Photo Booth Film?

[AlexG]

Sooo...I just came home from the California State Fair and while I was there, I reluctantly agreed to take a photo booth picture with my good friends. Anyways, as the photos were processing I looked around the unit and I looked at the stamped registration placard and I noticed it was made by the Photo Booth Corporation of America (or something close) and it was made in the mid 80's! I guess the funky looking font on the front of the booth should have given it right away.

But anyways, after the photo's came out, I was pleasantly delighted with the smell of an unwashed print. The thing reeked of fixer!

But this brings me to my question. Who the heck makes the film for this stuff? I'm guessing it uses that black and white paper that comes out as a positive when developed. I've looked everywhere online for any supplier of film but I've had no luck.

I'm just wondering this because it would be very sad to see these things go away. The pictures look amazing! Digital could never match the amount of character thats on my print...

Alex

http://www.classicphotobooth.net/31.html

^Here's a link of a booth that looks extremely similar to the one I used.

 

[tomalophicon]

Send em an email and find out!

 

[removed account4]

it is sometimes a direct positive paper

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

look for a video in the linked to thread ...
it is a photobooth processing a strip of images ...

there are a handful of theads if you keyword / google search ( here on apug ) "photobooth" in quotes
and a link to people supplying photobooths with paper, chemistry, and a person on ebay who sells
parts, just in case you want to have your own

i think the website you linked to, has a directory of places with working photobooths
and the dates of the national convention...

have fun
john

 

[AlexG]

Thanks for the info guys! I have found 1 supplier so far that sells it for about 300$ a roll....but there's still no indication to who actually makes the film. Kodak and Fuji are way out of the question, but then that leaves only the European companies to make the film.

It just seems like a product that's availability would fluctuate a lot. I'm guessing a lot of this film is new old stock? It would be a bummer for these things go out of service just due to the lack of film!

 

[railwayman3]

Thanks for the info guys! I have found 1 supplier so far that sells it for about 300$ a roll....but there's still no indication to who actually makes the film. Kodak and Fuji are way out of the question, but then that leaves only the European companies to make the film.

I seem to recall a reference to Efke (Fotokemica) making something like this; Ilford might be another possibility, they readily supply special-order items such as their annual LF film orders, and have also inherited the Kentmere specialist knowledge after their takeover.

Film/paper for "real" photobooths must be a very small demand, but it's good to know that the old booths are still around.....does anyone know of any working examples here in the U.K.?

 

[Diapositivo]

In Italy the photobooths are going as strong as ever as digital photography is not accepted for documents, which is the main use of this kind of pictures. In my quarter the photobooth machine is where it always was and I suppose it is going to remain there for a long time.

 

[nworth]

Tomalphicon has the best answer. The old photobooths used Kodak Direct Positive paper (or a similar product by a different manufacturer). Most modern booths are digital.

 

[holmburgers]

There's a photo booth in my town and I've casually tried a few times to get a hold of the person who maintains to no avail. It's in a bar, and produces awesome pictures.

The resolution, the richness and the orthochromatic rendering of the photos are just excellent.

 

[halldaniel21]

Even I would often baffle at the quality of pictures that would come out of photo booth. It’s amazing to see the amount of finesse in such photos as compared to digital. What can I say - old is gold for sure. Like the lomography cameras and its quality.