Experience Matters

Wireless Photography: Freedom or Paranoia?

A few months ago, I learned of Eye-Fi. If you’ve never heard of Eye-Fi, that’s understandable — it’s not been widely publicised (though it was mentioned positively in Wired Magazine) and it’s technically not available in Canada. Unless you’re a geek (which I am) and/or a photography hobbyist (guilty as charged), you might never even come across it.

Eye-Fi (which rhymes with “Wi-Fi”) is a 2 GB SD memory card for your digital camera. It allows near-instant uploads from your camera to your online photo sharing service of choice, provided you’re within range of a Wi-Fi service. (Neil — you were right about more wireless ability!) The “how the heck” moment came when I asked how they managed to get a 45 foot range for transmission in an SD card, when my PC often drops signal from within the same room.

It actually seems to make photography more fun — it’s immediate sharing potential is amazing. And frankly, a little bit frightening…

First, I really need to talk about the ease of this thing. Only one other time have I truly experienced something so dead-easy to configure that I was literally beside myself. That was my first D-Link router.

It was the first time I read a manual before hooking something up. (My former life in technical support had reminded me how difficult it sometimes is to configure networking peers.) The manual — little more than a poster-sized sheet that unfolded with IKEA-like diagrams — suggested that all I needed to do was simply connect the router to the cable modem, and the computer to the router. It took me longer to read the darn manual than it did to actually get everything working.

The manual in the Eye-Fi box is even smaller. Bazooka Joe comics are almost as long. This is where the brilliance of Eye-Fi’s manufacture really comes into play. Allow me to share the install process.

1. Remove the Eye-Fi card reader (with the Eye-Fi card already inserted) from the box and insert into a spare USB port on your computer (Mac or PC, it doesn’t matter).
2. The card reader has a bit of memory which includes the Eye-Fi Manager installation. This starts immediately, and takes only a moment. It opens a browser and starts the configuration.
3. The Eye-Fi Manager detects available wireless networks that your computer can see. You choose one, providing a username and password (if necessary), which is written to the card.
4. You choose an online photo sharing service (e.g. Flickr) where you’ll display your images. The Eye-Fi Manager arranges a connection so you can authorise Eye-Fi to provide content.
5. Insert the card into your camera and go shoot something.

And be darned if it doesn’t work exactly as promised. I had my first picture posted on my Flickr account within mere moments of having actually taken it. (Don’t believe me? Check out the times when the picture was taken, and when it was posted!)

I bought this sucker for a reason. Namely, I love taking pictures around the office — especially during Critical Mass events. (I have a huge library of Critical Mass pictures. I’m told many people who apply to Critical Mass find them as part of checking us out.) This saves me (some of) the grief of getting them online. Instead of having to download them to a computer, then choose and upload the pictures, it happens instantly. (Well, provided I’m near the wireless connection, anyway.)

Naturally, there’s a caveat with Eye-Fi – it won’t connect to just any network. You have to define it first. But that’s a pretty minor thing, really.

This is freedom. And more importantly — inexpensive freedom. Yes, wireless connectivity has existed before, but at professional prices. Now it’s easy for anyone to run around and snap anything.

This is where the paranoia comes in, too. Now that I can shoot around the office, do I have to take extra care of what I’m taking pictures of? What if it’s client-sensitive? I could accidentally take a picture of a strategic direction and have it announced to the world mere moments later. (There’s a reason camera phones were banned from many businesses.)

And suddenly the desire to snap without care turns to self-editing. Given, I’m in a specific situation — I have to keep it restrained for business reasons. But what about at home? Would you think about what you were taking pictures of? Imagine the embarrassment if you forgot about the Eye-Fi and took a picture of something you meant to keep private?

It could be easily argued that with every significant improvement in a given medium, there is always a behaviour change. For example, photographers used to think about the cost of every frame of film they used. With digital cameras, they only worry about having enough memory cards to keep up with the shutter snaps. And professionals do self-edit constantly, removing photos that aren’t worthy of keeping.

Personally, I’m looking forward to a really cool experience with the Eye-Fi. It’s about immediacy, really — the awareness of what you take a picture of is kind of secondary. Of course, this is also only the beginning. I’m sure the next version of Eye-Fi (or other similar gizmos) will make the original version look almost trivial.

Keep watching my Flickr feed, folks — hopefully you’ll see lots of interesting (and timely) pictures coming soon!