[MAPhoto]

My photobooth uses a Canon 50D with Alien Bees strobes. The guests view their images on a 20 inch screen before the photo is taken using Live View and that's when it hit me. Any thoughts of adding a video capture feature so guests can choose between taking photos or recording a 15 or 30 second video clip. I thought that would be a cool option where I can email the video clips to them instead of just having photos printed. To stand out in this business it's nice to offer something that not everyone else offers.. Just curious.

[alexsiskahn]

i'd be interested in that feature as well.

[snapshot]

Video is something that has come up in discussions i've had before as well. However, I think it would a little more complicated then it seems at first. One of the main issues is the fact that at most of my events, it is very loud. You would have to have a separate mic and somehow mitigate all the ambient sound in the room which is usually very loud music at most weddings or parties.

It is definitely and interesting idea though.

[Chris Breeze]

Unfortunately Canon's SDK doesn't support video capture yet. I'm hoping they will add this soon (perhaps in the update for the 7D) and plan to add video capture to the live view window in DSLR Remote Pro. It's hard to say how difficult it will be to add video for photobooth mode. It won't be simple because the camera can only capture video to its memory card (presumably because USB is too slow for direct capture to the PC) and this would have to be downloaded to the PC at the end of each shot.

[alexsiskahn]

or just write an AHK script with a video capture program like pinnacle studio 12.

Biggest dilema is how long is the recording going to last? and how is it started and stopped? I'd say have a 30 second count down. And if they are talkative they can record another 30 seconds.

OR have them push down a button and it will only record while the button is pressed, once released recording stops.

[Qapla]

It does sound a bit intriguing ... however, the events I usually do, mostly weddings, part of the fun the guests have is showing their pictures around and stashing them in their pockets. They seem to like pulling them out of their pockets over and over as they find someone new to show it to. A video would not have this apeal.

They also like the idea of the nearly instant print of the photos. The promise of a video in their email may not have the same effect.

I guess if you were emailing them as soon as they were recorded, the guests with smart phones could d/l them soon after they are emailed. But, this would require live internet connection during the event. Just another thing to deal with when it does not work right.

I'll pass.

[PhotoMeir]

Hey Chris,

Since it's been a little while since this topic has been brought up, I would like to open a discussion at the possibility of capturing video from the DSLR's to give the possibility of having a "video" booth.

What are the potentials of such an idea?

[PhotoMeir]

I take it, no open SDK yet for the video portion of Canon's DSLRs? :(

[Chris Breeze]

I had a meeting with Canon last week to discuss support for video capture from DSLRs. I can't go into details as to what was covered in the meeting, but hopefully Canon will add support for video capture in a future release of the EOS SDK.

[PhotoMeir]

Then I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best!