DominicSmith
12-07-2011, 09:43 PM
Sorry this is a wee bit long, bought I thought it important to share my experiences with the DS40. I bought DS 40 about 2 weeks ago as our Hi Ti 730 had started to exhibit problems after 5 years of flawless service. Up until the 9th July, the DS 40 had been used twice at weddings to print 7”x5” photos at the reception without any problems and I was suitably impressed with the speed and quality of output.
I was recently contacted by a company who are part of the STENA Shipping Line group regarding setting up a green screen studio at the Tall Ships Event at Greenock in Scotland. The idea was that they would offer a free photograph to anyone that wanted one with either a Tall Ship or a Stena Tanker in the background. The event went very well and over 3 days we printed and gave away more than 1600 no. 6”x4” photographs complete with the Stena brand name on each photo.
I’m writing this to share my thoughts on my computer and printer setup and perhaps get a few answers from some more experienced DS40 and PC Network users.
Last year we did an event where my Vista laptop connected to my Nikon D2X using a little program called DIY Photobits. On doing a test last week, I could not get the D2X or the D700 to connect at all, despite trying all combinations for over an hour. Vista could see the D2X and it would record images onto the hard drive, but the Photobits program would not work correctly, despite me having downloaded the most up to date version. Neither Vista nor Photobits would recognise the D700. I also downloaded DC Cam, another free program, and again had no success on the Vista laptop.
Using DC Cam, on my other Windows 7 64bit laptop, both cameras were recognised and as long as I had the camera connected and switched on prior to running DC Cam there was no problem. If I switched the camera off, I then had to run DC Cam again to re-enable the connection. Over the weekend I experienced a number of network issues where the Vista PC crashed or was unable to communicate with the Win 7 PC, this despite nothing different happening from one print to the next. These were usually solved by a quick re-boot up the exhaust vent!!
I have tried the Trial version of Nikon Camera Capture with both laptops and it refuses to connect to my D700(?).
On setting up at the Tall Ships on day one, I connected the Win 7 laptop to the D700, then using an Ethernet cable, networked both laptops together so that I could record onto the smaller screen Win 7 laptop and use the larger screen Vista laptop to view and print the photo’s. I have discovered that you need to save your photos in a Public Folder to enable this to happen. When we set up the printer though I came across the first problem. I set the paper size in the print driver from 7x5 to 6x4, hit apply and then okay and then exited. I opened Photoshop and tried to make my first print but the printer made a few noises and just sat there with the error light for the paper shining brightly. Panic, albeit controlled, set in. Thinking is was the paper/ribbon and after about 20 minutes of in and out with both, I discovered that for some reason you also need to set the print size in the printing programme (Photoshop.) Panic over but left wondering why the print driver does not take priority,
Later that day, after installing fresh paper/ ribbon, the printer made a strange grinding noise, and then did nothing. No cycling, no paper checks, nothing. Panic no.2 of the day. After about 15 minutes I discovered that the paper holders were not fully pushed into the paper roll, meaning they could not connect with the printer drive mechanism. After sorting this the printer began to work fine.
On Day two, I connected everything up as before, plugged in the printer, switched it on and nothing. No power, no lights. Tried the usual plugging and unplugging to no avail, then decided to use another cable I had brought. This worked so another heart attack over. On later checking the faulty cable I discovered that it was not the fuse that was at fault (I tried this in another cable and it was fine,) but rather the cable itself that wouldn’t work. Not good.
I have also discovered that when the ribbon is finished in the printer, there is enough paper left to print about 8 additional prints. Is this normal that the two don’t match exactly?
2 other small incidents occurred with the DS40. Firstly, a print appeared with a large red coloured band across the top of it as if a colour had been overlaid over part of the images. The other was where the printer started to cycle through the lights and then proceed to cut up a print that never appeared. I’m not sure what happened here, but can only assume it was a faulty print or piece of paper.
I really enjoyed this event, which was the largest and most high profile I had ever undertaken, and I am looking forward to doing more of this work, especially with Green Screen which worked superbly. There were a few ‘Heart Attack’ moments, but getting there early and doing test runs was critical in overcoming them.
If anyone has any thoughts on either the laptop setup or the printer behaviour then I would be grateful to hear from you. I was also using Photoshop for the Green Screen, which worked well and was fast. However I know there is other software available and was wondering what other event photographers use.
What I would like to do in future is to batch run or automate the print process and have the software randomly drop in a background from a selection of around 10 without me having to intervene. It would simply sit there and wait for the next photo to appear from the camera, select randomly a chromakey background and then print the photo. I don’t know if this is currently possible.
On average I printed about 66 prints per hour, or just over one a minute. The client was happy because upwards of 10,000 people will see their name in their home. Families were delighted as, according to some, ‘this is the best family photo we have ever had taken.’
But I could not believe how cynical Scots could be (and I’m one of them.) On hearing that this was a free photo, the number of people who asked us “what was the catch” or “where’s the gimmick,” was amazing. That said, nearly everyone we met at the event was exceptionally nice and incredibly appreciative of what they were getting.
Thanks for taking the time to read and replying.
Dominic Smith M.Sc.
www.bridalimage.co.uk (http://www.bridalimage.co.uk)
www.eventprints.co.uk (http://www.eventprints.co.uk) (not yet up - but soon.)
I was recently contacted by a company who are part of the STENA Shipping Line group regarding setting up a green screen studio at the Tall Ships Event at Greenock in Scotland. The idea was that they would offer a free photograph to anyone that wanted one with either a Tall Ship or a Stena Tanker in the background. The event went very well and over 3 days we printed and gave away more than 1600 no. 6”x4” photographs complete with the Stena brand name on each photo.
I’m writing this to share my thoughts on my computer and printer setup and perhaps get a few answers from some more experienced DS40 and PC Network users.
Last year we did an event where my Vista laptop connected to my Nikon D2X using a little program called DIY Photobits. On doing a test last week, I could not get the D2X or the D700 to connect at all, despite trying all combinations for over an hour. Vista could see the D2X and it would record images onto the hard drive, but the Photobits program would not work correctly, despite me having downloaded the most up to date version. Neither Vista nor Photobits would recognise the D700. I also downloaded DC Cam, another free program, and again had no success on the Vista laptop.
Using DC Cam, on my other Windows 7 64bit laptop, both cameras were recognised and as long as I had the camera connected and switched on prior to running DC Cam there was no problem. If I switched the camera off, I then had to run DC Cam again to re-enable the connection. Over the weekend I experienced a number of network issues where the Vista PC crashed or was unable to communicate with the Win 7 PC, this despite nothing different happening from one print to the next. These were usually solved by a quick re-boot up the exhaust vent!!
I have tried the Trial version of Nikon Camera Capture with both laptops and it refuses to connect to my D700(?).
On setting up at the Tall Ships on day one, I connected the Win 7 laptop to the D700, then using an Ethernet cable, networked both laptops together so that I could record onto the smaller screen Win 7 laptop and use the larger screen Vista laptop to view and print the photo’s. I have discovered that you need to save your photos in a Public Folder to enable this to happen. When we set up the printer though I came across the first problem. I set the paper size in the print driver from 7x5 to 6x4, hit apply and then okay and then exited. I opened Photoshop and tried to make my first print but the printer made a few noises and just sat there with the error light for the paper shining brightly. Panic, albeit controlled, set in. Thinking is was the paper/ribbon and after about 20 minutes of in and out with both, I discovered that for some reason you also need to set the print size in the printing programme (Photoshop.) Panic over but left wondering why the print driver does not take priority,
Later that day, after installing fresh paper/ ribbon, the printer made a strange grinding noise, and then did nothing. No cycling, no paper checks, nothing. Panic no.2 of the day. After about 15 minutes I discovered that the paper holders were not fully pushed into the paper roll, meaning they could not connect with the printer drive mechanism. After sorting this the printer began to work fine.
On Day two, I connected everything up as before, plugged in the printer, switched it on and nothing. No power, no lights. Tried the usual plugging and unplugging to no avail, then decided to use another cable I had brought. This worked so another heart attack over. On later checking the faulty cable I discovered that it was not the fuse that was at fault (I tried this in another cable and it was fine,) but rather the cable itself that wouldn’t work. Not good.
I have also discovered that when the ribbon is finished in the printer, there is enough paper left to print about 8 additional prints. Is this normal that the two don’t match exactly?
2 other small incidents occurred with the DS40. Firstly, a print appeared with a large red coloured band across the top of it as if a colour had been overlaid over part of the images. The other was where the printer started to cycle through the lights and then proceed to cut up a print that never appeared. I’m not sure what happened here, but can only assume it was a faulty print or piece of paper.
I really enjoyed this event, which was the largest and most high profile I had ever undertaken, and I am looking forward to doing more of this work, especially with Green Screen which worked superbly. There were a few ‘Heart Attack’ moments, but getting there early and doing test runs was critical in overcoming them.
If anyone has any thoughts on either the laptop setup or the printer behaviour then I would be grateful to hear from you. I was also using Photoshop for the Green Screen, which worked well and was fast. However I know there is other software available and was wondering what other event photographers use.
What I would like to do in future is to batch run or automate the print process and have the software randomly drop in a background from a selection of around 10 without me having to intervene. It would simply sit there and wait for the next photo to appear from the camera, select randomly a chromakey background and then print the photo. I don’t know if this is currently possible.
On average I printed about 66 prints per hour, or just over one a minute. The client was happy because upwards of 10,000 people will see their name in their home. Families were delighted as, according to some, ‘this is the best family photo we have ever had taken.’
But I could not believe how cynical Scots could be (and I’m one of them.) On hearing that this was a free photo, the number of people who asked us “what was the catch” or “where’s the gimmick,” was amazing. That said, nearly everyone we met at the event was exceptionally nice and incredibly appreciative of what they were getting.
Thanks for taking the time to read and replying.
Dominic Smith M.Sc.
www.bridalimage.co.uk (http://www.bridalimage.co.uk)
www.eventprints.co.uk (http://www.eventprints.co.uk) (not yet up - but soon.)