Ideas for identifying pictures - swim meets and other events

EricC · #8 07-27-2006, 10:47 AM

O.K. Larry I get it now.

I don't know about the PDA but how about a tablet PC, or a really small notebook with a programmable keypad. I use a game pad from Nostromo. It's great for editing as I have programmed macros for each of the numbers on the keypad. One stroke tags a shot moves it saves it etc.

I'm assuming that you could shoot tethered to the notebook and use the keyboard to change the destination folder on the fly. Just program the key strokes to change folders and map it to each of the keys on the gamepad.

With the size of today's notebooks you could keep the whole rig in a small shoulder bag and just keep the gamepad exposed. This would let you use standard Nikon software for the tethered shooting.

Heck you could even go wireless to the shoulder bag and program the gamepad to change folders on the notebook. Then you wouldn't even need to go tethered, just run a FTP server on the notebook.

Eric

DouglasUrner · #9 07-27-2006, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarryRyder

During the same heat at a swim meet I may take pictures of 2-6 lanes. What I envision is I am ready to take lane 1, I press 1 on the keypad then take the picture(s). Now I am ready for lane 3, I press 3 then take the picture(s) and somehow this gets empeded in the image.

Would it be too much hassle to merge data from the PDA with your images? If not you could use the PDA to associate a time stamp with the location where you're shooting -- or any other relevant data -- and then you could merge the information from the PDA with the images based on the time stamps.

Doug

LarryRyder · #10 07-27-2006, 05:05 PM

Eric and Doug, thanks for the feedback 2 totally different methods for me to think about. I think I need to get capture and play with it.

One thing I can't envision is how to chimp with either method. I have not shot tethered except to play a little about a year ago but I think any chimping would need to be done on the PC, with a tablet it may be possible. With a non-connected PDA I would need to keep the pictures in order on the camera and PDA to be able to match them.

Ken_Shelton · #11 07-27-2006, 06:56 PM

Are the lanes numbered? Not just 'this is lane 1 and that is lane 6,' are there real numbers on the wall, deck, bottom?

Take a shot of the lane #, then the athlete, then the next lane #, then the next athlete, and so on. Deal with the data later.

Ken

EricC · #12 07-27-2006, 07:10 PM

Lary,

There is one more solution, I and a few of the local rag shooters have begun using the vioce recorder in the D2? to capture caption data. During the state wrestling championships I shot 8 mats going at the same time. I had assignments from 3 papers for different wrestlers. After the first shot from each mat I would record the mat number and weight class onto the the frame. Later while I was editing I could playback the wav file and combined with the brackets had everything right there for captions. I've begun doing this for a lot of our events when I need to ID something. I did it for a baseball tourney last weekend and recorded the field # at as I bounced from field to field.

This assumes

that you are using one of the Nikons that can record sound. But at something as fast as a swimming meet you can record notes for images as ofter as you want and with as much detail as you like without putting down the camera. Be ready for the looks that you'll get when someone sees you talking to your camera

!

Eric

CharlesBrown · #13 08-13-2006, 04:55 PM

Canon 1D series professional digital bodies have a voice recorder also, and the voice file has the same number as the image file, so an association can be made in a browser window without even playing the file.

I've also used the predecessor to the PDA... the nearly forgotten PAD. Instead of a stylus, it requires a pen, but a pencil will do, and is eraseable.

Since both Nikon and Canon have the ability to make folders, were I to shoot lanes 2 through 6, I would simply preload the PAD with folder names 100, 101, 102, & 103. Then, off to the pool deck to shoot. After shooting Lane 2, I'd enter L2 on the PAD right next to the "100". Change the camera to folder 101 and shoot lane 3. Enter L3 on PAD next to "101", etc.

By the way, the PAD is designed so that it can be clearly seen in direct sunlight, without any glare. It doesn't come with any preloaded software or games that would slow it down, and the batteries last indefinitely, so it's memory of the data, once entered, is extremely secure. It can be dropped 100 feet or more, and then stepped on, without any damage to the data. Admittedly, it is ancient techonolgy by today's standards, though.

Pavel_Derka · #14 09-07-2006, 12:50 PM

Mac os will do this for you. If you add the metadata into the shot (photomechanic for example) you can set up a smart folder that will instantly update and put links where it looks like the file is in a folder according to criterea that you specify. So create a smart folder called lane two for example and any shot with the keywork "lane two will instantly be in it - except it doesn't take except about 4k per shot of space.