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Viewer Challenge - Build a photobooth

Former Member

I recently got engaged and realized how quickly the little things add up. Then I heard 2000$ to rent a photobooth that just prints out photo strips and can only fit two people inside comfortably.That's just crazy to me (even though it does come with awesome costumes and props). So I thought it would be cool project to make a portable photobooth, with a sort of deployable black cloth light shield and its own LED lighting. One where you can set in the corner and have a larger group of people stand in the shots.

 

My concept includes using a Raspberry Pi (I know Ben has already quite a few RPI projects) and the new ribbon cable 5mp camera board for the brains and eyes. Also some decently bright LEDs set to light up like a flash or just constantly on. And a small screen that shows what the camera can see, and shows a countdown between shots. All the software could be done in python (I say that because it's the preferred language for Raspbian and I know a few iotas about it) using the facebook API/SDK to send shots to facebook, or some other photo sharing website. And if at all possible, have a photo paper roll printer like the Epson Photo Stylus 2200 to print the pictures and cut them to standard photobooth print size as well.

These are all just ideas, and I understand how difficult it would be to get python to jive with a website API like that. And the near impossibility of getting a printer to work like that from a raspberry pi (I don't even think that one has linux drivers).

 

I also feel like if this project is completed and the software/build log is put online, it wouldn't be a hard project for a lot of hacker/makers to build and maybe make some money from it.

 

Thanks,

Cory

 

P.S. I am new to this awesome Element 14 Community and if this doesn't get Ben Hecked by marriage time, then I will probably do something of the sorts and it will be my first project put up on the forums. And I promise to have excellent photos and build details and source files for all of it. I may also revisit some of my favorite previous builds with photos and software uploads, or just restart some from scratch.

  • It's a neat idea, but I'd rule out any hope of using a printer with the Pi, let alone a photo printer. There are drivers for linux, including for the Epson Photo Stylus 2200, but they are all for x86/x64 architecture. You would literally have to compile from scratch to get them working properly on an ARM. Also a 5MP camera isn't horrible but it's only has the photo quality of an iPhone picture. You could achieve almost the same result by using an iPhone to snap photos, upload them to facebook and wirelessly print to a Canon MP990, MP640, or MP560 PIXMA wireless printer over WiFi (Canon has a new free Easy-Print App for Iphone). The only difference being that it wouldn't be autonomous.

     

    Also, CONGRATULATIONS! I hope you have a wonderful wedding.

     

     

     

    *iPhone picture quality referenced is iPhone 4, the iPhone 5 has a 8MP camera

  • in reply to Former Member

    Thanks for the reply. I thought about that with the printer. I did some googling and came up blank, but have you ever heard of any ARM architecture compatible printers?(preferably ones with cutters like that Epson) And I thought about using an ipad or an android tablet (I have a little experience with the android SDK) and using the touchscreen to do all the interaction but had no idea if I could hook up any external cameras. Maybe I should just use one of those intel NUCs or some other x86 mini pc to get the easy compatability. Although it would be a bit pricier I'm sure. I could use something like arcade buttons for the interaction with a cheap keyboard encoder and nice webcam. I want the interface to be as easy as it gets. The screen is just a view from the camera, hit a button and it shows countdown numbers on the screen over the image. Bam bam bam it takes the pictures, then it auto prints out horizontally and gets cut into a strip. I set up one of those Cannon printers for a client a few weeks ago, even though I just went to work on their desktop, and that app is pretty awesome and way easier to use than I thought something like would ever be.

  • in reply to Former Member

    You could just set you iPhone camera to take HD pictures and send the to the printer via Bluetooth.

  • in reply to Former Member

    Yes there are printers that work with ARM processors, but only with Windows RT which was developed for ARM processors (such as in Microsoft Surface). The list isn't huge though, and I'm not sure if photo printers like the one you would like are supported. Your best bet is probably to do something like what's in the link in the post above me by colecago. That seems to be kind of what you want.

  • $2000 to RENT a photobooth? You could almost buy an old one for that ("we could almost buy our own ship for that!")

     

    Maybe hack this to work: http://www.the-impossible-project.com/projects/camera/iil

  • Thanks for all the comments guys. The closest thing I can find to what I want is this instructables http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Portable-Wedding-Photo-Booth/ with a few changes. My photobooth will be more like a photostand. No outside enclosure that you have to get inside of. I am probably going to buck up and use sparkbooth software http://sparkbooth.com/. And I am going to use a mini ITX motherboard with cpu (ASRock E350M1 AMD E-350 APU) with a webcam and the epson photostylus 2200 so I can customize the print sizes using the paper roll and cutter accessory. I want to put it all into a portable stand you can fold up and carry easily. Once I get the parts and some time I will start making a build log of it.