Choosing a computer for your booth

How to choose the right computer for a photo booth running Booth (DSLR+Windows) or Booth (Webcam+Windows)*

*aka DSLR Remote Pro and Webcam Photobooth

Updated August 2023

Breeze Booth (DSLR+Windows) aka DSLR Remote Pro and Booth (Webcam+Windows) aka Webcam Photobooth are very efficient. They often run well on lowered powered devices than apps from other suppliers.

Breeze software is incredibly flexible. You can use it in many ways to produce and share photos,  GIFs, slow motion and videos. Individual operators have different views about how fast their booth needs to work. This guide is intended to  help you choose  the right computer to power your photo booths.

Applications

First consider what your booth will be used for. Do you intend to shoot and print or share still photos, burst GIFs or video? Will you use filters, background removal or other effects? Do you require lightening fast results, or is a short delay before viewing the images unimportant?

Straightforward, simple photos do not need a powerful computer. Video and burst GIFs, or photos with filters, background removal and other effects may need a more powerful device.

Still photos

A budget laptop with an i3 processor and at least 4GB RAM should be fine for still photos. If you use AI background removal or  greenscreen you may need a more powerful computer.

Video

Videos require a large quantity of data, which can be slow to transfer and process. We recommend a fast, recent computer with a quad core, i5 or i7 processor and SSD to process videos quickly.

The main factors to consider when post processing video are the speed of the processor, number of cores and the computer’s storage.

Increasing the amount of RAM above 4 or 8GB will have little or no effect on the processing speed.

Background removal, green screen and burst GIFs

A more powerful PC will process background removal, green screen images and burst GIFs more quickly. A low powered PC is likely to take longer to produce the same result. Processing speed is affected by many other factors including the size of the image, background, overlay and print.

Externals

Brief notes about touchscreens, USB ports and built in cameras

Touchscreens

Touchscreens are flexible and an easy way to offer guests choices, share images and collect data. Laptops with built in touchscreens are popular, but not essential.  Other ways to control the booth include contactless operation, buttons, payment systems, a wireless presenter and remote sensors.

USB ports

Many photo booths need two USB 2.0 or 3.0 ports to connect the camera and printer. You can use a USB hub to increase the number of ports.

Cameras built into the tablet/laptop

DSLR Remote Pro shoots using a separate Canon camera. See Choosing a camera for your booth

During touch free operation DLSR Remote Pro may scan guest QR codes with the camera built into the booth computer.

Webcam Photobooth supports both built in and separate webcams. The cameras built into some recent laptops produce surprisingly good results. For higher image quality atttach a good webcam.

Internals

Intel i3, i5 and i7 processors

A higher number processor (i7) is usually more powerful than a lower number. Recent processors are usually faster than older models. Within each model, processors may have different specs.

ARM/ Microsoft SQ1/Microsoft SQ2 processors

ARM processors are not supported.

Quad or dual core processors

When post processing video, quad (four) core processors can be significantly faster than dual (two) core processors.

RAM

4 or 8 GB of Random Access Memroy (RAM) is all you need.

Versions of Windows

At the time of writing (August 2023) DSLR Remote Pro and Webcam Photobooth both run on Windows 11 and 10 (not Windows 11S or 10 S)

Windows 8, Windows 7, XP and other older versions of Windows are not supported.

Try before you choose

If possible try the software either on the computer you plan to use, or a machine with a similar spec. You can download and try out DSLR Remote Pro and Webcam Photobooth for up to two weeks before buying the licenses.

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