Innovative New Feature Makes the Eye-Fi Even More Valuable

 

A few months ago, I ran into Ziv Gillat, one of the co-founders of Eye-Fi at a photography trade show. His company developed a set of SD-cards that can send images directly from your digital camera to your personal computer by way of a local wi-fi network.

For background information about these cards, you can read the original review of the Eye-Fi from a few weeks ago here.

Anyway, Ziv was excited to tell me about a new feature that the company was developing. Finally last week, Eye-Fi unveiled a fascinating new capability for any of their X2 series cards. With this free update, the Eye-Fi can now send images directly to a mobile device – either an iPhone, iPad or Android. By itself, this provides an automated way to backup your images. On the mobile device, you’ll need to download and install either an iPhone/iPad app or an Android app. These free mobile apps (also provided by Eye-Fi) receive the images from the Eye-Fi card. The apps provide another very useful feature – they let you resend the images to other online sites. And since they use cellular to upload, the mobile devices replace the personal computer.

To use the new capability which the company calls Direct Mode, I downloaded and installed an update to the included Eye-Fi Center software that is used to configure the SD-card. Using one of the dialogs, I added my iPhone and Android device to my list of supported wi-fi networks. Next I installed the Eye-Fi iPhone app from the iTunes website (and later the Android app from Market) and I was ready to give Direct Mode a try.
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You’ve probably come across a situation where you find a great photo opportunity but you cannot frame the photo properly because something is blocking your view in the viewfinder. There might, for example, be a crowd of people, a fence, tall shrub, wall, etc., directly in your line of sight.

One way is to use a camera with a movable LCD monitor so you can snap photos at awkward angles. Unfortunately, most point-and-shoot cameras and digital SLRs don’t have a tilt-and-swivel LCD monitor. Therefore, you may want to consider attaching a Flipbac Angle Viewfinder to your camera.

The Flipbac Angle Viewfinder help you compose shots at high and low angles.

The Flipbac isn’t fancy; it’s simply a mirror attached to a small wire frame that you can swing a couple of different directions. It does do, however, what it says it will do. It’ll help you compose shots at difficult angles. It does this by reflecting the LCD image on its mirror-like surface, which simulates a screen that’s able to tilt. You can use the Flipbac in either landscape or portrait mode.
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Add Soft Lighting to your off-camera flash

The modern day external flash unit is a vital accessory for indoor portraits, still life, food shots and more.

Light that originates from a small source such as an external flash unit is harsher than light that originates from a larger source. To “soften” the lighting especially for portraits, photographers often use “modifiers” to alter the lighting to something more pleasing. Most of the modifiers work by spreading the light out over a larger area.

LumiQuest has been a well-known maker of modifiers for many years. Among their bestsellers is the Softbox III. When I was attending the WPPI Expo, Heidi one of LumiQuest’s principals gave me a quick demonstration of this lightweight device. I was so impressed that I ordered one when I returned home.

The concentrated light from the flash bounces inside the reflector of the Softbox III and passes through the translucent material covering its face. Instead of harsh light originating from the small flash head, a softer light originates from a much larger reflector.

Follow along as I show you how I’ve used the Softbox III to improve the lighting on some of my recent portraits.

When it’s disassembled, the Softbox III folds flat to a 8″ x 9″ size, making it convenient to take anywhere. As folded, it easily fits in the outer pocket of my camera bag so is always available when I’m carrying my external flash.

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