Software for portable studio

<p>All right fellow inventors! How would you design a system that does this:</p>

<p>Camera is connected to a laptop. After the picture is snapped, it downloads automatically to the laptop where a digital border is applied. Then, you quickly select which picture is best and click "print."</p>

<p>Transfering to the laptop in real time can be done with Canon's software but what I want is a program that downloads the image and applies the border (or at least let's me do it quickly). Any ideas?</p>

<p> </p>

<p>the download (as we do it, but we don't have eye-fi cards) is up to you, but having the picture resized, border applied is super easy - make it an action in photoshop. Probably take you 20 min to set it up, test it, and go.</p>

<p>Hey you are looking for Express Digital Darkroom. You can find different versions of it at <a href="http://www.expressdigital.com">www.expressdigital.com</a>. Lets you connect the camera to a laptop. You snap the picture and it automaticaly imports into the program where you can add a digital border of any kind. You can set up packages to print or print a-la-carte. </p>

<p>Hope that helps..</p>

I use Express Digital as well. WoW!! does it ever work!Save your money. New - $1350 or so. Ebay - $600 to $1000. As Wes says you can use any border you wish, you can also buy really cool things on ebay that offer several hundred digital backgrounds, which we use. If you are creative try designing your own backgrounds for seasonal themes such as Easter, Mothers Day. Everything is shot on a green screen.

 

By the way, even if you know someone with the Express Digital disk and try to copy it, it won't directly print. You have to use a dongle, a special program connecting to your USB port. This dongle looks like one of those memory flash drives.

<p>I don't know what it looks like on the Nikon side, but I use Canon's DPP remote shooting and then Zoombrower to compare the different images. Once you decide, then just open it in photoshop and apply a border (using an action as suggested above). It may not be quite as automated as you'd like, but the cost is cheap (free if you have a Canon). </p>

<p>I've never used express digital and so I won't comment, but my only suggestion would be to try it out this way for free and if it proves too cumbersome or time consuming then you can upgrade once you're actually in business. I assume you're at the "proof of concept" phase right now, and you don't want to spend too much money on proof of concept--just yet.</p>

<p>Thanks all... I'll check out express digital.</p>