Already In The Bag!

Anyone with a need to transmit photos should read this post: Photographers, PR specialists, Political staffers, or anyone seeking a way to send an image that has better quality than anything possible with just a smartphone. It's probably not a good idea if your phone has no data plan. But if you have a phone with a data plan, you can do some great things on deadline without buying a broadband card, paying for Wi-Fi or even access to a laptop.

I had a terrible experience with my Sprint broadband card over the weekend @ The Hollywood Bowl. I was covering the 31^st Playboy Jazz Festival as part of the Playboy staff, and I really only needed to transmit one media image on deadline. I was really hoping to also post Twitter, Facebook & blog updates throughout the two day event. The Sprint card would not cooperate at all. So I abandoned that idea real quick when I could not get a signal.


In the end I missed a golden opportunity to place an important photo with the newswires for my client. This situation was more puzzling because I was getting decent phone service on my Sprint Blackberry; it wasn't six bars service, but I was getting calls. The minute that I got home, the damn broadband card worked perfectly!


This post is really about a workaround for this tech breakdown that I already had in my camera bag. Sandisk makes a SD card adapter that is the perfect solution. This adapter works with micro SD cards… those little cards that fit inside most smartphones. The crazy thing is that I had already used the SD adapter inside my Canon G-9 to take a photo of Kenny G onstage @ the bowl. I was able to successfully transmit that image, using my Blackberry to Twitter and Facebook. The solution was right in front of me, but I needed a little distance to see it. I bought the Sandisk product at Costco.


My Sony laptop has a built-in SD card reader. So all I had to do was copy the high rez Nikon D300 jpg from my laptop to the SD adapter card, place the micro SD card into my Blackberry and email the image. Once you put the micro SD card in and replace the battery and cover, it will take a few minutes for your phone to reboot. Nikon will be releasing the D300 replacement soon and it is rumored to have dual card slots... compact flash and SD. That will be a real game changer!


I remember the old days of seeking out a dial-up connection, and later an Ethernet connect on those occasions where I needed to transmit media images. I was in Sacramento with Mark Ridley-Thomas when he was first sworn into the California State Assembly. Media outlets on deadline were holding space for photos and I could not find a phone line to access my AOL account. I was finally able to connect through a fax line in one of the State offices. Tech has come a long way baby. Now all you really need is a smartphone and the Sandisk adapter. If you get the Eye-Fi SD card, you can upload photos directly from the camera!


I'm going to give the Sprint card another chance next week when I'm in Chicago to cover the NAWBO National Convention. I'm sure that the Sheraton Chicago will have great Wi-Fi available; but it's nice to know that I have options. I plan to upload images throughout the convention on behalf of the National Association of Women Business Owners, with the hope of growing awareness.