[knoxploration]

Justin, this is the info I was expecting. Thanks a lot.

Let's hope you find a work-around or maybe, suggest a firmware fix to Pentax if your engineers understand the exact nature of problem. Looks like Pentax' and your firmware don't fit together (yet)

Just noticed the K-7 is now listed as COMPATIBLE with the newer generation X2 cards:

Pentax Compatibility Table Support

Woo hoo!

[rawr]

Waaah! No K-x (or K200D) compatibility listed.

[amoringello]

Just noticed the K-7 is now listed as COMPATIBLE with the newer generation X2 cards:

Pentax Compatibility Table Support

Woo hoo!

My exact response as well. Woo hoo!
I wonder what made them change their minds? Are we certain this new status is correct? Should we believe them now?

[knoxploration]

My exact response as well. Woo hoo!
I wonder what made them change their minds? Are we certain this new status is correct? Should we believe them now?

I wouldn't characterize it as changing their minds. Note that it's *only* the newer generation X2 cards (which just started shipping) that are listed as compatible. Hence their old note that cards didn't work in the K-7 still applies for all the older cards. They've just managed to work around it for the new card.

[amoringello]

Well, as of only a few days ago, the chart explicitly stated that the Pentax K7 was NOT compatible with the X2Pro cards. Other models were TBD.

If they tested and found the camera incompatible, and the chart now says it is compatible, *something* changed. It is that "something" that bothers me.

Did they just copy/paste a column from one of the other cards and not make appropriate changes?
Did they test, poorly, and later find the K7 does work fine?
Did they just screw up with no valid answer.
OR, and most importantly, is this latest status correct? Or will it, in a few days, revert to stating that the K7 is not compatible?

I do not need to know what went wrong, but we really need to know what is the correct status.

And the complete silence from the company does not give me a good feeling about their products.
I have written several times to support and only received the automated response that my inquiry was recorded.

[amoringello]

I finally got a response. I am still concerned why they did not have it listed as TBD, like the other models, until testing was completed. But, if this is their final stance, I am ordering a few! :-)

The K7 should be compatible with the Pro X2. I believe the reason for it being listed as not compatible before was because it needed further testing and it, for whatever reason, was not working with our 4GB cards.

However, now it has been fully tested and should work fine with the Pro X2.

[inferno10]

Well, as of only a few days ago, the chart explicitly stated that the Pentax K7 was NOT compatible with the X2Pro cards. Other models were TBD.

If they tested and found the camera incompatible, and the chart now says it is compatible, *something* changed. It is that "something" that bothers me.

Did they just copy/paste a column from one of the other cards and not make appropriate changes?
Did they test, poorly, and later find the K7 does work fine?
Did they just screw up with no valid answer.
OR, and most importantly, is this latest status correct? Or will it, in a few days, revert to stating that the K7 is not compatible?

I do not need to know what went wrong, but we really need to know what is the correct status.

And the complete silence from the company does not give me a good feeling about their products.
I have written several times to support and only received the automated response that my inquiry was recorded.

IIRC, Pentax had a recent firmware update that fixed compatibility issues with certain memory cards. Perhaps this is what made the Pro X2 suddenly compatible.

- Jason

[jan rinze]

Now if anyone has access to one of these cards I would love a mini review.

[amoringello]

So I went out and bought one today.
Two hours and I cannot even get the control panel software to run properly.

It runs on Adobe Air, so it is crap to begin with. (Why do these things always get written in Macromedia, Flash, Silverlight, or other piece of s@^t quick-to-develop-platform??

Second, it has no documentation so one would expected it to be easy to use.

I get the ad-hoc network created, but being that there is no documentation the next step is unknown. Part of that problem is that the software is not working properly, so the ONLY way to know it is acting oddly would be to have some sort of documentation or "step 2" in the UI. But no, the designers are lame.

I called their tech support, and they did not even know what program I was looking at.
I had to describe the screen multiple times before I have up, restarted and got a totally different screen -- which they were familiar with.

The program is now in a loop where it will not recognize my username. When I insert the eye-fi card, it will only give me the option to create a new account.

At one point I was able to connect to the adhoc network, and configure the card.
One would think all is well with the world.. but the card would of course not transfer any files.

So far it has been a three hour waste of time... all for the low price of $150.

Argh!

[amoringello]

OK, tried with my Mac, same issues...
BUT... it allowed me to create a new user account which is what apparently what silently failed on Windows. A few more crashes, error messages and huge behavioral issues, and it is WORKING!

Takes about 6-8 seconds to send a JPG from my K7 and about 10 seconds to send the RAW file. Hard to say exactly. It is about 18 seconds total once the network connections is made.
The first photo did not upload for about 15-30 seconds. I'm guessing, since I did not know anything was happening and had to guess at when I put the card in.

Anyway, for most work, the transfer rate is probably just fine. It is not much slower than the card reader I have. :-(
If I can shoot RAW+JPG and upload only JPG this should be more than adequate.

Now, naturally, my Windows laptop does not have 802.11N, so it may be quite a bit slower.
If the Windows program ever works, that is...

[amoringello]

OK.. on the phone for another hour with tech support.
Short version: I am now up and running. The upload speed is about the same on both Wireless G as with the N network. So the limiting factor is likely the card. (Which makes sense).

The longer story is that the software is horrible... well it is if you intend to use as a tethering slution with an ad-hoc network.

- You must turn off Internet access to turn on the ad-hoc network. This makes sense, as I only have one network card and can only be on one network at a a time.

BUT...
- The Help documentation is available ONLY on the Internet. So to get any help, you must turn off your ad-hoc network, turn on the Internet network, re-load the help page.
Now you reverse by turning off your Internet network, turning on the ad-hoc network, and try the workflow again. If that solution doesn't help, re-do the network switching.
They have NO documentation on that local disk.

- In a similar fashion, all of the card configuration MUST be done while you have an Internet connection. i.e. IF you want to upload JPG only or if you want to include RAW files. Or lets say you want to change the local folder to which the photos are uploaded. Or if you want to change the local folder name format (based on date).
Once you are on site- with your ad-hoc network enabled, you MUST find an Internet connection to make any configuration change.
Just pray you don't need to make a change while you'r out of range of Internet access.
Remember, these are all LOCAL changes. These are not changes stored on their servers, or in regards to storing files on an Internet location!

I was going round and round with this poor guy. The product is new, so I do not blame them for not being 100% on the ball with all features and limitations. I DO blame the product designers for not thinking about real world situations. They obviously did not talk to an actual photographer about possible use cases.

I am at a point where I could live with the current options.
It is not a user-friendly system in the least. (no sensible warning messages)
There is a little network conection gear that keeps spinning with no description for what is is trying to connect to. I assume it was telling me the network was not active.
All it is saying is that the Internet is not accesible. Well I do not need Internet access.

I have been in Software Development and Quality Assurance for 20-25 years (depending how you count it), and have worked in network configuration, simulation for wired and wireless networks.

This stuff should simply not be this difficult!

Oh yeah, and get this...
You can store up to 32 different network access account settings in the card. This, to me means the card can likely access up to 32 different networks, i.e. computers.
Well, the configuration allows ONLY ONE destination folder.
So all of you networks must have identical folder structures, regardless of user accounts being available, or platform... i.e. Mac v.s. Windows.
To make the change, you of course need to disconnect from your ad-hoc network, and connect to the Internet.
Just hope you're not in a situation where you need to jump from room to room and access multiple computers in the same day.

This product is not ready for large scale projects. Single point of access work, and it should be fine.
Just make sure you have a day or two to et everything set up proerly.


I'd love to hear if anyone else got one and had it up and running in five minutes like it *should*.

[falconeye]

if you intend to use as a tethering slution with an ad-hoc network.

I am happy that my instinct told me to stay away from ad-hoc and order the cheaper Pro card w/o the option. There is some merit with years of IT experience

I'll report about my own experience soon.

[amoringello]

Wish I had those instincts. :-)

Honestly I did, but I really wanted a tethering option and I ignored them.
But due to Pentax's wisdom, this is all we've got to work with so no real choice.

Anyway, now that I have things working and know what their design intent and limitations are, it actually functions pretty well. Everything other than actually taking the photos is painful, but that part does seem to work well.

Now I need to see what happens after reboot and how reliable this is in a prolonged studio setting.
I do not generally take lots of quick successive shots in the studio, so the upload speed should be sufficient.

[kenyee]

wow..thanks for being a guinea pig. I'm surprised upload speed isn't faster on an 802.11n network :-P
Have you tried the standalone python server (Return Boolean True: Eye Fi Standalone Server) the part that really sucks? They probably wrote it in AIR to make it portable between operating systems, though why they didn't just use Java instead I have no clue :-P

p.s., I've done IT for a while too...you're brave :-)
If the K7 still had tethering, I would have built the 802.11n WUSB tethering thing by now...

[leadguitarest]

What about video? does it even work for video? I know it would take forever.. but it might be cool to download between set ups ext..