Instead of having an obnoxious wedding photographer trying to grab candid shots of the guests during the reception, Instructables user letMeBeFranks built this gigantic Lomo that served as a private photobooth. At $US150, constructed from scrounged parts and equipment from around his home, it was a lot cheaper than renting one too.
On the outside the booth was designed to look like a giant Lomo camera so guests immediately knew what it was for. And the use of a big red Easy button for the shutter also ensured that anyone could easily operate it. A set of three IKEA halogen lights provided plenty of illumination, while on the inside a MacBook connected to a visible external monitor served up instant previews. The photos were captured by a Logitech webcam and sent directly to Apple’s Photo Booth app, with an Arduino and some custom wiring tying all the components together.
Unfortunately the booth didn’t have any printing functionality to leave guests with a souvenir, but that would have drastically increased the cost. And while facilitating automatic uploads to Facebook or Flickr would simply involve a few scripts, this particular booth captured over 800 photos in just four hours. So being able to peruse and filter the gallery before it went public was probably an unexpected, but very much appreciated, feature. [Instructables via Apartment Therapy]