Camera App that auto uploads to server or local drive

[axntdsgn]

I'm an app newbie, looking for a solution for a wedding. We want guests to easily be able to take a photo with their phone (I assume through an app), and have that photo automatically be added to a folder on a wifi connected local drive or remote web directory, where we'll be running a slide show. I know there are services out there for this, but I want to be able to manage the slide show independently.

Ideally it would go to a folder on a PC through a wifi router, because internet access may be spotty. Otherwise, automatically uploading to a directory on a web server would be OK too, and we'd just run a slide show program on a website.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Steve W.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

As I'm sure you know, if your guests and your PC can access the Internet then there are lots of solutions whereby people can sync to a cloud storage folder from any number of companies (like SugarSync), or to a Google Picasa account.

If not, and your guests are fairly tech-savvy (or you can have a few tech-savvy people set them up as they enter the reception), then you could probably have your guests install a (free) app like FolderSync Lite to sync over the WiFi LAN, using FTP or Samba/CIFS, to a folder on the PC.

I haven't personally tried FolderSync Lite and I don't sync to my PC. But I normally transfer files by FTP-over-WiFi (via ES File Explorer's FTP server) and I often leave my phone's FTP server running all day, so I can tell you that FTP-over-WiFi is reliable and battery-friendly. Though I think syncing via Samba/CIFS would likely be a better solution if you can get it set it up.

The stock Android photo gallery has an option to manually "Send by LAN", but I haven't gotten it to work on my LAN. (I think it has to do with my PC's networking settings, which also probably explains why I haven't had much luck with SAMBA/CIFS-- not that I've spent much time on it.) If you could figure out how to make that work, it might be more acceptable to your guests than asking them to install (and then uninstall) an app and share a folder.

By the way, it sounds like maybe you have a slideshow software that you want to use. If not Windows has a My Pictures Slideshow screensaver. You can set it up in your desktop settings. And if you want to be able to manually instantly invoke it (rather than waiting for the sreensaver to start) you can go into your C:/Windows/System32 folder, sort by file type, find the screensaver, right-click it, and create a shortcut for your desktop.

Good luck! And if it's your wedding, congrats!

On a side note... One of the most fun things that I've ever seen at a reception was this... The bride and groom announced at the beginning of the reception that they would refuse to kiss if people clanged their glasses. But they would be happy to kiss if a person or a group of people would stand up an sing a piece of a song with the word "love" in it. The guests complied and it was a hoot.