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Using Eye-Fi with a Digital Camera

Posted in Genealogy, photography on April 23, 2013 | 5 Comments »

My digital camera is six years old and I thought I might replace it someday with a camera that could upload pictures automatically to a computer or a web site. I use my Canon PowerShot 870 Elph camera for cemetery and other genealogy recordings, library page snapshots, blog pictures, and work/family pictures.

Since I found Eye-Fi, the life of my camera has now been extended.

The Eye-Fi package

I purchased the cheapest version of Eye-Fi ($35) I could find on Amazon. It consists of a 4 GB SD card:

Eye-Fi 4 GB SD card

and a USB Card Reader that plugs into your computer:

The Eye-Fi card reader plugs into the USB port on your computer

How It Works

You allow Eye-Fi to access your home wi-fi by logging in once
You use the Eye-Fi SD card in your camera, like a normal SD card
You take pictures
Within a minute or two, the picture auto-uploads to your computer. If you are farther away than, say, 20 feet, the picture stores on your SD card and auto-uploads as soon as the camera gets within range of the computer.
If you have the Eye-Fi Center open, you can see the pictures upload on your computer monitor:

pictures auto-uploading to the computer as they are taken

If you do not have Eye-Fi Center open, a tiny screen pops up in the corner of your monitor showing each picture upload:

pictures uploading while you don't have Eye-Fi software open

pictures show in corner when you don’t have Eye-Fi software open

You can control the folder where the photos should be placed on your computer through your Eye-Fi setup (the default setting on a PC is MyPictures/Eye-Fi/folder-by-date).
You can, optionally, allow the pictures to ALSO upload to a private web page on the Eye-Fi website, and remain there for one week (longer if you pay for storage). That requires wi-fi, either your own or public.
You can, optionally, also allow the pictures to upload to a wide choice of social media or photo storage sites. This will happen once wi-fi is in range.

Why this is useful

EDITING - I can tell already that this improves picture selection and the need for editing. Seeing the picture immediately, without removing the card, allows you to re-take as you go, with the camera still loaded with the card and ready to go. This is especially useful for people who do photography near their computer.
AUTO-UPLOAD – For photography done away from home, it’s nice to think that the photos will upload, and be sorted into folders by date, automatically the next time the camera is turned on near the computer.
CLOUD STORAGE - For those using picture services like FLICKR, Picasa, or Facebook, again, upload to the account of your choice will automatically happen as soon as the camera is back in range of wi-fi, and turned on. I have chosen not to use that yet.
NO SD MAINTENANCE NEEDED – If you are, for instance, taking 200 pictures per day at a repository or on vacation, you can allow the pictures to upload every night near your laptop. You can chose a level (for instance, 50%) at which the SD card will start deleting automatically as long as the images have already been successfully uploaded. So you would never need to make space on the card by deleting images.
RELAY TRANSFER – if you have a hotspot or access to wi-fi away from home, and you use a cloud storage service mentioned above, the pictures can upload even when you are away from your computer. I believe they may then automatically relay themselves to your computer as well, at some point, but I am not set up to test this.
ADD GEOTAGGING – if you pay for an upgrade, this system will add location information (geo-tagging) for each photo (something my camera will not do otherwise).
WORKS FOR VIDEOS - as far as I can see, these features all apply to videos, too.
WORKS ON IPHONE, TOO – I was able to add my iPhone to my network, so now pictures I take on my iphone also upload to my computer. This worked when I took pictures elsewhere, got the iphone back to the house, and with Eye-Fi plugged into my computer, opened the Eye-Fi app on the iphone.
SELECTIVELY MOVE OR EMAIL – whether or not you auto-upload to web storage in addition to your computer folder, you can always open Eye-Fi Center on your computer and slide selected images into the “tray” for emailing or placement on the web storage of your choice.

Learn more, or check out the compatibility of Eye-Fi with YOUR camera model, here.

My cat, Mr. Darcy, agreed to pose during the Eye-Fi testing.

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Learning to Photograph at Yantic Cemetery

Posted in cemeteries, Genealogy, Lamphere, photography on June 15, 2012 | 4 Comments »

Recently, on a trip to the Providence Public Library, I found obituaries for Russell and Hannah Lamphere from the Providence Journal. I was surprised to see that they were buried in their home town of Norwich, Connecticut. Later, online, I found a list of all those buried in cemeteries that (now) belong to the town of Norwich. The 976 page pdf of the list contained Russell and Hannah’s names, and pointed to Section 6, Plot 9 at the Yantic Cemetery, Norwich.

At the Cemetery

This is taken from the cemetery map at the entrance to Yantic Cemetery:

Section 6, Lot 9

The plot has several markers visible, and most likely more burials in the rest of the space.

The area of Plot 9

I have now been there twice. There are two small markers which may or may not designate where Russell and Hannah are buried; one has initials, the other is more worn.

One of the small markers may have the initials “L R”

The rounded marker in the back is for James D. Lamphere who I believe is Russell’s brother.

James D. Lanphere

“In memory of my husband, James D. Lanphere, born Oct. 14, 1829, died January 27, 1887. Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord.” James left a widow, Mary, and a stepdaughter.

The first (tilted) marker up front is for Russell’s sister Lydia (Lamphere) Palmer, who died fairly young.

Lydia Lamphere Palmer

“Lydia, wife of Henry Palmer, died in Greenville, Nov. 19 1852, aged 45. — Mother.”

This brings us to the fifth marker. It’s a mystery, but since Russell’s wife and mother are still among my mystery women, any information is useful.

The photography lesson

The first time I saw the marker, I took pictures that I couldn’t decipher.

hard to read my first set of pictures

I consulted genealogy friends on Facebook. Turns out this is a controversial topic, and I got lots of conflicting advice. When I went today, two of the suggestions worked great.

Wet the marker (I had a bottle of water in the car leftover from a recent trip)
Photograph in bright sunlight (the sun was going in and out of the clouds, so I waited for it to be right)

This was the result:

Margaret (Gaslin) Bassett

“Margaret Gaslin widow of Barnabas Bassett DIED March 7, 1854 aged 76″

The difference is incredible. Both in person and in photographs, it became much easier to read.

So that was a lot of work just to figure out that the marker belonged to the next plot (#10), the Bassett plot. Which leads me to believe the other tiny, unmarked gravestone may belong to the Bassetts. Leaving just 3 markers in the Lamphere plot.

Although there are no additional markers, the master list also included in that plot Harry H. Hill and Frank A. Hill. Those are not names I recognize.

Original Cemetery Records

I also stopped at the Norwich Town Hall to look, once again, for a death record for Russell Lamphere’s mother, Lydia Miner, in 1849 (the death record I have is from The Norwich Aurora). I didn’t find one.

But I did notice, among some miscellaneous volumes in the records room, an original sales/burial book from Yantic Cemetery detailing some later-sold sections with numbers in the mid-100′s. My section was 6. I looked everywhere, and asked if there were earlier volumes, but the clerk could not find any.

What’s Next

I will investigate the Hills a little more thoroughly, but there’s always the possibility they were sold spots in the plot but are not related to my family.
The original Yantic Cemetery sales records may be somewhere, like a local historical society. I’ll keep looking.
The map says “R and W Lamphere” but I can’t account for a “W Lamphere”.
I do not know where Russell’s parents, Russell and Lydia, are buried. Need to keep exploring that.
As I somehow expected, Russell’s loyal associate, Congressman John Turner Waite, who submitted a War Reparations bill for Russell three times in the 1880′s, is also buried in Yantic Cemetery. I am thinking of approaching the New London Historical Society for more information about him.

John Turner Wait

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Using Eye-Fi with a Digital Camera