I need to find an alternative to "Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard".
I work as a bonds man and we take pictures of every defendant that we get out of jail, and these pictures are vital. So I have a samba share (Ubuntu Server network mapped on XP machines as "X:\Pictures\") setup for users to upload photos to from our company camera. This share is backed up nightly to a remote server so that we will NEVER loose any photos (did I mention these photos are vital ;-) ). The problem I am having is that some times the staff mistakenly changes the default upload location from "X:\Pictures\" to "My Pictures" (this happens when the server is down, which is rare, but it does happen). So I need to find an alternative to "Microsoft Scanner and Camera Wizard" that will FORCE the staff to upload the photos to the correct directory (X:\Pictures\) and not let them change the upload directory FOR ANY REASON...
Anyone know of a User Friendly (for the staff to use) app that will do this?
Some other alternatives that I am looking into is;
1. Possibly using a Web Cam instead of a Camera. This way I can set the webcam up to force the upload directory. Any idea's on a good webcam to accomplish this?
2. Creating a web based uploader so that they will get uploaded/backed up via the web? Any OpenSource suggestions
i.e.
http://jalbum.net/
http://coppermine-gallery.
http://gallery.menalto.com
http://www.phpalbum.net/
Which one?
Any idea's/comments/suggestion
TiA,
-BassKozz
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Thanks for the suggestions Bill,
But all of the software that came with the camera is more complex then Micro$oft's scanner&camera wizard, and I was looking for an easier solution...
So, I ended up buying a eye-fi SD card, and now the photos are automatically uploaded to our companies backup server :-D
No more need for the staff to connect the camera to the computer AT ALL !!!
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by: BillDLPosted on 2009-01-20 at 03:33:11ID: 23419002
Hi BassKozz
I'm sure that many of the programs on CDs that come with cameras offer their own alternatives to the Scanner & Camera Transfer Wizard. One that I have used while testing it for my father is NikonView. It came on CD with the Nikon Coolpix camera as version 4.x but I installed version 6.2.3 for him.
NikonView is described here:
http://support.nikontech.c
and as you will see it is a software suite comprising several programs designed to:
1. Monitor for a camera connection
2. Launch the user-configurable transfer utility to:
(a) copy or move images from the camera to a user-set folder
(b) create a new folder in the destination for the images using
various choices of naming convention including date and time
(c) rename copied images using chosen of naming convention as above
3. Optionally the user can then have it launch the image browser, upload
photos to a web destination, and other options. The image browser
allows you to set it to use another installed editor OR use its own.
The editing functions are very basic.
As this software suite only installed as a site of programs from the furnished CD, there is no way that I have seen to do a custom install and only install the transfer program, which is really just the part that would be useful to you .... however ...
If you look at the page showing current versions of Nikon software:
http://support.nikontech.c
You can follow the link to "Nikon Transfer":
http://support.nikontech.c
It is now on Version 1.3.1 that are compatible with XP SP3 and Vista. The version installed by my older version of NikonView is 1.0.
Download and description page:
http://support.nikontech.c
Although it states that it only works with Nikon cameras, I'm not convinced. I've just connected my cheapo Vivitar digital camera and it launched the Nikon Transfer "dialog" as intended, and copied all images correctly using the settings I entered. I am hoping that this standalone and updated version of the program will work just as well.
The reason I am proposing this as a program for your purposes is that the selected "Destination Directory" is stored in the registry along with other settings such as the naming conventions, etc. Once set, it is easy enough to hide the option buttons from the user with a quick modification of the program executable's resources, and just leave a bright yellow "Transfer" button for the users to click.
Kind of idiot proof really, connect camera, up pops the little dalog (See screenshot 1), click the transfer button. It optionally displays the thumbnails of images being transferred to convince the user that it is working (See screenshot 2).
To edit the *.exe's resources, I used Resource Hacker. It's a simple program and I can provide simple notes on what resource to change if version 1.3.1 works for me.
I will test it and get back to you, but you could maybe let me know if this is something that might be suitable for your needs.
The progress bar and optional thumbnail image
The edited popup devoid of buttons that would allow users to change settings