Printing large volume of digital photos at event - Advice needed

[deborah_weesed]

Our non-profit organization is sponsoring a Holiday event, and I will need to photograph and print a high volume

of photos of children with Santa on location, as fast as possible!

My camera is a Canon30D and I do not have access to a laptop computer, so I thought with an assistant I could

alternate using two compact flash cards...and a low cost photo quality printer. I have been researching the

newest low cost printers and the only ones that have a slot for a compact flash card are the "all in one" bulky

printers. Would a card reader plugged into the USB of the printer eliminate the need for the printer to have a

card slot?

I would prefer a printer that uses separate ink tanks. This project has a very limited budget. Can anyone a

specific printer and/or recommend a strategy?

Suggestions and insights would be most appreciated.

~Deborah

[elnoralouisa]

I don't know exactly what you mean by 'cheap', but I bought a Sony Dpp-fp90 printer that is dye-sub for $189. Paper and ribbons (which come together) are $29.99 on Amazon right now for 120 sheets. There is also the fp70, which I guess just has a smaller screen. The pictures are beautiful, and you can use ANY size card or USB. I was also using it for an event, but didn't need many pictures, so I am printing out some yearly calendars (part of the program) with pictures. It only prints 4x6, but I assume that is what you want. This is the first 4x6 photo printer I have had, but for the cost it is really great!

[stephen_kinosh]

Problem beinf that y0ou are going to have to print as shot.

 

If the exposuer is not spot on, the pics will not be good. In my opinion, every image can use some tweaking

[neilambrose]

<p>A card reader plugged into the USB slot will not work. The USB slot is for connection to a computer only, and

expects to communicate to a print driver rather than a storage device.</p>

 

<p>You can use one of the consumer dye-sub photo printers with in built card slot and a LCD to check the images. Most

of them allow basic image correction - contrast, brightness, etc - which you can do using a keypad on the printer. The

biggest problem you'll face is speed. They're not fast - you'll be lucky to do more than 3 6x4 prints in 5 minutes. But if

you're on a budget and 'high volume' is around 40-50 prints rather than 400-500 then it's a workable solution.</p>

 

<p>Are you intending to sell the prints? If you're dealing with very high numbers then consider getting an event photographer instead of

doing it yourself - it will be a lot easier. They'll bring all the equipment and expertise and will usually give charitable organizations a

respectable commission on all images they sell.</p>

[tmorgan]

Deborah,

<br><br>

You might consider one of the Kodak ESP-xx line of printers.

<br><br>

I saw the ESP-5 at PhotoPlus a couple of weeks ago. Kodak make impressive claims for the cost per print for this

series. The ESP-5 model I saw allowed you to select images for print, crop and incorporated image enhancement,

'Perfect Touch', which does an reasonable job on snapshots.

<br><br>

Any of these low cost printers are going to take a while to produce a print. I timed the ESP-5 at 45 seconds for a 4x6.

<br><br>

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp...Tom M

[wedding-photography-denver]

I think you are asking for too much function coupled with your "low cost" option.

 

I have an Epson picturemate that does 4x6's in about two mins (I think). I can plug a card in and select all the images or just some. It can print as you shoot more. I have used this for a couple of local events where I needed 100+ prints as I shot. It does NOT keep up with booth type shooting though.

 

I have looked at the Kodak ESP line and it looks like a good idea for the type of use. It may even keep up reasonably well.

 

Best, D.

[deborah_weesed]

*Photos are to be given away at this event and we expect several hundred children to participate, so the biggest challenge is finding a strategy that will keep up with demand. I am confident about my exposures and lighting, but I have no experience with this type of "fast food photo" set up. I normally use Photoshop and shoot photos for our organization's publications.

The Epson Picturemate looks interesting. Can you connect the camera to printer via USB and shoot a photo, print a photo, shoot a photo, etc? Or do you have to swap out compact flash cards?

 

Thanks so much to you all for your expertise!

[wedding-photography-denver]

I don't believe you can tether the camera to the printer, just use cards and swap them. I shoot about 3-5 keepers, deleting those I don't want as I go, then swap cards and start the printer going. Once its done printing those, swap cards again and so on.

 

If you are shooting that many "several hundred", you may not keep up. I have had to use two printers to manage with a 200 print gig once.

[richard_wang10]

What about renting a couple of laptops and several printers?

 

I'm in the San Francisco bay area and there are quite a few computer/printer rental companies.

 

It's probably because we have so many conventions.

 

There's also another way that is used in the tech field

 

Go to Best Buy and buy whatever equipment you need for the project, laptops, printers etc.

 

Keep all the packaging and all the receipts.

 

After the project return all the items and pay the 15% restocking fee.

 

It sort of like renting, right?

 

In all honestly, it's not the nicest thing to do, but you'd be amazed how often it's done on projects.

[kris-bochenek]

if you don't break the seal they shouldn't charge you 15% just open from the bottom :-)

ooops. I shouldnt've said that

or ask Best Buy to rent gear for free and just put them as one of your sponsors or something.

[greg jansen]

The Sony Snaplab can be run without a computer, AND it will keep up. It has a touch screen and multi-format card reader built in. Nice dye-sub prints, nice and portable, fast printout (about 20 seconds). Problem is they are about $1500.00.

 

If that is what your take on the event is going to be, just consider doing the event as a way to gain a printer so you can do other istant pint events and make some money.

 

If you are not looking at it long term, renting a real dye-sub printer and a laptop is your best solution. Seconds are critical in these situations. A fast reliable dye-sub printer will be your savior. A consumser printer, or two, that are slow, take long to boot up, are always running out of paper, ink, etc. are going to be a nightmare.

[chris_scuron]

Funny, I just did the same yesterday (Santa pics for Church event) and it was a nightmare. Had 1 canon Selphy printer and had a bunch of cards I kept swapping out, letting the teens handle printing. Got way behind and swore I'd find a better way to do this next year. If I had 4-6 of the Selphy printers and enough people to hand cards to, it would have worked much better.