself does little more than transfer files.

The best GPS implementation I've seen is a dedicated device that includes PC based software allowing you to sync its position history to your image timestamps. Naturally after the fact, and therefore not helpful if you're uploading to Flicker, for example, while shooting.

It just seems the sync up time for GPS (in the order of several minutes form a cold start), and battery drain would be more than I am willing to ask for to be included in-camera (or on the card).

[telfish]

The geotagging works by triangulation from wi-fi hotspots. So it only works within city areas which is ok but not really as useful as it could be.

My new eyefi card replacement is as problematic as the first with multiple card errors in both the K5 and KX. I have stopped using it for now until they sort out the firmware.

[syoon1970]

Just been testing K-5 firmware 1.02 with my Pro x2 card. The card had been causing "Memory Card Error" message on firmware 1.01, but after upgrading the camera to 1.02, it began working immediately. I have not touched anything on the Eye Fi card, or card related software on the PC.

Early days yet, as I've only been playing with it an hour or so, but that's already longer than what it managed with 1.01. I've got my finger crossed...

[kenyee]

Just been testing K-5 firmware 1.02 with my Pro x2 card. The card had been causing "Memory Card Error" message on firmware 1.01, but after upgrading the camera to 1.02, it began working immediately.

good news....hoping it works fine w/ the upcoming direct wifi app too...would remove a lot of hacking needed to get it to show up on tablets :-)

[amoringello]

There has also been a silent firmware upgrade for the EyeFi X2 Pro 8GB card (4.2121).
EyeFi won't say what changed or even acknowledge that it exists, and they have been rather ambiguous as to whether it is expected to change anything regarding Pentax DSLRs. (they seem to infer that a Pentax "fix" is still forthcoming.) Still, that alone seemed to fix my problems.

Hearing that the K5 firmware upgrade helps is a big plus as well.
I would love to trust the EyeFi card for paying jobs again.

[Justin Allard]

Hello,
I am very interested in the SD Eye-Fi Pro X2 8Gb. I have a K5 with the latest firmware installed and would like to confirm compatibility before purchasing.
Thanks