I was talking about some kind of automatic entry. You still put in the area, but the software looks at the time on the first shot and the time of the last and then enters a range. To do this manually you would have to browse the card but this takes time.

An example would be 'Area 1 and 2 - 12:12>12:34'

The time sync comment is daft I thought everyone made sure the internal clock on the cams were synced. That’s like saying 'What if you forget to put a CF card in'.

The 5minutephoto guy gave me some advice on the hardware side. I currently use low end SFF P4's with 512MB of RAM. The server is basically a dual Xeon workstation with 2GB of RAM. All the workstations use a 100Mb connection but the server uses a Gb connection. I think the solution is quite scalable but I have not used over 8 viewing stations with 4 cams shooting on L.

The 5minutephoto solution works fine for me but I am always on the look out for improvments. Just out of interest what does subitophoto do that 5minutephoto can not? Also, how much does it cost?

njw wrote:
I'm also thinking that I'm going to move to off-site print and ship rather than on-site. Printing requires more time per order, and lends itself to too many issues with printers, ink, paper etc problems. It just may be better to deal with that on the week after the event.


Not printing onsite is a GREAT idea. Not only for the reason you mentioned, but also because you will be able to focus more on sales. Each sales should be faster also. With my experience, it does not really matter if you don't give the print right away to your customers. My sales when up by 10-15% by NOT printing on site!

You will enjoy doing the print in a relaxed environment at home, I can tell you!

Quick tip: have your customer fill out their address on site on the envelope you will use to ship the photo to them.Then put the order form in the envelope for later processing. If it is a poster use a label and staple it to the order form. THIS IS A HUGE TIME SAVER!

All the best.

Claude Ferron
Viewing System Solution (VSS)
www.subitophoto.net/vss

ppayne wrote:
I was talking about some kind of automatic entry. You still put in the area, but the software looks at the time on the first shot and the time of the last and then enters a range. To do this manually you would have to browse the card but this takes time.
An example would be 'Area 1 and 2 - 12:12>12:34'

First forget about using the ":" column character in Windows! Try it and you will see why! I see the idea, this would be possible, just have to grab the EXIF data. Would I implement it, this is another story. I would still have to see if this is the way to save some time when it comes to entering picture in the system. Thanks for the idea!

ppayne wrote:
The 5minutephoto solution works fine for me but I am always on the look out for improvements. Just out of interest what does subitophoto do that 5minutephoto can not? Also, how much does it cost?

It does basically the same, allow your customers to browse the shots you have taken. I'm not and they are not re-inventing the wheel. I just made it roll and grip better in my opinion.
- We do support large image files (over 5mb) and our conversion is still fast.
- We DO NOT rely on Windows to be our main server.
- We FULLY support Multiple CPU from step A to Z..
- We supply hardware - completely optimized.
- Option to export to web for online sales.
- Scalable while remaining fast.
Price... if you are really interested, e-mail me I don't like to give price online as I don't get to know my customers. But the system I provide is not cheaper, than theirs that I can tell.

Thanks for asking!

Claude

Thanks for the info Claude. As I have already purchased the 5minutephoto software and it does everything i need, i can not justify extra expense without big improvments.

- The 5minutephoto software is not the fastest but it can manage at least 4 cams shooting on M1.
- I am an MCSE so Windows is fine for me
- I have been building servers for the past 10 years not that it matters that much at this level.
- My web workflow is done using a different product from the source files
- The product is scalable, you just need the right hardware

It would be nice to be able to upload from multiple cards at the same time but you can not have everything.

Uploading from multiple card would be a nice feature (we start to think about it) but at the same time it has it's limitation. The USB bus for example cannot go faster (this is one thing). The alternative would be to go with FireWire 400, FireWire800 and USB2 all at the same time? I don't know yet.... Maybe you can help me there with your expertise Plus the hard drive write speed may also be a limitation.

The question that always stick in my mind. Is it worth the effort to program/market such a thing for the performance it gives back to you?

Can't really tell until you dive into it

Thanks for your input.

Claude

ppayne wrote:
I can not justify extra expense without big improvments.

What would be big improvements for you guys (or girls) in digital proofing solution?

We already use the Sandisk Firewire 800 reader. Saying that, I need to upgrade my cards to take advantage of this

Nice features would be

- Remote upload of CF cards to server.
- Orders placed via view station and stored on server without using a keyboard, using phone number as reference. (Someone else is already implementing this feature)
- Faster processing of cards
- ‘Subscribe to newsletter’ button

Optional feature - electrocute customers that try take picture of photos with mobiles

Remote upload of CF cards to server.
This one is possible, BUT how would you proceed to make it efficient?
- Wireless adapter for camera are expensive and may not work well inside buildings.
- It can be puzzling if you are not an IT = no good if you try to sell or support the product.
- This can be done over FTP with our system... + processing can be launch with an ipod touch or iphone if you would like...
- I often say hire a 15 year old with his bike as a runner and give him a 20 + a bag of candy to make his day. THIS is FAST

Orders placed via view station and stored on server without using a keyboard, using phone number as reference. (Someone else is already implementing this feature)
Possible, but slows down the number of people that can view pictures on the monitors. People placing an order on the computer have to figure out what product they want, how many they want, how to remove if they have too much, how to add more, etc... that because all systems are different. They may be easy to you, but for other it may take 2-3 minutes to figure out or even need assistance. This brings us to the rule I have written below...

We do enable our customers to save favorite pictures in an album. This enables them to come back later and view / place an order (speed up things). Your pricing scheme has to be set accordingly also to speed up viewing / decision taking time.

Faster processing of cards
We are quite good there... but multiple card copy / processing is coming on the next corner... this "COULD" speed things a bit.

�Subscribe to newsletter� button
- Should be easy enough, but the customer would have to enter his e-mail in the computer... This goes in contradiction with a rules I have. "A CUSTOMER SHALL NOT SPENT TO MUCH TIME AT THE SCREEN, OTHERWISE YOU ARE LOOSING MONEY". Maybe the feature could be enabled or disabled for rush time period...

Optional feature - electrocute customers that try take picture of photos with mobiles
- I'm not sure this one would help them understand the problem here. Also they might start to like the shock and take more and more pictures



Maybe there are other PROS and CONS, help me there if you like.

Claude Ferron
subitophoto.net/vss

Remote upload of CF cards to server.
I was thinking something along the lines of connecting a laptop wirelessly to the server and using this to upload cards. Laptops are cheap enough to be able to do this with a couple.

We encourage our customers to fill in an order form and take it away if they want to add to their order later in the day. I was just looking for a way to have the customer type the address in rather than trying to read their writing. I agree that the less time spent on the viewing stations the better.

We have a space on the order form for the customers email address. I guess I could just add a tick box for the newsletter.

ppayne wrote:
Remote upload of CF cards to server.
I was thinking something along the lines of connecting a laptop wirelessly to the server and using this to upload cards.


Still at a distance a decent speed that you will get out of a wireless router should be around 2Mb/s(G, worst if B) or 5 (if it is N). Imagine sending 250 picts could take at least 3-5 minutes. This is no good

With these time, I still prefer the kid. But every event and situation are different.

Claude

I was thinking about the 802.11n spec. You processes more than 250 images per shooter per 3 minutes? Thats 5K an hour from each photog.

I'm not saying that they will shoot 250 pictures every 3 minutes, but they will every 15-20 with no problem. If it takes 3-4 minutes just to upload to the server for processing + add to that the time to copy the chip from the card to the laptop (45secs to 1 minute)....

Plus if you want to use cheap ass laptop to remotely upload, they might not have wireless N. Specs for wireless are never like advertise. So be prepared for low performance.

In a cheerleading meet on of the guys shots 30 000 in 4 hours. This is damn lots of pictures. I'm personally not convince that the more you shoot the better you sale. In fact in can be the opposite. It mostly depends of your pricing sheme. But this could be another topic of course.


Claude

Hammy has multiple points for card uploads in his system, though he uses extended firewire cables for readers. What about having the server near the photogs and using wireless for the viewing stations? What i am trying to do is put the upload points closer to the photogs. If they can handle their own uploads, this would save having to have runners.

This would be very possible....