I do not want to use EXIF data.

I keep getting fatal errors in PHP that are driving me crazy.

How do I disable any & all function calls relating to EXIF?

Sample error:

Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded in .../zp-core/exif/exif.php on line 767

Remove the printImageMetaData()part from your theme's image.php.

I did that with my own custom theme -- something is still using exif, because I'm still getting the same errors.

There is no way to disable the EXIF processing. You would have to disable the code in the Zenphoto core. But I think there is a problem with your images if exif is taking so much processing time.

It's either that, or zenphoto is having trouble processing so many images.

I'm using zenphoto version 1.2.4 [3716] in conjunction with a trendnet TV-IP212W wireless network camera that connects to a linksys WRT54GL wireless router (which connects to the internet via cable). When the camera detects motion, it takes a picture, then connects to an online server and uses FTP to upload the photo to the "albums" folder of zenphoto (in a secondary folder the represents the day the photo was taken, ex: "20090417").

It averages between 500-800 motion detected picture uploads per day, and it appears if I don't take a look for a few days it tends to give me the "exif" errors. If I continue to refresh it eventually works.

I guess another work around is a way to automatically cache images at a regular interval, without a user having to load the page, or admin pre-caching.

Any tips on how to do this (I'm guessing a cron job, but I'm not too familiar with those)?

So far I know of no one who has done this although a few have said they would. But in your case, you don't need the images cached, just the database update. So all your chron script would have to do is do an $album->getImages(0);

I'm a complete newb with cron jobs -- what would a command that ran every hour look like? Also I assume it would call a custom php script located in my theme folder? What do I include in the php file to successfully call $album->getImages(0);?

Sorry, I do not know how to integrate Zenphoto scripts with chron jobs. Your PHP file will have to include the zenpoto template functions. Probably it will need something like the setup described here: http://www.zenphoto.org/2008/01/hacks/#zenphoto-as-plugin.

Given that the environment is setup correctly, then the $album->getImages(0); call is the correct one. Of course, you will have to establish the album object. $album = new Album($_zp_gallery, [i][/i]);