mcmanamey

<p>Eye-Fi cards.<br /> <br />Problem - as far as I know, they are still only making SD cards. If they've added compact flash to their product line, I am unaware of it. They are easily found at Best Buy.<br />If they have CF, spend the money and go w/ the Eye-Fi "pro." MUCH faster transfer rate & the ability to send RAW files, not just JPG.</p>

<p>Bunny - I suspect multiple printers are because of multiple print sizes. As I glanced past above, if you want to print 5x7s AND 4x6s at the same event, you can NOT do this on the same printer. Not with the 6850.<br />A back up is handy, but it does NOT take so long to change the ribbon or the paper that you need to worry about down time. Ours operates outside in wind and dirt 3 days straight, then does it again 2 weeks later. 4 years and zero failures. (Do I want a backup? Yes. Can I get one yet? No.)</p>

<p>This is the core of my business, and we use the 6850.<br /><br />This is a good printer for you to start with. Personally - I'd buy the 6x8 print kit so you have the flexibility to print either a 6x8 or 2- 4x6s. If people want a 5x7, they can do the trimming. Once you change that printer to 5x7s, that's all you get to print. You can't run 5x7s & 4x6s off the same printer - but we need that flexibility. You may not.<br /><br />You MUST run prints through a computer - whether you use a laptop or tower. You must run Windows for the driver.<br /><br />Since you shoot on SD cards - USE EYE-FI CARDS!!! They've been invaluable in stopping breakage, bad cards, and speeding up the process. How many stations do you have for proofing, and how many are busy at the exact same time in the past? If you NEED to stick with transferring cards back and forth... then do so, but it makes another step in the printing process.<br /><br />You do NOT need a cutter - that's part of the printer's hardware. <br /><br />It will print a 6x8 in 15 seconds. The longest part of the wait is for your operator to make any corrections, cropping, and to tell the printer WHAT to print. We tell people to come back in 20 minutes. It usually takes three minutes. There are software packages you can buy that will do the printing automatically, but they're grossly expensive.<br /><br />No, you do not NEED more than one printer for the volume.<br /><br />Now on to Carl's points:<br />You can lighten inside the 6850's printing software, but you need to play with it and just be sure you're shooting em right. It is printing software, not so much adjustment software. I recommend shooting your photos light enough you're on the verge of blowing highlights - especially if you're shooting in jpeg. The prints do come out darker than you'll expect the first few times. We shoot RAW + Jpg because every once in a while, somebody wears all black, or I bump a dial & don't realize and we've needed the adjustment room raw provides. Otherwise, we have our settings memorized now.<br /><br />We've never had a paper jam with the 6850.<br /><br />It really really really is better to use Eye-Fi to wirelessly send the photos to your printing computer.<br /><br />You do NOT need 2 printers for that volume.<br />(What sizes do you print for the event?)<br /><br />And on to Bill:<br />YES, the biggest bottleneck is the proofing. Especially indecisive people. At events such as you describe - I shoot 2 - 5 photos and then my husband picks the best & prints it. I have yet to have one complaint about this system. When we're shooting places where it's more of a 5 shot portrait session & they can choose poses & sizes and then pay on their own... yes, the customer gets to proof.<br /><br />Husband says yes, you can set up the color profile if you really need to. We never have. Again - it's all about checking the camera exposure and a matter of running maybe 2 test prints to warm the printer up before hand. If you nail your exposure, your print will be fine. (Get your histogram over to the right!!!)<br /><br />We bought our machine from ebay & zero support (overstock clearing company type deal). We've had zero problems even at that. The driver is readily available.<br /><br />And one more thing from us:<br />BUY YOUR PRINT KITS FROM SPECTRUM IN DALLAS!!!!!! Honest company, cheap price. (The honest company is the hard part to find!!!) Other companies will try to sell you lightweight paper as if it's the exact same as the kodak blah blah blah. NO. And Spectrum will tell you what the differences are!<br /><br />Feel free to message any questions.<br />My husband handles the technical stuff when we're onsite, so he knows this printer & its software inside out. I can help you with the process - I'm the one shooting the pics while he hides in the back. :)</p>

<p>Overall - I vote no (it's NOT overdone). Like you, I don't care for over-stylized but every once in a while...<br />I think it has a lot of drama. Keeps the attention on her eyes.<br />Ok, I'm slightly disturbed by the blurry bridesmaid (I assume) with only half a face - but not to the point of distraction. That's my eyes looking over every last detail.</p>

<p>Well, what Peter said. <br />It's been so long since I've used the 18-55 (we kind of handed it down to my dad-in-law) I can't remember what it looks like compared to the primes I use. (Of what you listed, we have the FA 35)<br />BUT if the weather is a concern for you, go ahead and get it and keep reminding yourself "weather sealed!" "weather sealed!" :)</p>

<p>This sounds like something my husband would post. Oh, wait:</p>

<p>http://www.photo.net/pentax-camera-forum/00P0Sm</p>

<p>Well, I was going to respond, but I'm so busy laughing & snorting at what Hector, Dave, and Peter said...<br />never mind. </p>

<p>If everybody is an adult, and I can almost guarantee your celebrity has been through this before, then you literally need about 30 seconds per shot.<br />I maybe exaggerating just a tad, but seriously, the biggest instruction most people will need is "step a little closer." It will take under 1 minute per photo.</p>

<p>Doggone it Markus, I'm stuck in a hospital recovery room next to my oldest, (small hospital, this is where the "intensive care" is) and the cafeteria doesn't open for another 1.5hrs, I'm STARVING since my last meal was over 11 hrs ago, and they do not have anything near this appealing!!<br />Food was in the title, I so should have known better....<br /><br />Well, apparently, we all agree on the light.<br />I actually didn't mind the light as much as I was afraid I would. The only thing that distracted me was the harsh shadows which the umbrella will take care of.<br />I still struggle with food composition, especially if you have an eye towards putting it on the menu. Certainly shooting from above, but not directly. I like the plate turning idea and show some of the table surface.<br />I don't even mind the white plates - i think it makes the food pop out - but the table & surrounding need to be contrasty to that. <br /><br />Anyway - happy eating!! </p>

<p>I think that's an AWESOME idea.<br />But a cure for LBA???? I don't know, seems like an exacerbater. :D </p>

<p>Matt says "Very steampunk" of #6<br />He's such a punk.<br /><br />I think #6 w/ the spiral staircase is jut pure epic-ness.<br />really like the set. </p>

<p>Oh, yeah. I did forget they're only SD right now, although they say they're working on compact flash.<br /><br />Software: Well, we're Mac users, so I don't know if this can apply for you.<br>

We use Aperture for cataloging & editing, but the way we have our set up, there's no editing anymore unless something weird happens to come up (like a huge group that requires I wind up shooting off the backdrop. And I only do that 1 group because the 'dad' is a good friend).<br /><br />We recently acquired a Kodak 6850 (kiosk printer) and THEN discovered Kodak offers zero Mac support for them. Well, the husbands laptop already runs Parallels & Windows for engineering software, so we use that printer's software on his machine.<br>

Therefore, the eye-fi sends all photos to a particular folder on my machine. When he gets the order form & knows what sizes of which file, he will then send only that file from my machine to his. The printer software will crop, rotate, & do some color correction (I think. I never see this, cause I'm busy) and you just tell it how many of what size and they get spit out. It sounds clunky, but this happens so fast that he can bring out the print order before we're done taking money up front!<br />Larger prints go to a different printer which plays nice with my machine, so those prints are edited and printed directly through Aperture. <br /><br />I would totally recommend the Kodak 6850 - for 6x8 or smaller - as it is fast and returns very good prints. I don't like that Kodak couldn't be bothered to have a Mac driver.<br />However, they've gotten oddly expensive on ebay. Recently they've been selling for double what we got ours for. </p>

<p>We constantly do shoot & print onsite and have just moved away from swapping SD cards between me (shooting) and the hubby (editing).<br />Don't "tether" to the computer - get an Eye-Fi card. As a matter of fact, get an Eye-Fi Pro card so you can transmit RAW images in case you ever want to. (About $100 for 8G)<br />Now, with the eye-Fi you DO have to have a wireless router out with you. It has to see the router before it will bother trying to talk to your computer. Little bit of a pain? Yes. However, the cheapest, smallest router you get to carry around will be fine. Seriously. We carry a $20 router around with us. The 2 laptops just network themselves directly.<br /><br />If you shoot a couple poses and then you choose the best to print, you don't need to worry about proofing.<br />If you are going to let the contestants pick, you do need a way to proof. I don't like it, but for when we're out, I actually plug the camera into a TV & proof & take orders right there. The reason for plugging into the tv over moving to a computer is 2 things - 1) not taking the card out of the camera (we've suffered a lot of SD damage w/ other people touching the cards) and 2) not having another computer out with us.</p>

<p>Since we do online galleries AND a printed proof book, that is the type of pose I would include in the book, but never put online.<br />If they are going with the DVD & copyright release, I put it on the DVD, but still not online. </p>

<p>price sounds about right if they're talking about the RED video camera....<br /><br />but somebody's gone loony, or has a very very very tiny grasp of English. </p>

<p>I like. Even the b&w have a sense of richness & texture to them.<br>

The last one is my least favorite of the group and I'm not entirely sure why. I think it's very static compared to the others. No action.<br />Yet, I really like the B&W vertical of the same wall!<br /><br />Missed seeing your stuff, Hin!! </p>

<p>I'm just here to say exactly what these guys have said.<br />If you're not collecting $ at the time you shoot, you're going to be LUCKY to get 5 orders through the website - even after shooting hundreds of kids. Just don't let people leave without spending a little bit of $ and getting some kind of prints.<br /><br />At an absolute minimum, an inexpensive dye-sub 4x6 printer and swapping memory cards ever so often is the way to go. In this area, people don't blink at a $5 4x6 w/ Santa, even if they need to come back by the table in 20 min or so to pick up their print (since it's a 2hr event).<br />Our example would be an outdoor charity shoot - where I donate my time & Walgreens donates their kiosk printers. I'll shoot hundreds of kids in the space of 1.5 hours & there will be a runner carrying the SD cards back & forth. Parents give the charity $5 and stop back by the tent to find & pick up the matted (digitally) 4x6 print in a card. The charity actually puts a little note on the back that says "For more prints, order at....." and there's my website. I had a few residual orders, and a small portion of that I give back to them to say "thanks for promoting me."<br /><br />When I'm shooting for our school's PTO, I do <strong>NOT</strong> do prints onsite.<br />I have an order form, the parents pay right then, and a week later I'm delivering sorted print orders to the office & putting them in the teacher's boxes.<br />Granted, in your instance delivery would probably be messier - but if you build in the cost of a stiff photo protecting envelope & postage, it is unlikely that people will mind.<br /><br /> </p>

<p>It's entirely up to you, and is generally determined by how you file your taxes (partnership, LLC, Corp, etc) or what's easiest for bookkeeping.<br /><br />I'd be willing to bet at least 98% of the people here use Jan 1 - Dec 31 as their fiscal year. Cause it just makes life easier. Ask your accountant. </p>

<p>The 16G vs the 32G or any other size has NOTHING to do w/ how well your photos will look.<br />The available storage space only affects how many photos you can keep on the ipad.<br />Do NOT put the smallest versions of your jpegs on there, or you're going to wind up showing pixelated copies. Conversely, you do not need to use your full size 14mg files, either.<br /><br />If you're a mac user & use Aperture, just create an album of samples inside Aperture you want on the ipad & when you sync, it'll automatically size & move them over for you. And they'll look spectacular with no extra work by you.</p>

<p>Gary - as one who shoots both stills AND video at weddings - I totally +1 what Craig is saying.<br />A consumer level video camera would fill your need much much much better than a DSLR. It is possible to rent even a small one (the 3-chip handy cams are actually pretty good quality for the tiny size!)<br /><br />I can't help much w/ tricks on recording w/ the DSLR, because we're some of those 'stick in the mud' people that are getting looked down on by SOME (in the consumer electronics market) for still shooting w/ honest to goodness pro level video cameras (GASP!) - because no DSLR meets our need of being able to record for up to 60 - 90 minutes straight.<br>

For the microphone, Craig is spot on. I would even get 2 if possible. 1 on the groom (does a good job of getting the bride as long as she doesn't whisper) AND one taped to a speaker at the church, so the music can be heard in your recording.<br />Best spot is on the lapel and about 8 inches below the groom's chin. I clip the mic on, then run the transmitter & wire inside the jacket to his pants pocket. No mic wires have ever showed up in photos when I'm placing mics. </p>

<p>Howard - who knew somebody'd take me literally??!! lol.<br />Actually, we got eyeballed a LOT by a security guard (and considering how many people use this place for on-location sittings, we were a bit surprised. Maybe it was the 'assault rifle'?) And then, when we change locations - what do we come nose to nose with but a police van!! Hmmmm.....<br /><br />Kid wasn't about to get out of the van (wearing SWAT gear) & grab his (Airsoft) gun before his dad went & made sure the cop wouldn't freak out with us perched on a bridge above a major street just to take pics. </p>

<p>It's been pretty informal.<br>

Shot w/ a Pentax. your best shot of the week (or 2 if you can't decide). And being nerds, we like to know how you went about getting the shot.<br />Being a girl, I like the backstories that go w/ them. Just try to make it a short story, not a novel ;-) </p>

<p>Kari - forgot to say, that was quite the way to start the thread. Pretty, and powerful. I like church yards & cemeteries, too.<br /><br />This is not just the same pose - this is Matt's version of the same pose. This one & one other are going to be entered in a Lens Baby Senior Photo contest.<br /><br />PS - good to see some new names ('faces'?) in here - and good to still see the old 'regulars'. How're you guys doing this summer?? </p><div></div>

<p>Haven't gotten to get out and do shooting much at all, which has actually been irritating me.<br />Had a Senior Photo shoot last night though, and this is my favorite of the night. </p><div></div>

<p>2nd time in my life I've been to NM, and I actually stopped & got photos!<br />This cat is the most colorful thing I've seen in several months, and is on Main Street in Durango, CO. </p><div></div>