Beginner Question

[Artsy1911]

Hi everyone!

I got a newbie question, I guess... Here it goes:

So, I used to work for a photo booth rental company in my city, they were doing okay and I thought that it was an interesting business to get into, so I stayed there for about a year and learned whatever I could about the business model and what not. Apparently things weren't working out that well for them as about a week ago they let me go and closed the company. One less competitor I guess...

Why, you may ask? Well, I'm in the process of starting my own photo booth rental company and want it to be a success. I've partially built 2 booths so far, but haven't gotten any cameras in them. I still need to finish decorating the booths, get the backdrops and complete the website. Site is in the works: www.photoboothrichmondva.com but should do the job. I'd appreciate some feedback on it as well.

Anyways...

Time to buy the cameras, and I want them to be perfect, mostly because I'm running out of money.

Does anyone have any good suggestions for a camera and a lens that would work well inside of a photo booth? I've been looking around for the past couple of days and the only good fit I could find is this: Canon EOS 550D - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm more of a Nikon guy myself, but whatever works best will have to do!

I appreciate any recommendations and advice.

Thank you!

 

[robbins.photo]

It all comes down to light really. What sort of light source(s) are you planning on? Any DSLR can take fine pictures, provided they have enough light.

 

[Stradawhovious]

It all comes down to light really. What sort of light source(s) are you planning on? Any DSLR can take fine pictures, provided they have enough light.

Yep. My 2.7 mp Nikon D1 from 1999 can take outstanding photos provided the light is right.

 

[waday]

I'm confused. Are you starting out new or do you have 7 years of experience, as indicated on your about page?

You need cameras and your photobooths are only partially built, but you have photos on your website showing people in a photobooth?

My suggestion would be to have a portfolio of photos that you took on your website. Also, if you haven't been in business since 2009, you might want to change that.

 

[waday]

Also, the links that say to "press here" to call you don't work for desktop computers.

Also also, you indicate that people can get a free quote by filling out the info, but you have a price set per various hours as part of filling out the quote request. If you charge above and beyond what is listed in the quote request form, that sounds like false advertising.

 

[dennybeall]

I'm not familiar with the business model for a photo booth business but If you have a fixed distance with a fixed light amount and you need reliability I would think a used older model full frame camera and a prime lens of say 35mm would be fine. Wouldn't want to put too much money in it as it could just disappear while on site.
You already know that the business that was there for years could no longer compete with cellphone cameras so what are you going to do differently??????

 

[goodguy]

From time to time I help my friend and mentor to operate his booth in big events.
He bought the cheapest crap just for the booth so he bought a Canon T3 which is perfect for this type of photography,

 

[AlanKlein]

Don't photo booths use instant cameras and provide immediate prints?

 

[Dao]

I did some research in the past regarding DIY photo booth and came across with Gphoto (gPhoto - gPhoto Home). With that I was able to use my Canon DSLR (EOS 7D) or P&S (Powershot G11) to take photo via Raspberry Pi. (my cameras are on their supported list)
There are setup out there include output to printer (like this one -> Raspberry Pi photo booth controller - All)

Based on my playing around with the setup, G11 is better for less operating noise, but it is faster for a DSLR to take photo or coming back out from sleeping mode. Therefore if I am going to build one for commercial use, I will go with DSLR or fast response camera. And the lowest cost model with standard kit lens will be my choice. I will also add off camera flash(es) (with PC Cable) to add/control the light (so the camera also need to support light triggering whether via a cable or wireless).

With Raspberry PI or any small footprint PC, you maybe even able to program it to upload the photos to the cloud (Need WiFi / mobile internet access). I remember I saw one setup (forgot where I saw that) output a QR code on a screen so that Smartphone user can scan that QR code and access the photo online.

 

[table1349]

Don't photo booths use instant cameras and provide immediate prints?