Basic stuff out of the way, in this review I'm going to be mainly focusing on each card's wireless capabilities. The most important question I repeatedly asked myself throughout this review process was 'does this card enhance or expedite my workflow significantly enough to justify replacing my 64GB SanDisk Extreme Pro?
Looking at features alone, the Eye-Fi has the upper hand because it has a much longer range of connectivity. During my testing, I found that the Transcend card could push the limits of its foot connectivity distance by about 36 or so feet outdoors, but that paled in comparison to the Eye-Fi's almost foot range. Indoors, the Eye-Fi still had the advantage, providing almost 50 feet while the Transcend maxed out at around 20 feet before the connection became unreliable.
This is a huge advantage for the Eye-Fi, especially for those who shoot weddings and are uploading during the event. Also, while both cards possess the ability to connect and upload to iOS and Android devices, the Eye-Fi can do the same on a Wi-Fi enabled laptop or desktop computer.
The Transcend card does not have this capability, and can only connect to a laptop or computer through a clunky and time-consuming Internet browser. More on this in the Connectivity section.
The Eye-Fi card also supports more video file formats than the Transcend card, though both cards support RAW file transfer. While the Transcend does offer twice the capacity, that is its only notable advantage in the Features department.
The Transcend has a feature called "Shoot and View", which turns a portable device into an external monitor, but the Eye-Fi one-ups that feature with the ability to upload images and videos to a portable device or laptop while shooting. Both cards perform at Class 10 speeds, but the Eye-Fi card includes its own USB card reader while the Transcend ships without any such extras.
On features alone, the Eye-Fi beats the Transcend card by a considerable margin, but if you don't need a lot of bells and whistles, the Transcend could still be a great-value choice assuming it covers the basics well enough.
Let's find out. Eye-Fi and Transcend wireless cards can both connect to a smartphone or tablet, providing the ability to wirelessly transfer images and videos to the device. In Eye-Fi's case, a desktop program is also included for computers, and all settings and features can even be accessed via the Eye-Fi View webpage as an alternative method.
We'll start with the Eye-Fi card, which can upload JPEG, RAW and video files to a smartphone, tablet, laptop, desktop and Eye-Fi View website an optional cloud-based system that users can upgrade for more space and permanent use. The great thing about the Eye-Fi card is I can designate which type of file I want to upload to which device. For instance, say I'm on a gourmet food shoot and want to be able to preview each shot on the larger screen of my laptop.
And with a program like Folder Watch for Mac, the images will appear in real time. This is great for weddings and parties as well. It's also worth noting that the Eye-Fi card can be set to selectively transfer files.
When this is set, the card will not automatically transfer a single file until it is marked with the "Protect" key icon in Playback on the camera. Any protected file will then begin transferring to the designated device. Now here's the cool part. Say I'm using my tablet with the Eye-Fi card. I can program the card to upload files to the tablet, which will then copy the files to my laptop via an internet connection.
Furthermore, I can set the card to also upload them to the Eye-Fi View webpage, giving them three places to live in one fell swoop - tablet, laptop, and cloud.
This is all in real time. I capture an image and it's off uploading while I'm setting up the next shot. Obviously, the larger the file, the longer it takes to upload, so RAW images and large HD videos are not as practical, but we'll get to that when we talk about speed. Swapping the Eye-Fi card for the Transcend, my options are significantly limited.
First off, the card can really only transfer images via a Browse functionality. That means once the card is connected to the smartphone or tablet, I'm limited to perusing the images and videos I've taken via a rather primitive file system in the application. Unlike the Eye-Fi, where a just-captured image is sent to my device immediately, using the Transcend card I have to shoot first and browse later, manually transferring files from the card to the phone if I want to save them.
This is a big disadvantage for on-location shooting, but to be fair, it might satisfy people who just want to instantly Facebook or email images right from the application on their mobile device. I will say that the Transcend card does have a treasure trove of social media publishing options. I could transfer images and upload them to Facebook, Weibo, Flickr, Twitter, or email them off. In this regard, the Transcend card does have the upper hand on the Eye-Fi card when it comes to social media output.
The Transcend card does have a mode called "Shoot and View," which relays the image just taken from the camera onto the smartphone or tablet's screen. I was able to snap an image and view it wirelessly on my iPhone 5's screen, though a tablet would really be ideal for this feature. Regardless, this process took 18 seconds from the time I pressed the shutter button to the time the image appeared on the device's screen, and this was with my phone a few inches away from the camera.
I found it nifty that EXIF data accompanied the images on the mobile device's screen, but 18 seconds is unacceptable if you're on location, and cannot by any means replace a tried and true remote monitor setup. Furthermore, the image does not save to the device - you're just looking at a preview thumbnail. But perhaps the biggest disadvantage of the Transcend card is its inability to easily transfer files to a laptop or desktop. Technically it can do it, but it's a painstaking process and one that I wouldn't consider practical.
Basically, the card uses a computer to achieve the same thing it can do on a mobile device, only with twice the steps. Users must find the Transcend Wi-Fi card's network from the computer. Next, the user launches a browser and enters a lengthy IP address into the url bar.
At that point I was better off just plugging the card into the good old card reader. By comparison, the Eye-Fi can connect to a laptop in a matter of seconds and upload images and videos in real time. Again, there's no real competition - the Eye-Fi definitely outshines the Transcend card when it comes to connectivity. For the pro shooting on location, the Eye-Fi is an essential tool that enables near-instant gratification.
And lastly, what would a good memory card showdown be without some hard numbers? I tested both cards for transfer speeds at a uniform distance of 10 feet from the card to the device. Since the Eye-Fi can automatically upload files during a shoot - and this is how I most used it - I timed the speed immediately after snapping an image. Because the Transcend can only browse files on the card while it's in the camera, I timed the duration it took to upload one of the files to my iPhone 5.
This test was carried out on my iPhone 5 and MacBook Pro with both yielding the same result. That's fully uploaded. And, if 6 seconds is too long, you can always capture a smaller JPEG.
RAW files and large HD videos take a lot longer with both cards, but the Eye-Fi was still consistently about twice as fast in my tests. Eye-Fi has been in the game for much longer, and it showed throughout my testing. Let's break down the wins and losses. What we Like: Rapid transfer of RAW, JPEG, and video files to a multitude of platforms, impressive speed, excellent file transfer customization, impressive wireless range, great software.
What we Don't Like: Half the capacity of the Transcend at a higher price. What we Like: Double the capacity of the Eye-Fi at a more agreeable price, transfers files to mobile devices for editing, equipped with a multitude of social media publishing options.
What we Don't Like: Has less than half the range of the Eye-Fi, is twice as slow as the Eye-Fi, is not capable of real-time capture and upload, has no real laptop or computer support, and Shoot and View takes too long and is only a preview rather than an upload. In terms of features, the Transcend has only one real advantage over the Eye-Fi, but it's a biggie: it offers double the capacity 32GB vs.
The Eye-Fi is a more serious product, as befitting its higher price, and boasts a much longer connectivity range than the Transcend, the ability to connect to laptops and desktops in addition to mobile devices, works with more video files, and it ships with its own card reader equipped with a desktop program.
Without a doubt, the Eye-Fi will be the card remaining in my camera bag and will accompany me on every major on-location shoot from here on out. Clients love the ability to see the image right before them, and the Eye-Fi provides that flexibility. The Transcend, on the other hand, will be heading back to the manufacturer. It's priced well, and it's not a bad product by any means, but it's definitely geared toward hobbyists and those who spend most of their time uploading to Facebook from remote locations.
As someone who makes a living as a photographer, I value the ability to connect my memory card directly to my computer wirelessly more than I value the camera-smartphone link. The Eye-Fi makes this easy, but the Transcend simply isn't designed with my needs in mind.
It should go without saying, of course, that your needs may differ. Everything else lands into the nice to have -category. You failed to address this fundamental property of memory cards in your review. Is there a card that a user can transfer pictures and videos to?
I have a digital picture frame that sits in a glass display case. I want to be able to wirelessly transfer pictures TO the card from a computer or tablet. It is a pain to open the cabinet and I would like to update on a daily basis.
I don't even know what phrases to use to search Google for this, so any suggestions would be helpful. Since eye-fi just killed their cloud service for a lot of their cards, the person's point stands double now.
Wanted to say thanks for your review, was about to buy the transcend and actually you cleared the way, and going for the eye-fi for sure. Thanks again. Please advice. Otherwise, nothing would transfer fully.
I dunno why the wireless range is so bad in the SL1 vs the HX didn't have an issue using it with the HX , but it was and I had to send it back. I want to try the Eye-fi card, but my biggest hangup with them is not being able to send a photo either multiple times or to multiple locations.
Once it's sent somewhere, you can no longer send that file anywhere else. To me that is just ridiculous. I also use the ShutterSnitch app. I only use the native apps if I absolutely have to. Both of them are terrible. After months of use, I find, for my needs, the Transcend works much better. The Transcend is also double the memory capacity so hooray!
Don't get me wrong, the EyeFi card works well and is very nice. Their app is also easy to use, better than the Transcend app, no where near as good as ShutterSnitch. It really depends on your needs. I think more serious photographers should look towards the Transcend card. All I want to do is take photos, delete the ones which are rejects by me, and upload the remainder to my MacBook.
Even if I delete photos from the card, Eye-Fi still uploads them to the Mac. Eye-Fi support, despite my detailed requirement to them, fail to understand what I am trying to achieve. It is very, very frustrating and I am sad to say that the card is destined for the bin. I have several Canon cameras and try to keep most things Simple! Nil Points for Eye-Fi.
One feature of the Eye Fi is thier website. They list by camera brand and model what cards do what functions. For exabple for a cheap Cannon the Eye Fi mobi cards keep the camera on even in power save mode during wifi operations, allow menu control of wifi card, and display wifi status. Try to get compatibility out of any other SDHC wifi card before buy and try.
I purchased the 16GB card and it worked ok, from the Android app I know the v1. I download and extract the firmware files to the root of the SD and update in my Pentax K5, I power on the camera and wait 5min. Then I try the windows update tool but I got stuck at stage 4 nothing happened after 5min. Now I got a half dead card, it didn't work on my camera but still works as a normal SD on the computer. Seems to me the EyeFi is designed for pros on formal shoots, perhaps with a digital tech and to replace wired tethering.
The transcend seems more for the hipster dufii snapping selfies and what they had for lunch on intsagram and FB. I used few different made of wifi SD, Eyefi and some cheapo, Eyefi has the strongest signal no doubt. I can leave my tablet in the control room of a concert hall and go down shooting at the stage, all my pics got transferred to the tablet no problem, but I dun like the card for 2 reasons.
I am using a 3G tablet, for unknown reason all my pics not only transferred to the tablet but also uploaded to the web, I did not program the card to do this, I checked the forum and find that I am not alone on this. The UI design of the app is not user friendly and confusing, being a non native English speaker I am able to manage most other apps but not this one, is it French design?
Now I stick with my Toshiba, and would like to see how the Transcend instant preview works. The reason Eyefi supplies it's own card reader is that, the card requires higher than normal current to work, a standard reader can not read the card, this explained why the card has so strong wifi signal! Eye Fi sends all images taken to your device and will eat up all the space.
Transcend allows you to select which images you like and send to your device. I think the browse feature of the transend card is a great advantage relative to the eye-fi card which lacks such a feature. Assume I have been shooting the whole day and I want to view some images on a bigger, brighter srceen or want to upload them or send them by email. With the eye-fi this is just impossible as I have to wait for all of my files to be transferred to my device.
I'm shooting raw, so this is just not an option. I would have to wait for hours and I would probably run out of space and or battery on my phone or tablet. With the eye-fi one does have to option of selective upload, but that means that I have to go through the painstaking process of browsing all my photos on the camera and flagging the ones that I want to upload on my device.
Auto-upload could be interesting, but why would i want to upload every one of my photos on my tablet or smartphone? Moreover,the wifi upload speed is just not fast enough to keep up with the shooting speed of say a typical portrait shoot.
I bought the eye-fi only a week ago and for me it's plain useless. When I'm next to my computer, I just plug the card into the card reader, I don't waste time waiting for my files to transfer through slow and unreliable wifi. No: "It's also worth noting that the Eye-Fi card can be set to selectively transfer files.
This is interesting issue. I didn't know this issue until I bought Eye-fi which I feel the browse mode of Transcend is more suitable for me. The "Protected" selective transfer may help but sometime you'd like to have a larger view on my 5" mobile screen than the 3" D screen. I dunno about the class 10 but it takes seconds to transfer the JPGs to my mac. Not sure why. Don't use it for sports, fast series or as a daily driver. None of the camera OEM giant will allow to sale it globally as it may suffer the sales of them.
Because these cards also emboss geo tagging without Costly OEM external devices. I notice the caption 'Note geotagging capability' under the 'Eye-Fi Card settings' screen shot. With no further comment. Does this work well? In fact, how does it work? It's a Wi-Fi based geotag system which is useless half the time. The camera locks up and has to be re-started by removing the battery after removing the card. I am having the same problem. Still trying to do research but it's not looking good.
There's a bit about once you've loaded ML it' boot flag is unable to be removed from the eos's internal flash memory. The threads are very recent too, so the sitch is not looking promising. My cameras only have one memory card slot. I would like to see Toshiba's Flash Air card added into the mix.
I have one of the 8GB cards I have just started experimenting with. But would like to see the new 16GB class 10 card reviewed. I also wish the card makers and camera makers would develop a standard interface, so all could be supported. Previously I could only find assorted Eye-Fi reviews, which were mostly concentrating on the point-and-shoot perspective, in other words: "OMG wi-fi!
OMG instant facebook! Otherwise, for a next review, you might consider adding: - Impact on the battery life. How fast can camera write to it? For a synopsis of how fast it is in layperson's terms see my comment below. And the answers that Customer Support gave me when I called with my issues!
Good for Eye-Fi I haven't tested the Transcend yet, but I'm looking forward to running my own scripts in it. Switching from Access point mode to wireless AdHock and back is also rather painful.
I have yet to test its ability to transfer different file types to two different devices at the same time. The files are then kept till you reconnect to the net and then the NEF files will be uploaded to Google drive. If only the iPad had more WIFi connections. Just saying. I will test the possibility to upload to my computer direct. That is with the NEF files. So do you have a ft tethering cable? The last thing needed is yet another cable after the setup of the lights and laptop.
In an effort to make the eye fi card the best in this article the writer sums all the plus points. Added together it looks it is better than a special wifi transmitter that costs hundreds of dollars ponds, euros, yen Sending 3 pictures to different devices, will take so much time you can't view one, because the apparatus will constantly be busy transferring pictures.
In my Nikon I have a Trancend 16 Gb card in slot 2 and I use it with my iPad 4gen to see my pictures in basic quality. It works great. I think both the cards, eye fi and the Trancend are not for pro shooting, but can add an extra dimension when sharing pictures. The final nail in the coffin for Eye-Fi was when it got corrupted luckily with no pictures on it. I put it into Lumix GX1 and a message flashed that the card was not compatible with the camera. At least with the Transcend card I have a fast, reliable SD card.
Perhaps you could write more on how you got them to work reliably with your cameras and devices? Anything yet that will transfer directly to a computer or server via internet, without going through a third party server? I talked to Eye-Fi a couple weeks ago and they admitted they still couldn't do it.
Had to go through their servers. Mobi and Pro X2 maybe some others will connect direct without going through the servers if you set them up that way but it's a fiddle and not very stable. IMHO earlier cards have to connect through the servers. I would rate the transfer speeds as pedestrian at best. No you don't. There is free server code that I run under Linux to directly collect the images from the Eye-Fi card.
It's pretty simple, but not officially supported. Ya think? Not acceptable as a solution! I lost so many shots while the card was checking for a wifi connection before saving the next image!!! Again customer support offered a lame solution.. All in all, it's a good card for casual shooting and shoots that need immediate transfers for editing on the spot but I took it out of my DSLR and now use it in my POS only.
If you have a camera with two card slots, you should be able to dedicate one slot for jpegs. So whether or not this is a supported feature of the card, it is possible. When using the Trancend card, you can browse the jpeg files and leave the RAW files. When in the view mode, only the jpeg files will be uploaded for viewing.
I can upload the raw NEF files to google drive. These files are kept inside my iPad till I reconnect to the internet. Then they are uploaded to the cloud. I'm not clear what direct connect and ad-hoc mean. Where there is no wifi network available many outside locations , how do you effectively transfer photos from the card to either an iPhone, iPad, other phone or tablet, or laptop wirelessly?
The card itself creates its own wireless network using the battery life from the camera. On a mobile device or computer, all you have to do is find that network and connect to it. The ad-hoc means that the card connects to a wireless internet connection that is shared with the mobile device or computer and files are transferred over that network. Therefore, if you have a slow router or slow internet connection, it will take longer.
Am I correct that the author totally missed that the Transcend can also receive files through WiFi and save it on the card. Got both cards and I am using the EyeFi in combination with Shuttersnitch.
This is because I don't want to wait 50 seconds before my iPad connects to the card but in less than 5 seconds.
The penalty is that I have to stay on IOS 4. This article is so badly written that I could not stand reading it. Mike Perlman really, really needs to take a good writing class or two. Here is what I mean: Under the "Key Features" bullet list, he wrote for the Transcend, "Wirelessly transfer photos and video to a smartphone, tablet, or computer". There is no corresponding statement for the Eye-Fi. Very poor. Just a little further below, he wrote, "while both cards possess the ability to The Transcend can connect using a browser, but does not have the ability to connect?
Image Options : Eyefi Cloud provides you with several options for working with images once they are uploaded to your cloud account. When you view an image, you can choose to tag the image, add it to an album, export it, or place it in the trash. If you want to view image details, there is a tool that allows you to expand the photo up to percent. The tagging feature only allows you to tag one photo at a time which can be a drawback if you have photos from a trip or other event that you would like to tag as a batch.
Eyefi Cloud is available as a 90 day free trial when you purchase a Mobi SD card. Additionally, you can share your photos privately with family and friends without them being required to setup an account with Eyefi. A RAW file is not exactly a photo and instead, is the data that accompanies the image. The data is very similar to the negatives that would often accompany your photos when you got them developed at the corner drugstore.
A RAW image contains at least 8 bits of color and is often used for photo editing in applications such as Photoshop. The Eyeful Pro X2 card allows you to automatically transfer common image and video file types and view them immediately on your PC or Mac device.
You can then use photo editing tools such as Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop to work with image enhancements. Some of the features include:. This allows you to connect to your PC or Mac without using an existing wireless network.
The wireless capabilities kick in whenever you are capturing photos and utilize a unique SSID to make device pairing easier. The Wi-Fi connection uses secure encryption to ensure secure file transfer between your camera and computer. Plus, you can manually turn the Wi-Fi on or off at any time. Memory : The Pro X2 uses Samsung memory to store more than images and up to six hours of video.
The class 10 speed provides reliable support for high definition video and burst mode. The Pro X2 is also capable of automatically delteing files that have previously been uploaded to provide more storage space when the card has reached its maximum capacity. This feature is known as Endless Memory. Notifications : The Pro X2 offers a notification tool that forwards a message to your social media account, email, or text application regarding the status of photo uploads.
The Pro X2 does not work with the Eyefi Cloud service and does not use a digit code to activate the mobile apps. This allows you to create customized collections that easily integrate with more than one hundred other channels including Flickr, Facebook, Dropbox , and Instagram.
The photo collections are known as recipes and provide a way to simultaneously distribute photos to social media sites using tagging. For example, if a photo is tagged social , it is automatically uploaded to social networking sites, as opposed to having to upload each photo separately.
Eyefi cards are sold in more than 30 countries and are available at many major retailers both offline and online. If you would like to look up retailers according to your specific country, you can access a list of retailers that offer Eyefi SD cards on the Eyefi website. The main advantage of Eyefi SD cards is they bring modern capabilities to virtually any camera, regardless of its age and adds wireless capability to any camera that offers an SD card slot. The setup can be a little pricey however, you may find the convenience to be well worth it.
But if you are looking for a streamlined wireless experience, it may be worth saving your money to invest in a high end camera with professional features and wireless capability built into the device.
Wireless Bluetooth Wi-Fi What Is Eye-Fi and How Does It Work Most cameras on the market today come equipped with Wi-Fi and the capability to easily retrieve your photos from your camera and share them using your smartphone. What Exactly is Eyefi? The following video provides you with a quick overview of what Eyefi is all about. An Overview of Eyefi Products When Eyefi first launched its SD cards, they were designed to provide an easy way to transfer your photos directly from your camera to your PC.
Here is more information on the Mobi SD card. Some of the features and capabilities of Eyefi cloud include: Syncing Capability : Eyefi Cloud allows you to sync the service across multiple devices.
Here is a brief video on using Eyefi Cloud services. Where to Purchase Eyefi Eyefi cards are sold in more than 30 countries and are available at many major retailers both offline and online. Conclusion The main advantage of Eyefi SD cards is they bring modern capabilities to virtually any camera, regardless of its age and adds wireless capability to any camera that offers an SD card slot. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits.
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