Help with an idea

[Insp Gadget]

I was reading the news today and came across this concept idea. Martin Spurway - St. Albans, United Kingdom - Hitch - Sharing Memories that allows you to pass out cheap cameras at a wedding and have the pics all collected at the end of the evening. It's not in production but it got me to thinking.

My wife and I are wedding photographers and think this would be a great idea to use at weddings.

Since this model is not being manufactured, I wonder if I could make something similar. Using small cheap digital cameras, wifi memory cards, a netbook and a projector.

Couple of questions though

1. Can one computer capture images from several wifi cards at the same time?
2. Does anyone know of software that would automatically add new pics to a slideshow to be shown by a projector?

Thanks for your help!

 

[sierramister]

Those eye-fi cards are painfully slow.

 

[Insp Gadget]

I agree. I think they are terrible but is there an alternative? Do any of today's cameras have the ability to transfer pics using Bluetooth or have built in wifi?

 

[rehab]

samsung has a new line of wifi cameras out. Get a evo or iphone, wireless tether and use the samsungs but expect to pay $200 or so a pop. I think this is a bad idea for weddings though, EVERYONE is going to get in your way with their stupid PnS camera. If you need more pics hire an assistant.

 

[Big Mike]

There are Wifi grips for DSLR cameras, but that's not really an option here.

I think a more practical idea, in this day and age, would be to just have the guests e-mail or upload the photos they take with their smart phones. If you could find a way to give everyone access to a shared host (maybe it's a Facebook or Flickr account etc.)...I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to have a running slideshow of a gallery where the photos are being uploaded to. Someone may have to refresh it every so often though.

But sure, I guess that using digi-cams and WiFi cards would work (provided the computer could be the receiver of multiple cards. I'd assume that you could set all the photos to go into the same directory and then have the slideshow set to display photos in that directory.

Another option may just be to have your laptop set up with a multiple card reader, then have the guests stop by and upload their photos. This may require you to have someone actually sitting there to run the operation...12-16 year old cousin/niece/nephew might work.

 

[Insp Gadget]

Thanks Mike. We have tried, over the years to have attendees upload their pics to various places but it's extremely seldom that someone actually does. Using the method I'm suggesting it would be automatic and the bride and groom would have many more pics. Only problem is to get the darn thing to work properly. Another problem is how do we avoid our cameras going missing?

 

[MissCream]

Your cameras will more then likely go missing, you also run the risk of having them damaged by drunken relatives either spilling alcohol or dropping them. My sister in law had disposable cameras on the tables of her wedding because she couldn't afford a photographer and over half of them went missing. I guess the only thing you could really do is get the bride and groom to sign something saying they are responsible for the cameras if they choose to go with that option to have the extra cameras there.

On a side note, I'm a photographer in Fredericton as well

 

[sierramister]

I used Graphics Converter when I had my eye-fi card. It would loop and update continuously. Can I create a slide show that automatically updates as I upload photos? | Support

 

[Forkie]

That's a very expensive way of doing it. Most weddings I've been to have just put 3 or 4 disposable film cameras on the tables at the reception, then collected them all at the end of the night and get them developed at the local developers. It would be a bit pricey to put 3 or 4 digital cameras on every table! Also, as MissCream said, you'd probably get less than half of them back at the end of the day.