As promised in another thread, I am reporting back on my attempt to make my four DSLRs WiFi Capable. My cameras range in age from 2002 to 2014 (2 X Canon, 2 X Pentax) and none of them have built-in WiFi. The Pentax cameras use SD cards and the Canons use CF cards. The first thing I did was to purchase a 16GB Toshiba FlashAir SD card. This card has built-in antenna and a WiFi chip. I installed the Toshiba FlashAir app on my Samsung S7 mobile phone and a similar program on my desktop. Transferring RAW and Jpeg images from the SD card in my Pentax cameras was both fast and simple. The next step was the purchase of an SD to CF adapter. Initially I was led to think that those adapters were only available as a Type II card but that is untrue and I got a Type I version. It arrived today and I checked it out in my EOS-1Ds and my 20D. First I checked that it worked with a normal SD card and then I put the FlashAir card in and that worked as well. So, I considered that the exercise was a success. Any camera that uses CF cards can be made WiFi capable with the above combination. And any camera that used SD cards can also be made WiFi capable with a WiFi SD card. There are brands other than Toshiba available. That just happens to be the one I chose after reading some positive reviews. I hope the above helps anyone who wants to use WiFi to transfer images to either mobile phone, tablet, laptop, desktop or any other WiFi device.
Thanks, Phil. I haven't gotten the WiFi to Desktop functionality working properly yet. It needs some more setup to get it working without disconnecting your current internet connection. It is WIP and I will advise when I achieve success.
After many frustrating hours I finally got the WiFi card to desktop function working. It started to work after I installed the latest firmware onto the card. But then I found that if you change any setting on the card (like the password) then it no longer works. There is another file somewhere that also has the settings and if there is a conflict it stops working. I could not find a way to reset that file. The function that I was determined to get working was to be able to see the images on the card while it was in the camera and to be able to view them using Windows File Explorer so that you can then easily download them to the computer. The problem is that there is no single place where it is all explained. You need to download a number of PDF files and piece together the information that you need to know. It all could have been made much easier with a little bit of effort by creating a proper unified user guide. I have worked with computers for over 50 years and it took a bit of rat cunning and dogged determination to get it to work. I am not sure how often I will use the File Explorer option to download from the card while it is in the camera but I did find a good use for it. It is a good way to tether your camera to your computer so that you can view images on the larger screen as soon as you take them. If and when I need that it will have made the whole exercise worthwhile. I hope this information helps others.
The method The method is outstanding, but one thing I need to know is that what is the speed of the transfer?. Are you satisfied with it?. You see when you use the SD to CF adapter I do not think the speed of the wifi transfer would be the same as others. I would be really happy if I am wrong. As I am also trying to buy one with a wifi connectivity, if it satisfy me I will do it.
Thank you for your kind words. I have not used this facility very much as, being a techo, my main objective was to prove that it was possible. I would say that the speed is probably not as good as that where WiFi or NFC is built into the camera. I only ever tried it with a small number of JPGs and I was not paying much attention to speed just that it was working. If you were transferring a large number of RAW files then you might need to go and brew a cup of coffee while you waited. The 1Ds is only 11.1MP and later model cameras will have much larger RAW files. So it probably is a case of trying it out and seeing how it goes. The SD to CF adapter is not expensive and the WiFi SD card is reasonably priced and both are still usable even if you don't use the WiFi capability. I normally get files from my cards (both CF and SD) via a USB card reader as neither my desktop or laptop have built-in card readers. I don't NEED the WiFi capability. I just wanted to prove that it could work and it does. I hope that helps.
