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I have a small hobby store where the salesman makes pictures of the clients after they buy something.

The pictures need to be further processed, but this is not the salesmen's task, and I want to simplify the process as much as possible.

The idea is to insert a WiFi SD Card in to the Camera (Cannon 650D) and make the pictures sync with a PC folder, which is synced with Google Drive, preferably grouped in folders by date.

That way, the salesmen can take the pictures, and just leave the camera next to the PC for a few minutes before turning it off, without the need to manually transfer the files.

Is this level of automation possible, and how would we do it?

Update:
Looking back at this topic, my current solution is with a data cable, and using the default camera software to sync all pictures to a PC folder, as soon as it is connected, without any confirmation. Google Drive then picks them up and sync them to the cloud.

It works good enough, with no extra cash / troubleshooting for the wifi card.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ How necessary is the quality of the image, phone cameras can be good enough for a lot of situations, if you can use a phone with good camera, it can automatically upload to (e.g.) Google photos. \$\endgroup\$
    – Harry Harrison
    Jun 17, 2016 at 19:35
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Harry quality should be as good as possible, and there are bad light conditions .. so a dedicated tool will make the best job. Plus, it does not look very professional to take pictures with a phone, if this is (part of ) a service. \$\endgroup\$
    – d.raev
    Jun 20, 2016 at 16:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ Instead of an update you should post your solution as an answer. Otherwise this question will keep popping up as unanswered. \$\endgroup\$
    – James Snell
    Sep 25, 2017 at 23:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JamesSnell it is not solution, it is work-around as I didn't find sufficient information to invest in WiFi card. \$\endgroup\$
    – d.raev
    Sep 26, 2017 at 12:29
  • \$\begingroup\$ "my current solution is..." - you described it as a solution, not me. :) \$\endgroup\$
    – James Snell
    Sep 26, 2017 at 13:20

2 Answers 2

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EyeFi cards have a Direct Mode which automatically transfers files from your mobile device to a PC. So the flow would be camera -> phone/tablet -> PC. I'm not sure if you can set a custom location on the PC for where the uploads are placed, but if you can then you can just set that to your Google Drive folder et voila. If not, you can probably run up a simple script to move files to the Google Drive folder as they are written.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ is the phone/tablet mandatory? \$\endgroup\$
    – d.raev
    Jun 17, 2016 at 15:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yes, I believe so. It creates an ad-hoc peer to peer network connection (like a tethering connection) between the phone and EyeFi card. \$\endgroup\$
    – ElendilTheTall
    Jun 18, 2016 at 10:03
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You absolutely can do this - the Toshiba FlashAir SD card can directly sync to a range of services automatically. From hardware version W-03 onwards the cards have an on-board processor that can run LUA scripts and do not need to connect to anything other than your existing wireless network.

Examples on the FlashAir developer site are available with automated uploads to:-

Prices start at around £20 GBP (as of September 2017)

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  • \$\begingroup\$ do you have personal experience with this ? wast I checked (07.2016) Toshiba version was good on words and price.. but not stable enough for real use. Sounds good if they have made the progress :) Are you in any way affiliated with the company ? \$\endgroup\$
    – d.raev
    Sep 26, 2017 at 12:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ 1) I use a couple of FlashAir cards in production but not with google drive as google suck. I'm not sure where you got the idea that the cards are unreliable from - it hasn't been my experience. 2) no, I'm not affiliated or I'd have said so... \$\endgroup\$
    – James Snell
    Sep 26, 2017 at 13:19

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