Kevin J Edwards

For years now, it’s been unfortunate that Eye-Fi doesn’t make a Compact Flash (CF) version of their Eye-Fi camera cards for professional DSLR cameras that lack the consumer appropriate SD card slots.

However, the latest Eye-Fi cards do work with proper SD/CF adapters in CF based DSLR cameras, at least the set of items I have work fine:
Canon EOS 7D 18 MP CMOS Digital SLR Camera

Eye-Fi Pro X2 8 GB Class 6 SDHC Wireless Flash Memory Card EYE-FI-8PC

SD/SDHC/SDXC to High-Speed Extreme UDMA mode CF Type II Adapter support 16/32GB and over 64GB Sells for under $15.

I think the key to making this work is the adapter. Not all adapters are created equal, and this one appears to be pretty fast, and doesn’t block the WiFi signal. I’ve seen numerous comments from others saying the Eye-Fi won’t work in the Canon 7D, or other DSLRs that are CF based. Hopefully this clears up some confusion, especially when it comes to what’s needed in a Compact Flash Adapter.

The SDHC Eye-Fi card has a max speed of 6MB/s (48mbps), which is too slow for 1080p on the Canon 7D, but plenty fast for taking pictures (either not in burst mode, or for short bursts).

The Direct Mode of of the Eye-Fi works great, and is really easy to set up if you understand the basics of what an ad-hoc network is. Better yet, the Eye-Fi app is free for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch.

Pictures transfer really fast over 802.11n between the Eye-Fi and your iOS device, but will also transfer just fine over 802.11b/g.

Images that get transferred show up in the Eye-Fi iOS app and in the “Camera Roll” photo album. The Eye-Fi app is multitask and push enabled, which means you can have images stream over to your iOS device automatically, and get little badge alerts when they arrive.

It gets better…

You can set up your social networks and photo services like Facebook and Flickr with your Eye-Fi account, so images can go directly from your camera to your iPhone and then over 3G be sent automatically to the sites you want. This also includes having them sent via FTP to your blog or website. All of this can also be manually or semiautomatically set up.

A nice companion app would be Adobe Photoshop Express, also free in iTunes. You can use this app to crop and apply all kinds of effects before uploading to wherever you’d like.

If you think about the workflow here for a second, it’s really pretty cool. Imagine being somewhere and having that perfect scene for a nice Facebook profile update. You can take the picture with your DSLR, transfer it quickly to your iPhone, crop and adjust the image, and then upload to Facebook over 3G, or pretty much anywhere with any number of apps and services.

This could also work well for client previews. Of course if there’s WiFi at the location, you don’t need to be in Direct Mode (the ad-hoc network) and can send the images even faster by going directly to the Internet from the camera where a client could be reviewing the shoot in progress.

I would imagine the other Eye-Fi X2 cards work as well, and that they work in the Canon 5D MKII as well has other DSLRs. I’ll be testing other CF cameras out as I get access to them. Meanwhile, the Eye-Fi X2 Pro is working well in other SDHC based cameras such as the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX5V and the Canon SD4000is.

An in-depth review follows. Here’s the take-away:
iPhoneTrip allows you to rent a SIM and use it abroad very cheaply. It works extremely well, and is well worth the money. It’s a must-have if you plan on flashpacking.

Pros: Incredibly easy, relatively cheap compared to other options, allows you to travel in ways not possible before. If you also use Google Voice and Skype it makes iPhoneTrip even better/cheaper.

Cons:
You may find yourself over-dependent on your iPhone. You run the risk of being too connected to people/co-workers back home. You’ll use your iPhone so much that you’ll want extra external batteries.

Bottom line:
For me it came out to about $60 a week versus well over $100 on a slow day. I couldn’t afford that, nor could I have done this trip without my iPhone.

Read more below for how I used it with my MacBook Pro, Skype, and Google Voice for free voice calling and SMS messages:

As I prepared for my Europera 2010 trip, I looked into options for using my iPhone 3GS. Coming from America with AT&T the option was to take out a mortgage and pay AT&T outrageous sums of money for international data roaming and sell body parts for a few minutes of voice time.

Another option could have been to get a SIM card in Europe, or even buy an iPhone in Europe and sell it before I leave. Neither of these options would work because I’m traveling to so many countries that I need to be able to freely roam without limitation or concern.

I stumbled across a site called iPhoneTrip.com. Now we all know when something sounds too good to be true, it always is. Except for when it isn’t, and I’ve got to say that the iPhoneTrip SIM has totally exceeded my expectations.

What is it?
It’s a way to cheaply use your iPhone abroad.

You have two options, you can rent an iPhone from them, or you can rent a SIM from them. I chose the SIM rental as I already have an iPhone 3GS configured exactly how I wanted it.

Now before signing up, I scoured the Net looking for personal reviews. I couldn’t find any with real authority and credibility. I actually saw a few posts from others who were highly skeptical and thinking it may be a scam. So here I am. Someone with an online history and credibility…and someone who’s written/produced reviews for such media companies as CNET amongst others.

The SIM from iPhoneTrip arrived via FedEx as promised, the day before departure. I was able to pop it in and test it before leaving. Yes, it worked in San Francisco.

First stop on my trip was London. I got off the plane and inserted the SIM. Almost immediately it picked up the local carrier and gave me 3G coverage. Many European carriers don’t support aGPS, which means that, as I found in London, it can take a long time to find your position if you’ve moved far since the last time it had a satellite lock. It also means that it can’t find your position at all if you are deep indoors. The solution to this is to just be patient. Before arriving at a destination, pull up Google Maps and get walking directions from your train station to your hostel, then start using it as a map until the GPS kicks in and can track your position.

Google Maps is awesome when flashpacking. Take advantage of it with any number of Wikipedia apps that show you what’s around you so you can see cool stuff along the way.

The apps I’m using the most are:
Skype
iTranslate
iConvert
Fizz Weather
Facebook
Hostelworld
Google Voice (via Cydia on jailbroken iPhones or webapp)
iRail
WikiMe
Shazam
Motion Alarm

I’ve also been beta testing an augmented reality app that I can’t divulge too much about yet, but it allows you to use the camera and GPS to point at something and the iPhone returns information on what you’re looking. This technology is going to be very big.

The iPhoneTrip SIM doesn’t require that you jailbreak your iPhone. They don’t mention that you might find that it works better even if you do. I’m also traveling with a MacBook Pro and because my iPhone 3GS is jailbroken, I’m able to tether my MacBook Pro, which is just what I’m doing right now…on a train somewhere between Dresden and Prague.

Also, with a jailbroken iPhone, you can run Skype over 3G (or even Edge). This means that phone calls Skype to Skype are free. Phone calls Skype to landlines back home are free with a $12.95 subscription, and Skype to cell phones are incredibly cheap.

Since you’re replacing the SIM, the phone number on your iPhone changes. You could forward your original number to your iPhoneTrip number, but I didn’t want to do that, so I had my original phone number forwarded to Google Voice. This allows me to read a transcription of the voicemail, or hear the voicemail for free, and then Skype call them back if needed.

Google Voice also allows you to send and receive SMS messages for free. You’ll want to alert people back home to your Google Voice number, so they’ll recognize the SMS as coming from you.

It’s really amazing how well this works and how critical it is on my trip. James Bond never had anything like this. Think about this… I don’t speak a word of any language for most of the countries I’m going to (except a little bit of Spanish). No problem, I get in a taxi and hand my iPhone over to the driver who sees that I want to go to the opera house. Along the way he stops and I can here him talking on the radio. I pull up iTranslate and ask if he’s lost. He nods his head as he’s arguing with the person on the radio. I pull up Google Maps and him my iPhone again. He smiles and we’re back under way. I want to emphasize this point here: I was in Berlin for a matter of minutes and I’m able to ask a taxi driver if he’s lost, and then provide him with step by step directions.

Hey, what’s that building? Out comes the iPhone.
I wish my friends back home could see this now. Posts to Facebook.
I have no idea what you’re trying to tell me. Enters phrase in iTranslate.
How much is that in $US or US measurement. Enters amount in iConvert.
Etc…

I could go on and on with all the uses of the iPhone when traveling abroad, but the key point here is that iPhoneTrip allows you to actually use your iPhone for a very reasonable price. It’s also 100% seamless. You do nothing but replace the SIM and turn data roaming on (if it’s not already). Your iPhone will automagically connect to whatever available carrier there is in whatever country.

Keep in mind that you’re going to be using your iPhone constantly, especially if you’re doing a lot of walking around. You could charge your iPhone on most but not all trains and at most but not all hostels. I’d highly recommend getting some cheap external iPhone batteries. Look for the ones with high amperages. I bought 3 from Monoprice.com that are 2200mAh for about $14 and can completely charge by iPhone twice before needing recharging themselves. These also work well because they charge using the standard USB docking cable and can be connected to your iPhone while charging, thus charging both. That’s also where Motion Alarm comes in. I’m sleeping in hostels that are mostly dorm or ensuite style. With Motion Alarm, I can plug in my iPhone, external batteries, and MacBook Pro all with my iPhone on top. If someone moves any of it or my backpack, the alarm goes off on my iPhone. I still keep it all hidden on my bed between me and the wall.

iRail and HostelWorld apps are great for looking up specific travel information. To make things easier, I created a spreadsheet that lists all of my trains, cities, hostels, operas and other activities and then saved it in PDF form. At any time I can pull this up on my iPhone and see where/when I’m supposed to be someplace.

This is the coolest, most adventurous trip I’ve ever taken in my life. It’s amazing how much the iPhone adds to the experience and how iPhoneTrip enables the use through reasonable pricing.

If you’re interested in learning more about my Europera 2010 trip or having any questions, please follow me on Facebook at:
facebook.com/kevine