I work one day a week at a music store specializing in unusual and
vintage instruments, where I started out as the person willing to tune
the harps and hammered dulcimers. Increasingly, though, I find myself
involved in the computer aspect of the business. The store has a
website, which I helped redesign last year. As part of that effort, I
brought in my digital camera and took photos of the shop and the other
employees. I've always loved photography, so this was one of my
favorite parts of the job.
Naturally, the store needs photos of instruments on the website, and
sometimes customers would like to get additional instrument photos
emailed to them. There was a backlog of picture requests. Nobody else
on the staff seemed to want to do them, which surprised me: nice
camera, beautiful instruments, what was the problem? I soon found
out.
Several years back, before I started working there, the store had
invested in a computer and graphics setup based on a beige G3 and a Nikon Coolpix
digital camera. After the new website was up, the owner asked if I
thought I could improve the shop's photo procedure. "I noticed you are
always smiling when you are using your camera," he said. "Every time I
go to take pictures, it takes me 2 or 3 hours, and I'm not happy. I
have other things I need to be doing. Can you make it work better?"
The amount of time he reported seemed excessive to me, too, so I
took the Nikon and went to photograph the next batch of instruments. It
took me several hours from start to finish, mostly because of the
download time - the camera could only be connected to the computer by a
serial port. To make matters worse, the AC adapter was the Nikon's only
source of power, and the camera end of the adapter was very easily
dislodged by any movement at all, being dependent on a tiny, rounded
lip of metal to stay in place. This made the picture-taking process
quite cumbersome, and the downloading process ticklish, with the G3
cordoned off behind Wires That Must Not Be Disturbed.
Apparently someone had left the store staff with the impression that
rechargeable batteries could not be used in the Nikon. I suggested that
NiMH batteries would be worth a try. We got some, and they've been
working beautifully. We now have freedom to take pictures anywhere we'd
like, whether convenient to an outlet or not. An additional benefit is
that, with the batteries in place, the camera remembers its settings
from session to session.
The G3s had been bought just before the advent of USB. I get along
well with my home setup (an Epson PhotoPC 650, which downloads into my
iMac 350 via the
Lexar Jumpshot cable), so I suggested that for a small investment the
store could go USB too. The owner was happy to approve this
expenditure.
I ordered a PCI USB card, a USB flash card reader, and some
additional RAM for the G3. I installed them without difficulty, thanks
to the beautifully illustrated G3 manual.
For a total of about $100, the picture download and processing time
have been improved drastically: the download that used to take an hour
or more now takes a minute or two, and does not require either battery
usage or the troublesome AC adapter, since the flash card (the camera's
removable memory card) now plugs directly into the USB reader. The
additional RAM allowed me to apportion more memory to the photo
processing program, which now runs considerably faster.
My goal was to make the photo process user-friendly so that anyone
else at the store could happily do it. It's a good thing I succeeded in
making it easier, because the result of these improvements was that I
found myself nominated as photographer. Fortunately, I do like to take
pictures. 
Next time: Batch Processing On A Budget.
