Best Camera for Online Photos

[Alex Snyder]

We generally have kept 200-250 cars on the ground while I've been around, Cash for Clunkers and the Pontiac closeout notwithstanding. I've been shooting solo for all of that, generally about six to eight cars soup to nuts (shot, feature collection, processed, watermarked, uploaded, rearranged, pushed live) per day barring any diversions.

Post processing (downloading the NEFs, splitting into events, tweaking, exporting from iPhoto, watermarking in FastStone Photo Resizer, zipping up for eBiz) is 30-45 minutes total, most of which is made up in not having to obsess over every single detail in the camera. (Or not having to reshoot the Denali with ebony seats we did today, where my trainee went the Spinal Tap route--none more black--with the interior shots.)

One rooftop, one service department, one detail department, one process....makes sense now. We have one corporate process that gets disrupted by 10 different service departments, 7 different detail departments, over 7 different rooftops - each with different used car managers, lot attendants and some philosophical-cultural variances toward how business is done. With our beast, it is more about getting all the people running in the same direction than the actual simplicities of getting a car front-line ready. With our beast, third-party photo vendors don't last long. We have to staff that position.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Ya'll, here are the facts.

Dealer Refresh audience is a unique bunch.
WE ARE THE EXCEPTION, NOT THE RULE. What we consider as "simple" is voodoo to your competitors down the street.

In my view of the business world, everything trickles down from the top, and, if the management at the top is still longing for the good ol' days, they ain't gonna get it... ever.

SUMMARY:
For those stores that DIY... YOU WANT 3rd PARTY PHOTO/DATA COMPANIES TO CONTINUE TO SERVE YOUR COMPETITORS.!!

You're right. I forget that a lot. But looking at the folks on DealerRefresh as my competition really helps to elevate me.....and thanks to all you for that :thumbup:

P.S. It is a competition of pride, not dollars. I save the dollar competition for the guys in my local market.

 

[Rob Ernst]

Has anybody tried this?

Pentax | Optio WG-1 14.0 Megapixel, 5x Wide Angle Optical Zoom, 2.7 Inch LCD Screen, HD Movie, Water, Shock, Cold, Crush & Dust Proof Rugged Digital Camera - Black *FREE SHIPPING* | 16926 | Tri-State Camera, Video, and Computer

I just ordered it. Looks pretty rugged. I have lot techs doing it for now but will probably take it over once I have some of the other things I'm working on complete (I've only been at this dealer for about 2 weeks and they weren't really doing much on the internet before).

 

[AWW_Spencerport]

Any iPhone that is 4 or later has excellent photo resolution. Seriously. You dont need to get fancy.

 

[yagoparamo]

Any iPhone that is 4 or later has excellent photo resolution. Seriously. You dont need to get fancy.

Spencer,

Depends where you are... In Seattle with daylight ending around 3pm and the "day" not having much bright light a DSLR camera makes really good use of the bigger processor and lenses.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Latest article over on the blog around using the Samsung Galaxy Camera for inventory photos and more.

Check out Arnold's article - Inventory Photos made EASY with the Samsung Galaxy Camera

 

[AutoArchitech]

Latest article over on the blog around using the Samsung Galaxy Camera for inventory photos and more.

Check out Arnold's article - Inventory Photos made EASY with the Samsung Galaxy Camera

I bought 5 of these to try out, figuring an all in one solution would be nice for my guys. They took horrible photos compared to the cameras we already use. I had to pay a restocking fee to return them, and there is one here on the shelf, in the box, getting dusty. I wanted it to work, but it didn't, for us. It suffers from the "trying to be everything" issue, it's a good device and a good camera, it will never be a great device or a great camera.

 

[joe.pistell]

The magic in cameras is in the software.

 

[anthonycapital]

Nikon D3200 here.

Homenet's photo upload process is dead simple.

You need the computer screen to be able to properly review the pictures in my opinion.

 

[jscole86]

We use a pretty good camera, but we use an eye-fi wireless SD card in it. As soon as a picture is taken, it's automatically uploaded wirelessly to his iPad within 1 or 2 seconds. So by the time your done snapping pictures, all the photos are there and it's a 10 second batch upload to vAuto using the mobile app on the iPad. No USB connections, etc. pretty seamless setup. The overlay we use is automatically applied to every 1st photo through vAuto's software.