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Bluetooth or WiFi DS cards for offline use?

J

Joerg

Hi Folks,

Hope you all have a great Christmas day. And easy on the eggnog there :)

In 2013 I'll have to document lots of experimental setups with photos
and movie clips that'll go back and forth between remote team members.
The usual cable-download into the computer or removal of the SD card is
a bit of a hassle for that. Since cameras are notoriously stone-age when
it comes to RF, is there a Bluetooth SD card or something that fits and
works well?

All I found was some with Bluetooth SD cards that are longer than
standard which of course is a non-starter in a camera. Then WiFi ones
that require a cumbersome path through some proprietary server (I really
don't like that), such as this:

http://www.eye.fi/products/connectx2
 
H

hamilton

All I found was some with Bluetooth SD cards that are longer than
standard which of course is a non-starter in a camera. Then WiFi ones
that require a cumbersome path through some proprietary server (I really
don't like that), such as this:
Click to expand...

Google "ez Share Wi-Fi Wireless SDHC"

I wonder how these work.

hamilton
 
H

hamilton

Are you sure? Got a link with some details? I have read a lot of grief
about this requirement of Eye-Fi to connect to a proprietary web server
(which seems to fail at times):

http://forums.eye.fi/viewtopic.php?t=314
Click to expand...

Yes, any thing with "Eye-Fi" is proprietary.

But, these are ez-Share WiFi.

About 2/3s the way down the ebay page shows how to connect the ez-Share
card to your WiFi enabled device.

I just ordered one, but I won't get it for 3 weeks.

I'll post what I find then.

hamilton
 
M

mike

Hi Folks,

Hope you all have a great Christmas day. And easy on the eggnog there :)

In 2013 I'll have to document lots of experimental setups with photos
and movie clips that'll go back and forth between remote team members.
The usual cable-download into the computer or removal of the SD card is
a bit of a hassle for that. Since cameras are notoriously stone-age when
it comes to RF, is there a Bluetooth SD card or something that fits and
works well?

All I found was some with Bluetooth SD cards that are longer than
standard which of course is a non-starter in a camera. Then WiFi ones
that require a cumbersome path through some proprietary server (I really
don't like that), such as this:

http://www.eye.fi/products/connectx2
Click to expand...
I bought one of these 4GB, but not the X2 version, at an estate sale for
a quarter.
It was corrupted, so I followed the instructions to delete the contents
and reload the software. Problem was that the super-special card
reader is required to program it. Since that was missing, I got to
the installation step and got caught in the doesn't have software
so you can't load software loop.
My SDHC card reader can read/write the flash, just not reload the the
app. Lots of google hits on the problem. I tried extracting
the software from the installer. I even substituted
the VCC for more current and diddled with the status lines without success.

Customer service was sympathetic, but had no way to supply
or reload the control app without running the installer.
They claim that you should be able to use most any SDHC card reader...
emphasis on "most". I only had half-a-dozen to try.
They even offered to send me the special card reader. I declined
as it wasn't fair to hold them accountable for my wasted quarter ;-)
I don't have a camera compatible with SDHC anyway.

Bottom line, after much research, I had myself convinced that with
the firmware loaded, you could use the usb and their app to configure
the card to talk to any wifi connection. After that, it should be
automagic in the camera.

I thought I was gonna use it for remote data logging.
 
H

hamilton

It is a bit expensive I thing, that price buys me 8 8GB cards.
Taking the card out of my camera and plugging it in the PC only takes 5 seconds.
Difference 59 $ for 5 seconds work.
Click to expand...

I am more interested in the WiFi part.

If that can be made to work in an embedded system, that would be lots
more fun.

BTW I have a lot of stuff ordered from ebay as of November 20 and November 21, and much of it has not arrived yet..
China mainland AND HongKong.

Christmas delays?
Click to expand...

I would guess its DHS trying to justify their existance.

But, that would make me cynical.

I would also guess, everyone wants cheap stuff before the cliff gets here.

hamilton
 
J

Joerg

hamilton said:
Yes, any thing with "Eye-Fi" is proprietary.

But, these are ez-Share WiFi.

About 2/3s the way down the ebay page shows how to connect the ez-Share
card to your WiFi enabled device.

I just ordered one, but I won't get it for 3 weeks.

I'll post what I find then.
Click to expand...

Quote "Safari/IE/OPERA/Chrome/UC". I hope you aren't using Firefox like
I do :)

Then quote "Searching Hotspot name ezShare" ... so, appears to be the
same sort of proprietary stuff under a different name.

Anyhow, good luck, and let us know.
 
J

Joerg

Jim said:
Gawwwwd! You are sure lazy! Can't you use something like DropBox or
an FTP setup... or mind reading ?>:-}

I've been recently using ExpanDrive, which I find really convenient.
Click to expand...

I have Dropbox. And how do you propose the pictures and movie clips land
there in almost realtime?

It's got nothing to do with lazy but with fast sharing, in cases where a
web cam simply can't cut it. Like microscope pics which I am going to
have to share a lot.
 
J

Joerg

mike said:
I bought one of these 4GB, but not the X2 version, at an estate sale for
a quarter.
It was corrupted, so I followed the instructions to delete the contents
and reload the software. Problem was that the super-special card
reader is required to program it. Since that was missing, I got to
the installation step and got caught in the doesn't have software
so you can't load software loop.
My SDHC card reader can read/write the flash, just not reload the the
app. Lots of google hits on the problem. I tried extracting
the software from the installer. I even substituted
the VCC for more current and diddled with the status lines without success.

Customer service was sympathetic, but had no way to supply
or reload the control app without running the installer.
They claim that you should be able to use most any SDHC card reader...
emphasis on "most". I only had half-a-dozen to try.
They even offered to send me the special card reader. I declined
as it wasn't fair to hold them accountable for my wasted quarter ;-)
I don't have a camera compatible with SDHC anyway.
Click to expand...

That's exactly the kind of unneseccary fiddling and twiddling I want to
avoid. Why could they not simply design it without this registration
nonsense and in a way that it simply works?

Bottom line, after much research, I had myself convinced that with
the firmware loaded, you could use the usb and their app to configure
the card to talk to any wifi connection. After that, it should be
automagic in the camera.

I thought I was gonna use it for remote data logging.
Click to expand...

I think there's better solutions for that. Check out Digi. Ok, not for a
quarter :)
 
H

hamilton

Then quote "Searching Hotspot name ezShare" ... so, appears to be the
same sort of proprietary stuff under a different name.
Click to expand...

It has been sites like this that make me think differently:

http://www.photocounter.com.au/2012/photo-direct-relaunches-ezshare-cards-as-wi-fi-devices/

"An ezShare device, ‘in the shape of an SD card’, allows camera owners
to instantly share their images without needing the internet. "

and

"Up to three users can simultaneously connect to the WiFi network
created by ezShare for simultaneous sharing and downloading of images."

hamilton
 
L

linnix

It has been sites like this that make me think differently:



http://www.photocounter.com.au/2012/photo-direct-relaunches-ezshare-cards-as-wi-fi-devices/



"An ezShare device, ‘in the shape of an SD card’, allows camera owners

to instantly share their images without needing the internet. "



and



"Up to three users can simultaneously connect to the WiFi network

created by ezShare for simultaneous sharing and downloading of images."



hamilton
Click to expand...

If it's the same as the PQI Air Card (Wifi w/ micro SD slot), it's a web server with fixed unchangeable IP 192.168.1.1. However, it makes little sense for the camera to be a web server. I would wait for someone else's product as a generic WiFi client.
 
H

hamilton

If it's the same as the PQI Air Card (Wifi w/ micro SD slot), it's a web server with fixed unchangeable IP 192.168.1.1. However, it makes little sense for the camera to be a web server. I would wait for someone else's product as a generic WiFi client.
Click to expand...

Ii think the idea was to not need special software on the
tablet/phone/PC to get the data from the camera/card.

I'll have to look at the POI next.

h
 
J

Joerg

hamilton said:
It has been sites like this that make me think differently:

http://www.photocounter.com.au/2012/photo-direct-relaunches-ezshare-cards-as-wi-fi-devices/


"An ezShare device, ‘in the shape of an SD card’, allows camera owners
to instantly share their images without needing the internet. "

and

"Up to three users can simultaneously connect to the WiFi network
created by ezShare for simultaneous sharing and downloading of images."
Click to expand...

That page looks like a copy of something written by a marketeer. Good
luck, maybe you get it to work.

I don't really want to have to log onto an adhoc network for this. It
really can't be so difficult to make such as device visible in a regular
WLAN or via Bluetooth. So I'll probably wait until some company figures
it out.
 
J

Joerg

Jim said:
I've done design reviews via Skype, showing schematics and
simulations.
Click to expand...

So have I. That's easy. It becomes much less easy when you have to share
experiments in progress with people, stuff where fine resolution is
needed. Under a microscope and so on. This is what I am after.
 
J

Joerg

David said:
On Wed, 26 Dec 2012 10:06:20 GMT in sci.electronics.design, Jan


You failed to include how long it takes you to climb the pole.
Click to expand...

That may take Jan a long time and numerous groans. Coming down the pole
OTOH can be done really fast :)
 
M

mike

That page looks like a copy of something written by a marketeer. Good
luck, maybe you get it to work.

I don't really want to have to log onto an adhoc network for this. It
really can't be so difficult to make such as device visible in a regular
WLAN or via Bluetooth. So I'll probably wait until some company figures
it out.
Click to expand...
I don't think it's something that can be figgered out.
If you wanna work in the existing environment, you gotta emulate
a file server/router with DHCP server and the whole nine yards.
The SD slot in a camera simply can't supply enough power to run that.
And the network gets really unhappy if the network controller node
keeps falling asleep.

I can't find a link, but I think I remember reading about cameras
with built-in wireless that may do what you need. There were some
ads for the microsoft coffee-table pc showing you could just set your
camera on the display/table and it would display your pictures.
They do that kind of thing regularly on TV like "Hawaii-Five-O".
 
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