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Lights Camera Action - Photo Studio Thoughts 2014

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#11
EZ360 from Sister Technologies has a pretty impressive set. They set up the booth, turn table, lights and provide you with the CPU / server. I think they provide the camera too. I don't think there's any setup fees. If your interested you will want to confirm that. I do know you have to sign a lease for a min amount of time. The CPU has the software built in that converts the pics to video and they publish the pics and video to your site and some 3rd parties instantly. All this for less than $20 a vin. Check out the video. They contacted me before NADA and I met a couple of their reps at NADA. I'm not using their service right now due to lack of space. Our main location shoots images in house and this setup would eliminate alot of pic issues.

 
#13
I think your pics look great Todd. I wish our pics could look that good. My major issue is Space! I don't have enough of it. We are in middle of Downtown Nashville and unfortunately I don't have enough space to place a booth indoors. Their set up did impress me alot though. Thats why I mentioned it. To be able to give the keys to basically anyone and them take good pics of the car, video, print window stickers and upload them is worth a lot.
 
#14
We went through a photo booth "make over" end of last year. Would be happy to discuss what we did/how we did it if you'd like. Here is one of our preowned listing so you can see the photos. 2013 Mercedes-Benz E-Class E350 Alpharetta GA | Johns Creek Milton Cumming Georgia WDDKK5KF0DF217591. We originally had the studio setup in one of the corners of our shop, but got booted because they needed the space. We are renting a warehouse across the street from our dealership that houses the studio now. We purchased curtains from Singer Safety Curtains for the sides, Artificial silk from Barbizon for the top, the turn table came from CarTurner and used the overhead lights that were in place and replaced the bulbs with more of a natural daylight bulb. There are a few things that need to done...like getting the wrinkles out of the plastic and hiding the corners a little better, but other than that you'd never know we are in a warehouse. As I mentioned feel free to contact me at 678-987-0776

Adam
 
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#16
Ugh.

Can sh*tty pics sell LESS CARS?
Used 2013 Volkswagen Jetta Sedan S offered at $12,995, or $157 a month in Feasterville PA 19053 | Colonial Volkswagen Subaru

YES.
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Uncle Joe Rule #21: "Just because it's a good idea, doesn't mean it'll work"
Uncle Joe Rule #187: "If your business idea is taking you into virgin territory, SLOW THE F* DOWN, you're about to make a LOT of mistakes!"


p.s. If you're in a area with poor weather, then the booth makes sense. Otherwize, resist the urge until you have a plan that AVOIDS the mistakes of under estimating the difficulties of DIY photo booth building.
 
#17
Ay caramba!

Let's find the under-$100 fixes:

1) Get rid of whatever software is being used to compress those photos down (no modern platform makes that lossy a compression, do they?), use something legit like PS Elements ($100) or even just FastStone Photo Resizer ($30) if you aren't really making edits.
2) Get more light inside the cabin, or at least on the parts that matter. White coroplast sign material (set on the seat backs to bounce light back onto the dash) is cheap at Lowe's, free after election season. (Or, just recompose the picture to show less of the blown-out windows.)
3) Dump the sideways watermark for something that looks borderline legit (free if you've got someone borderline competent and a copy of Elements, or hit Fiverr or something)

The booth's backdrop and lighting seems serviceable, though I'm betting the compression is hiding some stuff on the floor (see Joe's earlier comments). But I imagine those are more-than-$100 fixes.
 
#19
Can't beat the outside photos!

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We are in the process (STILL) of overhauling our booth to a new location. Mostly to speed production as our booth is currently in the main showroom and we get awful reflections on the side of the vehicle.
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We've been looking into SwissTrax Ribtrax tiles to use on the floor. It is a vented modular floor tile that should hide drips/dirt which will make it faster to move the vehicle around in our booth. NO turn table for us!
 
#20
See @Alex Snyder for insights into his sources for products similar to SwissTrax Ribtrax


Some thoughts for the community...
  1. Turntables don't make cars sell better, they're for speeding photography time in tiny booths
  2. The floor needs to be classy, yet invisible. Beware of any surface that'll showup on fenders & doors (i.e. checker boards)

Joe
HTH
 
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