OS X Server for photo business

Question

Level 1

15 points

OS X Server for photo business

Hi

I am an event photographer, and I am currently using 5 iPads to sell photos on site at events. I normally do not have internet access at event sites, so cloud type services are not an option, and I would like to use a Mac Mini to wirelessly serve the images to the iPads.

At the moment, I'm finding downloading the images to the iPads is taking way too much time, and I'm losing sales. Most events would be a minimum of 3000 images.

I'm wondering what options I have for this? I don't need a shopping cart on site, I want a very simple way to create galleries and just show photos with their file names on the iPads.

My web site currently uses a customized MySQL database to sell the photos on line, so I'm wondering, could I do the same by placing another MySQL database on the Mac Mini, and use Safari on the iPads to view photos wirelessly?

iMac (20-inch Early 2008), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Feb 3, 2014 9:25 AM

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Answer 1

Feb 3, 2014 10:04 AM in response to photoelle

Your speed bottleneck is the speed of your WiFi connection. It is slower than using a white wire to connect the iPad directly to the computer.

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Answer 2

photoelle Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 3, 2014 8:17 PM in response to Simon Slavin

Yes, I agree, but the iPad app I'm using for viewing the photos uses a wifi transfer. Either through a "helper" app on the laptop, or Dropbox, which needs a robust system to handle 5 iPads all downloading at the same time, lol. If I go wired through iTunes, the file names get stripped, which is no good for selling.

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Answer 3

Camelot

Level 9

54,339 points

Feb 3, 2014 10:17 PM in response to photoelle

One question is where you're storing the photos, and where the iPads are getting them from.

If you don't have internet access at the site, then where are the images? On the iPads themselves? You're not likely to beat showing images that are on the iPad.

If, on the other hand, you mean there's no broadband connection but the iPads use their LTE/4G connection, then you may be able to beat that by serving them from a local server, but part of the answer to that lies with the software that you're using to show the images - is it flexible enough to allow you to load the images from any HTTP server, for example? or does it assume a specific server?

Given what you've said (which isn't really enough to properly answer the question), it may be possible to load them on the server and use a local wifi network to serve them to the iPads, but more details about the application are needed.

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Answer 4

cpragman

Level 2

465 points

Feb 4, 2014 6:40 AM in response to photoelle

Perhaps you can bring your own internet access to the event site. I was thinking that if you brought a few powerful/fast wifi routers (preconfigured to talk to each other to extend your network) then your devices could talk to them.

You can bring one (or several) MIFI hotspots to the event, to get you internet connectivity.

With those prerequisites met, you could use DropBox on your mac, and DropBox app on the iPads to display photos. DropBox will use local sync between macs if it detects it is available, which is faster than using the internet as an intermediary. Not sure if the DropBox iPad app uses local sync though.

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Answer 5

photoelle Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 4, 2014 8:51 PM in response to Camelot

Thanks so much for the replies! More details, the photos are downloaded with a MacBook Pro, and originals are stored in an external hard drive. They are processed in Aperture, and small jpgs are made for the iPads and put on the desk top in a folder structure.

The iPads are currently using the Portfolio app. The iPads connect directly to the computer via wifi using computer-to-computer network. Photos can be downloaded to the iPads via a Portfolio "helper" on the computer that uses local wifi, or via Dropbox. The venues I shoot at usually have no internet access so the Dropbox method is not practical. I don't have a cell phone either.

I've used both methods, but both take too long. The local wifi method requires pulling the iPads away from the customers, and typing in the folder names on each iPad separately, then waiting while they download. The Dropbox method retains folder structure, but I found out large numbers of photos downloading on 5 iPads really slows down the process. Plus, if the iPad is touched during the download, it cancels.

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Answer 6

photoelle Author

Level 1

15 points

Feb 4, 2014 8:49 PM in response to photoelle

I'd like to find a more efficient method. I'm thinking if I could use a Mac Mini as a server for the iPads, the photos and folder structure would be loaded there, and stream wirelessly to the iPads. Maybe Safari could be used by the iPads for viewing?

Any suggestions are appreciated!

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