Eye-Fi bringing Wi-Fi to UK cameras

By Rich Trenholm on 08 October 2009, 1:08pm

Wi-Fi is coming to any camera with the long-awaited launch of Eye-Fi in the UK.

Eye-Fi is a wireless SD card for digital cameras. Once you've set up the camera with software on your computer, the card allows you to zap your snaps from any camera to your home computer and the Web without plugging it in, or even being at home. Eye-Fi will sell three 4GB cards in the UK: Home Video, Share Video and the Eye-Fi Pro.

The Home Video sends your pictures to your computer, rather than to the Web. It uploads to a specified folder on your PC, or straight to iPhoto on a Mac. It will cost £50.

The Share Video uploads to the Web as well as your computer. Pictures and video go straight to Flickr, Facebook, Picasa, MobileMe or YouTube, even when your home computer isn't turned on. You have the option to pick which pictures you want to send, so your Facebook isn't bloated with blurry, badly-lit snaps of your mates gurning in dingy basements. Oops, too late. This one costs £70.

The Eye-Fi Pro adds raw file transfer and automatic geotagging. Pictures are geotagged by Wi-Fi Positioning System (WPS), which works out where you are by the Wi-Fi access point you're using. This will set you back £120.

The cards arrive in the UK on 19 October. GPS and Wi-Fi in cameras is a gadgeteer's wet dream, but hasn't really taken off beyond Nikon's disappointing S50 series and the mighty Samsung ST1000. When Eye-Fi was first announced, this Craver was still a wet-behind-the-ears, green young journalist. Some two years later, even this embittered and cynical shell of a hack still gets a little moist around the nipple area at talk of the Eye-Fi.