TUESDAY TIPS: How to use the Canon EOS M and Eye-Fi to take better pictures for Evernote Food

In a previous post, I talked about using an Eye-Fi SD card in Direct Mode to get better photos for your Evernote Food entries. Back then, I was using my Canon SD-780is to take better photos. I upgraded that to a Canon EOS M recently, and discovered that the EOS M has a dedicated Eye-Fi menu. There aren’t many options on the menu, but it covers the most important one: turning the Eye-Fi antenna on and off. This is huge as far as battery life goes. The EOS M with 22mm ƒ2.0 lens allows you to create stunning food photos, even in limited light.

I’m a fairly technical person, and I found the initial Eye-Fi set up to be a little confusing. The Eye-Fi helper app on my MacBook didn’t always recognize the card, and when it did, setting it up in Direct Mode for my iPhone took a few tries. The only advice I can offer is to read through the instructions, be patient, and be persistent. Once it’s set up correctly, it works almost perfectly.

I shoot RAW on the EOS M, and those files transfer just fine with the Eye-Fi. There was an initial glitch, however. When I first connected my iPhone to the Eye-Fi card, it wouldn’t send any files. I ended up shooting a few frames as JPGs instead of RAW files, then connected. The JPGs transferred just fine, and afterwards, RAW files started transferring as well. So if you shoot RAW, and the transfer seems stuck, fire off a few in JPG mode to get the pipes flowing.

Keep in mind, if you shoot and transfer RAW files, they won’t be distributed via Photo Stream, or Dropbox Auto Upload. If you want to keep those photos, be sure to transfer them via USB when you get back to your computer, or leave the photos on the SD card and transfer them via card reader like you normally would.

Once the Direct Connection to your iPhone is set up and working, the following steps should get you started with your awesome Evernote Food photography.

Turn on the Eye-Fi antenna via the EOS M menu
On your iPhone, go to Settings > Wi-Fi
You should see your Eye-Fi SSID listed. Tap it to connect.
Open the Eye-Fi app on your iPhone. The connection icon in the top left corner of the screen should be green.
Start snapping photos of your food
The photos should start transferring to your iPhone. If you’re shooting in RAW format, they’ll take a little while (but not as long as I expected.)
When all your photos have transferred, turn off the Eye-Fi antenna in the EOS M menu
Open Evernote Food and create a new My Meals entry
Tap the camera icon, then the icon of the two little boxes in the lower left corner of the screen
Select the photos you just took from the list just like you would any other iOS photos
Fill in the rest of the details in Evernote Food and tap the check mark to finish

While any good DSLR or compact system camera is a step up from the native iPhone camera, the dedicated Eye-Fi menu on the EOS M makes it ideal as an accessory for Evernote Food.