Side Hustle

Out of context: Reply #38

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  • Beardy6

    Yo.. I've been slowly working a side hustle. Ain't ground breaking but I'm building a photobooth.

    Using a Raspberry Pi to drive it all and vintage lens stock to get an authentic image. Some of the best pictures I own are from booths and since they seem to be a rarity around my parts, figured I'd build one for fun.

    It's all lo cost / tech but the crunch is a good dye sub printer for outputting. Even refurb / Ebay models are £££. I wondered about heritage stuff like dot matrix or even thermal printers but obvs the image quality would be crap..

    Anyone got any thoughts on alternatives or do I just suck it up and splash the cash?

    Beardy 6Permalink
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    • Start a kebab place?
      ********
    • Curious on the camera build. My understanding is that most of the automats were Nikon 35 glass, but some of the weirder ones you find are C-mounts.garbage
    • You're going to have to shit the bed on printing. Thermal printers have their peak, and that peak is shipping labels.garbage
    • Yeah I’m using a Pentax c mount lens. I’m no expert but interesting to see the resultsBeardy
    • Nice choice, looking forward to updatesgarbage
    • I've a couple of clients who have been doing his for years, so I'm guessing it's a good biz to be in. Why do you need such an expensive printer?Nairn
    • Even the 'portrait photographer' in our local shopping mall just uses some Epson inkjet.
      Or did you mean inkjet instead of Dot Matrix? :)      Nairn
    • I love the din from my Citizen Swift 240d dot matrix back in the early 90s, but I doubt your clientele would so much ZKKRRRRRRK ZKKRRRRRRK ZKKRRRRRRKNairn
    • There is a photo booth shop in my hood that has a queue around the corner every weekendtoemaas
    • what about a poster booth and do one of those drawing machines instead of a printercannonball1978
    • This is all learning as I go and tbh, using Claude for basic programming of the Pi has been a lifesaver! I guess I don't need such a spenny printer but..Beardy
    • ..the idea is to leave it alone, working autonomously. So i figure the reliability and quality of a dye sub wins out, right?Beardy
    • ^ and glossy paper.garbage
    • Ah, ok, my clients have booths they take to events and make a big show of it. They don't leave them in-situ. Tech leaving it sounds.. hard. I get it now.Nairn
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