Reader Michael Kong raised a very interesting question in the comment to my review of the Leica M-D published on May 1. He wondered if he could use an Eye-Fi wireless card to transfer RAW files to a mobile device. I didn’t have the answer since I don’t own an Eye-Fi card. However, he set out to do some experiments which turned out successful.
He installed an Eye-Fi Pro X2 16GB card in his M-D and had no problem importing the DNG files into Lightroom Mobile, editing them and then sending them back to the iPhone Photos app as JPGs. Not having looked into wireless SD cards before, I checked the current situation and see a number of Eye-Fi Mobi solutions, including a 32GB SDHC card for £39.95. The Mobi Pro 32GB card costs £62.96 on Amazon. Michael’s 16GB card is not currently listed. However, it seems likely that any of these cards will work with the M-D.
One or two readers have asked how it is possible to review files without a screen and, of course, it isn’t. But wireless SD cards such as the Eye-Fi could offer a useful method of solving the problem. I shall be trying this for myself and I’m grateful to Michael for keeping us in the loop.
Just be aware that the orange coloured Mobi Eye-Fi cards do NOT allow wireless transfer of DNG (ie RAW) files, so would be useless with the M-D for the intended purpose.
The black Eye-Fi Pro series cards as used by Michael, do allow DNGs to be transferred and come with more features besides, including a full years subscription to the Eye-Fi cloud service (only 90 days with the orange cards).
More expensive than the orange version obviously but essential for the M-D.
Thanks, John. I didn’t know this so it’s a very useful point to make. I keep meaning to try an Eye-Fi but haven’t got round to it.
But, having just taken delivery of a 32gb Eyefi Pro card, the reality is that this thing is very difficult to set up. Even following the instructions repeatedly has seen me fail to download a single image from the M-D. The card repeatedly disconnects, and the wi-fi on my iPad, having initially recognised the Eyefi card and installed its profile, just defaults to my home wifi hub. Utter rubbish, imho. What a waste of money. You have been warned!
If you have an iPhone, you can just plug any SD card into an Apple SD Card to Lightning adapter, and Photos shows all the pics on the iPhone. Then just import the ones you want. It’s a cheaper and simpler solution. I use it with my Fuji’s all the time, enabling me to send quick pictures to clients for use on social media etc.
Dear David
Thanks for this. You are of course right and I should have mentioned it. This is all useful information.
Mike
Does this method allow a DNG to be retrieved into Lightroom Mobile?
John. I didn’t now but I asked a friend, John C, and this is his reply:
Hi Mike
Yes, but only with the BLACK Mobipro Eyefi cards.
As you know, the orange ones don’t transmit DNG (and I think they’re not sold now anyhow).
Regards
John