Anyone ever set a photo booth up for a party or an event? I'm looking for experiences and suggestions. Right now I'm looking at testing out dslrBooth and their iPad app and seeing how that works. Unfortunately this setup requires a computer with the iPad and not just an iPad (which would be ideal). But, this setup allows for the people having their photos taken to send the photos to themselves via SMS, e-mail, FB, or Twitter and doesn't require printing. It also allows an unattended booth.
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Photo booths
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I got everything working together with the trial.
dslrBooth was controlling the Nikon D750 and either let me trigger via the computer or via the camera. From there, it took 4 photos. After that it sent it to the Fotoshare app on the iPad with just the regular network connected. No Eye Fi card or camera network connection was needed.
The down sides: Everything costs money. This isn’t a onetime program/app purchase as I was led to believe. You can send the file via SMS/e-mail/air drop/FB/Twitter on the computer but to do SMS, you at least need a subscription through Twilio. That’s a cost based on how many messages you send, IIRC. With the iPad app you can do the same, but you need to subscribe to a different service through dslrBooth through the app store. That’s $8.00 a month and that’s for sending anything. It works right now, but with each message you send, it says you need to subscribe and has it real large across the top of the app. That’s even with e-mail, air drop, etc… I can kind of understand the texting charge (but there should be an option to let you use your own number and not make you go through their selected 3rd party service) but the fact that it’s gaudy and says it requires a subscription for e-mail, FB, twitter, and air-drop is something that turns me off.
Has anyone had experience with similar software that doesn’t charge to send photos over media that should be free like e-mail, air-drop (that’s just Bluetooth after all), FB, etc?
dslrBooth was controlling the Nikon D750 and either let me trigger via the computer or via the camera. From there, it took 4 photos. After that it sent it to the Fotoshare app on the iPad with just the regular network connected. No Eye Fi card or camera network connection was needed.
The down sides: Everything costs money. This isn’t a onetime program/app purchase as I was led to believe. You can send the file via SMS/e-mail/air drop/FB/Twitter on the computer but to do SMS, you at least need a subscription through Twilio. That’s a cost based on how many messages you send, IIRC. With the iPad app you can do the same, but you need to subscribe to a different service through dslrBooth through the app store. That’s $8.00 a month and that’s for sending anything. It works right now, but with each message you send, it says you need to subscribe and has it real large across the top of the app. That’s even with e-mail, air drop, etc… I can kind of understand the texting charge (but there should be an option to let you use your own number and not make you go through their selected 3rd party service) but the fact that it’s gaudy and says it requires a subscription for e-mail, FB, twitter, and air-drop is something that turns me off.
Has anyone had experience with similar software that doesn’t charge to send photos over media that should be free like e-mail, air-drop (that’s just Bluetooth after all), FB, etc?
Well, this helps explain their business model. My first impression when I looked at the price of the software was that it was very reasonably priced.
To be fair to them, the initial purchase price is low, so depending on the cost to send the SMS messages (you only pay for what you send), is this a really a problem worth worrying about if you're happy with the rest of the software?
The regular versions are only $50, but the pro version is $150. The texting service for the computer version is 3rd party and the dslrBooth company wouldn't make money from that unless they're receiving a percentage. The issue I'm most concerned about is a monthly fee for the iPad app for sending e-mail, air drop, twitter, and FB versions of the files. I understand the SMS fee, but even then I'd like an option to use my own number. I pay a lot of money for a monthly cell phone bill that includes unlimited text. It would be nice to be able to use that number.
It does, but AFAIK, you don't need a subscription. I wanted the iPad on a stand next to the booth so I can have the users review and send photos to themselves. It will be an unattended booth.
Aha, I'm now understanding the purpose for the iPad accessory app.
1) Camera is connected to a computer running the main app.
2) The computer displays the liveview image from the camera to the people in the booth on a monitor in the booth (so they can see what they're doing).
3) The camera sends the image to the computer (via tether or wi-fi).
4) The computer does any processing to the image.
5) Image is then transmitted to the iPad so the people can review their image whilst another set of people enter the booth.
Is that correct?
All features are free to use on the main computer application, but there are extra charges for features with the iPad app (which presumably the majority of photographers use for sales purposes).
The steps are correct. To use SMS on the computer, you have to use a third party service called Twilio that requires monetary fees. I just signed up for a trial and their site seemed confusing. I believe Twilio fees are based on the number of text sent. The iPad app requires a monthly subscription. I don't know what this covers and will e-mail the company to find out, but using the trial I've sent SMS, e-mail and air drop. The app right now has a large banner telling you that you need to sign up to send photos and when you send photos there's a text above the photo that says you need a subscription to send photos.