Santa Photo's

renmorescout

Looking for some help please. The place where i work, have a childrens Christmas party every year, and each family get's a photo taken with Santa.
For years now, they have been using polaroid instant cameras and film, and I was wondering if anyone could suggest a digital setup, that would make a print availible in a very short time. The turn over between familys is only about 2 minutes !!! So, a straight camera to printer is what I am looking for.
Any ideas or hints would be most welcome.

Rojo

Bí Ullamh...

stcstc

do you shoot canon or nikon,

i use canon and can shoot using a usb cable and have the pictures saved to the computer instead of the card


also what you really want for the printing is one of those kiosks that they have in shops

they do prints in like o time at all


but you only need the printer thats inside of it

renmorescout

I guess I am really looking for a setup, where you press the shutter button, and a minute later, a nice shiny print pop's out of the printer. The least amount of effort the better. dont forget there will be about 300 shots in a few hours.
And Thanks Rojo, I am being "Bí Ullamh" !! This years party was yesterday, and I am thinking about next year! Thankfully I am not the photographer, just trying to help a bit.

Rojo

Haha, I'm a scout leader, was only joking.. :P But, jesus you are prepared aren't ya?! Planning a year in advance! 300 photos and they do this on polaroid? That's a whole lot of moola!!

renmorescout

Hiya Rojo. - 13th Galway !! -

Yeah. they have been using the same setup for years, and the photos are pretty crap. The budget is around €750 for the photos,but there are two Grottos working at the same time. I took my own photos with my D40 and
then got the " you must know something about cameras " speech !
It would be nice to modernise the system, as it is a nice setup and people like to have a nice photo to bring home.

quilmore

bring a canon camera and a printer with PictBridge, connect them together with an USB cable and press the print button on the camera
or get one of those printers that take your memory card

the other thing I can think of is too complex (nikon d200 with a WT-3 grip, a laptop with connected to a wifi router with lightroom and a printer attached)

stcstc

well doing what i was suggesting, you then can have someone pressing the shutter and then someone telling the puter to print

Rojo

I'm involved with 3rd, 7th, 40th, 41st in Donnybrook!

My mam is involved with the PPU of her school and I get roped in to do photos of the childer with Santa... We tried to do the print at the time thing last year but it got kind of messy. This year we just filled out a sheet with the child's name address, etc and printed them from a lab and are sending them out this week! However, there was only like 30 kids or something... Much more difficult with 300 that way!!

Ricky91t

Ok well here is my idea....
Have your camera set up before hand
Like get a persn and santa in the day before prepare the shot if you're not using auto.Then Buy a 6x4 photo printer(If thats the size you print)Plug the cable into your camera and into the Pc then open the software If it allows you too take the photo that way and click print.This should take about 2 minutes in total.This will mean if you do this you wont have to leave the pc.If your software does'nt allow you to take photos via the software but lets you instantly save then to a pc buy a wireless shutter release from ebay..
Well i hope i have helped
p.s dont forget buy plenty of cartridges and photo paper

Fajitas!

What you need is a dye sub printer - 45 second prints.

Borderfox

What size do you need prints, how much are you charging for them, how many kids, how long is the party?

stcstc

you could actually get yourself one of those canon dye sub prints quite cheap

hook it up to ya laptop and print from there, and shoot tethered to the laptop, via a usb cable

rymus

I'm doing the same thing in Cork and yes, what you need is a dye sub printer. What I have however is a HP 6x4 printer. It's pants. Way too slow to keep up with high volumes. Dye sub's definately on the recommendation list for next year.

I'm shooting tethered to the printer so I don't have to keep taking the card out of the camera and possibly screwing up the CF slot. I finally found a use for the 'direct print' button on my 30D. Woo!

stcstc

I just came across this printer

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/consumer/consDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=63069797&ref=r0302PTbix

the spec says it prints in 37 sec a 6*4

might be a nice setup

and its cheap, $99

Borderfox

The Epson is an inkjet not a dye sub...

stcstc

yea I know it is, but its cheap and quick


thats why i was suggesting it

you could pay for it on one gig

Borderfox

I have one of those Epsons and the lash the shots out, but I would be happier using a dye sub for a 6x4 size.

stcstc

i agree a dye sub the best option


but if its a one off gig, the cost of one of those epsons could be covered easy on the gig, where as a decent dye sub is maybe 4 or 5 times the price and would need to do a few gigs to cover the cost