Could Santa Do this??

[poteen]

I belong to a Fraternal organization that wraps Christmas presents, and takes photos of Santa (me) with children, dogs, cats etc for charity. In the past we have used a Polaroid camera and the pictures are lousy, and the film is expensive.
What we would like to do is take a digital photo and print it directly from the camera. Is their a way to hardwire the camera to the printer?? Our budget is limited. Our camera operators would have to be able to operate with minimal training.

My questions:

Is this possible?

Could you suggest a simple to operate low priced unit.

If we can't hardwire this, would inserting and removing a camera card repeatedly during the shoot harm the camera or the card.

How much time would it take between shooting the picture and producing a finished photo

Any suggestions would be appreciated and your Christmas Wishes will be granted.

[drg]

I do this every year for several groups for Halloween, Christmas, and have done some for Easter as well.

If you have a PictBridge enabled camera there are several ink-jet printers with little displays that just let you print directly from the memory card or via a cable. Cost are the same as any ink-jet print.

Else use a normal ink-jet printer and a pc or notebook. Its the quickest cost controllable way to go for this type of thing unless you want some unusual quality. Many p/s type digital cameras offer a "tethered" mode, where the camera is connected to the computer by an USB (for example) cable and the "display" is the computer screen. You can then hit "Enter" or other key and have your photo ready to go to the printer.



Some of the Kodak cameras have printer bases that you can just set the camera on and press print and out comes the picture thereafter. A little more costly perhaps but very convenient.

If you a have a specific camera in mind perhaps I can point you in a more specific direction?

- C

[poteen]

I do this every year for several groups for Halloween, Christmas, and have done some for Easter as well.

If you have a PictBridge enabled camera there are several ink-jet printers with little displays that just let you print directly from the memory card or via a cable. Cost are the same as any ink-jet print.

Else use a normal ink-jet printer and a pc or notebook. Its the quickest cost controllable way to go for this type of thing unless you want some unusual quality. Many p/s type digital cameras offer a "tethered" mode, where the camera is connected to the computer by an USB (for example) cable and the "display" is the computer screen. You can then hit "Enter" or other key and have your photo ready to go to the printer.



Some of the Kodak cameras have printer bases that you can just set the camera on and press print and out comes the picture thereafter. A little more costly perhaps but very convenient.

If you a have a specific camera in mind perhaps I can point you in a more specific direction?

- C

Thanks for the guidance, if I understand correctly, I can hook a laptop via USB between the camera and the printer, select the image, then hit print ??

I think that we would buy a dedicated snapshot printer and a point and shoot camera.

Our volunteer photographers are a mixture of young girls and old geezers so simplicity of operation is pretty important. We have used a tripod in the past as some of us geezers shake a little. The Kodak system would require the mounting and dismounting of the camera.

If you have any camera/printer suggestions I would be grateful

[drg]

Yes, many of the point and shoots offer a tethered mode. I'm most familiar with this feature in the Canon Powershot line of P/S cameras. The camera comes with software to do this.

There are a few more factors here to consider besides just brand names. If the camera can be run from an AC adapter that is a huge help in doing this type of photography for more that a few shots. Chances are you'll have the camera on and focusing a lot and be using flash. This type of work eats batteries or rechargeable cells. Make sure that the camera you purchase has a tripod mount. Not all do, as many are just too thin or compact to allow for one. A remote is handy to trigger the camera, but not an absolute necessity. Be sure to have at least two memory cards if you plan on swapping them out to print. Probably be good to have three just in case of backups while printing and depending on the size of the card and how many photos you plan to take. They don't have to be the biggest size in this case, the sweet-spot for flash card memory prices is falling in the 256-512 M size it seems to me right now. Don't forget the tripod cost as part of your calculation unless you have one. For this kind of thing you can probably use a very inexpensive video type tripod and be fine. Just make sure it is stable and/or weighted down if not on a concrete floor.

I'm not sure of your budget range?

Around $200 plus ink and paper -
You can look at photo combination packages from Lexmark or the like that have a camera and printer in the box. Just make sure you get extra batteries, paper and ink. Not all of those are the easiest to use as they may not allow the camera to be directly hooked to the printer.

$300-500 depending on printer plus ink and paper -
As an example of a possibility here is the Canon Powershot S2-IS which has Image Stabilization as well. This really helps in making a good photograph and fixes a lot of "shaky" hand issues. This is a PictBridge enabled camera which allows it to plug directly into an enabled printer and then you use the camera display to set up the printing.Canon has some dedicated photo printers, but calculate your costs as these can be pricey per print.
There are good units from really all the major names, Nikon, Olmpus, Kodak, Fuji and so on besides Canon. Printers from Epson or H-P would complement this range.

Probably going to the local Electronics superstore and seeing what you going to spend (for everything) and then check the reviews here at http://www.photographyreview.com/reviewscrx.aspx
for any additional comments or hidden information. It also is a good idea to see if the camera looks "friendly" and won't be too trick to teach several people to use properly.

The real cost in all this is the paper and ink. That the big thing to consider when buying the printer is what is the per photo cost. DyeSub printers are fairly easy to calculate as they usually cost x amount per image for paper and ribbon. Ink-Jets can vary tremendously on paper costs and how much ink the paper soaks up to look good.

Hope this helps, if you have more questions please ask. Somebody here will have an answer or input I know!

[poteen]

ThanksDRG

I have a couple of Canon printers and a Canon A-75 Camera. I have found them to be good and reliable products, and would have no problem recommending them to our organization.

Spent the weekend taking your shopping advise and trying to communicate with the sales people at Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Depot & Max. Usual response to my specifications was " Like this camera has you know like 5 megapixels and it's the most expensive and like it's the best. "

Looking in the 300 > 350 neighborhood for the system. I see a lot of advertisements for 29 cents a picture I would like to stick with ink jet technology for speed.

We have a heavy Video tripod, and would like to keep the unit together so that we would not have to keep removing and replacing the momory card. Our pictures will be handed to the individual at the time they are taken, so we won't be needing any kind of an archival record. It will be a simple, shoot, print and go.

Any Canon recommendations would be appreciated.

[drg]

In this price range, for Canon the A520 looks pretty good, and it does allow for PC control/Remote Capture. The A520 looks like it should be under $200. It has (I believe I'm correct) a 4x optical zoom as a nice extra.

There's also the S60 for less than $300 in some places. It allows for an actual remote control and will produce RAW files if that ever appears to be a necessity.

Inkjets printers, find the best cost to quality ratio.

Best Wishes and Happy Holiday Shooting!

[ all prices mentioned as of 10/4/05 ]

[poteen]

Thanks again, you have been a great help.