I'm planning on setting up an overhead remote for the first time this upcoming Saturday and I am curious about whether there is any way I can get remote capture capabilities down to my laptop on the floor up on the catwalk. I don't want to delay getting photos to my publisher so I'm wondering if there is any easy, fairly cheap way to get photos from the card without heading up to the catwalk again.

Thanks.

Canon has a wifi transmitter, but it can be expensive. The best way is to walk up after the game and get your card. Access to the catwalks during the game can be limited, depinding on the facility.

hmm how about those wifi SD cards? If you have an apple laptop you could create a connection and maybe have it connected to your laptop via wifi?

the http://www.eye.fi/ is such a card, however speed may very, and the top GB you can get is 4GB.
you would be using a SD-CF adapater card.

a 2MB photo will take quite a while to transfer over wireless, you would also have to a wireless pocket router to connect to your laptop as it will not connect directly to you laptop (ad hoc)

Also pocket routers will have higher gains (connection speeds) than your laptop.

One thing you may do is run canons camera software on a cheaper laptop, have it sitting there connected to the camera, & connect via wireless to that laptop & view the photos, adjust settings etc via remote PC software (VNC, Conectto myPC.com, Remote desktop etc)
You can setup programs to automatically upload folders to FTP's (your publishers)

I am not sure whether or not a wireless trigger would work while connected to the software?

Jonathan,

I'm in the same dilemma - I would like to take dozens of shots from overhead - but need them downloaded within a minute - every 3-4 minutes.

The only way that I've come up with that is most tested and reliable, would be to use two laptops - as Iceman suggests. Tether the camera to one with the 'hot' folder shared on a wireless ad hoc network to your other laptop.

You'll be at WirelessG speed and range, and most laptops (with FW port standard or add-on) will be cheaper, faster and more reliable than any other solution (that I've seen) so far.

wow, computer and camera in the rafters. how about you bust yer a$$ up to the remote and take the card out at halftime. replace it with a new one and edit and send the one from the first half. even better, have a friend come and do it for free and let him watch the game the rest of the night.

profurious75 wrote:
wow, computer and camera in the rafters. how about you bust yer a$$ up to the remote and take the card out at halftime. replace it with a new one and edit and send the one from the first half. even better, have a friend come and do it for free and let him watch the game the rest of the night.


Rafters?

How 'bout a lighting truss, hung from the ceiling that is 25' in the air and doesn't come down all weekend?

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[______] Here is the box



Here's some of us thinking outside of it

What is the max length Firewire cable you can have between your camera and the laptop, before you start to have issues?

The Eye-Fi card will do what you want. It's slow and supports only jpg images. You will need a router and you must be within 50 feet of it for everything to work right. Battery life may also be problematic as will shooting in burst mode--the card is dog slow (at least early versions of it were).

Someone mentioned using a SD to CF adapter. Need to be careful with that as there've been some mixed results though just as many success stories.

Because it's a slow upload, you might consider using smaller jpg files if that works for you.

Hammy wrote:


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[______] Here is the box



Here's some of us thinking outside of it


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I $$$$$$ I
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Here's my box, and here's me trying not to spend time & money on useless things If I don't need to.

Jonathan said he has a catwalk for access, so clearly he would be ably to go up there and retrieve/trade cards during half time (or whatever). Doing it any other way may seem cool but set up & time are just not worth it.

You are already looking at a min 15-30 mins extra just to set up the remote (if you are doing it properly), and that doesn't include your time contacting the right people to get permission to do so.

Now on top of that you want to set up two laptops, a tethered camera, giving you more stuff to worry about in the rafters. Not just worrying about safely securing them, but also about theft.

I believe Jonathan also mentioned cheap as one of his concerns, well, bringing a friend along for a game is a heck of a lot cheaper than spending an extra hour setting up a wireless network and making sure it works.

Now, if money wasn't an option, there is no doubt in my mind the best way to do this is with the Idruna remote editing system.

Rick,

My point was that there are situations that don't allow access and so alternative methods would need to be considered (instead of being called lazy).

Another laptop can be had for as little as $400, add a FW card for less than $100, so its not like a real expensive solution (half the price of Canons Wifi xmitter.)

And even with catwalk access before a game, doesn't mean access during the game or even at halftime. Some venues only allow access before and after the game.

Theft? There is already a $4000 camera sitting up there what's the difference for a $500 laptop - which can be secured (should be) easier than the camera.

And I believe Jonathan said I don't want to delay getting photos to my publisher so I'm wondering if there is any easy, fairly cheap way to get photos from the card without heading up to the catwalk again

- no delay
- easy
- fairly cheap
- WITHOUT heading up to the catwalk

If the eyefi can cover the distance and speed needed, then it would be cheaper.

Firewire can be run up to 100ft with repeaters - maybe longer by injecting power into the repeaters to continue the signal. But this presents problems as to where to run that cable. And it might be cheaper again to run a laptop and Cat5 (or wireless) as 33ft FW cables and repeaters are about $50 each. So each 100ft stretch would cost $250.

Hammy, so as you mentioned JK wanted it to be cheap, well from what I can tell from your math for a laptop and card you are at $500. You now have to ask yourself, will getting my images to the editor asap is worth spending the $500. As I suggested, bring a buddy to the game as an assistant ( I can't tell you how many times friends ask me to come) and have him run cards. Most places don't allow you to shoot from catwalks during the games, but quick in and outs are almost always permitted. Again, I am all for technology and getting things done quick, but doing it with two computers means you are not going to be able to concentrate on shooting while culling photo's on the laptop from the overhead.

Bring a friend ($0.00), buy him a beer ($5.00) and get there an extra 20 mins before you usualy would($50.00 at a $150/hr rate) = total cost $55.00

Bring two laptops (free if you own 2, lets say $100 if you have to rent one), FW card ($100.00) spend an hour setting them up ($150.00 at a $150/hr rate), testing the system for a half hour at home prior to using it to make sure it works ($75.00 at a $150/hr rate) = total cost $425

I'm quickly figuring out that there's really no good easy, cheap way to do this. $400+ is way too much considering I MIGHT sell one or two photos from the remote. Just doesn't make sense to me. I usually have about 25 minutes after the game to tag and dump photos on my publisher's laptop. I'll make it work somehow.

Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions.

profurious75 wrote:
...You now have to ask yourself, will getting my images to the editor asap is worth spending the $500...


In Hammy's case the files need to be downloaded to the server after each routine is finished so the images would be ready to be viewed when the parents visit the booth, and there are hundreds if not thousands of routines over a weekend. A buddy may shed a few pounds running up and down non-stop... $500 is a drop in the bucket for Hammy....

profurious75 wrote:
...Bring two laptops (free if you own 2, lets say $100 if you have to rent one), FW card ($100.00) spend an hour setting them up ($150.00 at a $150/hr rate), testing the system for a half hour at home prior to using it to make sure it works ($75.00 at a $150/hr rate) = total cost $425


Trust me, Hammy owns more than 2 laptops, all the necessary hardware, and manpower to pull this off...

-John

JK

I guess if it is possible, you could shoot directly to your hard drive and start the ingest process as the camera shoots. This way you could have just the one laptop going with the overhead. Have all your IPTC info set up as it ingests and you have little to do when the game is over. head up early if it is not a close game, grab a few overhead jubes and take the laptop down to edit and send asap. I can usual get 10-15 shots done and sent with in the 20 min's between periods at a hockey game, so no reason you shouldn't be able to get it done either if you work smart and fast.

Rd