Category Archives: DSLR Remote Pro

Custom captions in DSLR Remote Pro

There’s a new tutorial for DSLR Remote Pro users on the Breeze website explaining how  to customize the text on your photo booth screens.

For simple ways to

  • change the text seen by guests,
  • remove captions you don’t need,
  • create caption sets in any language,
  • customize the captions in pre-designed themes, and
  • create custom captions for your clients without making work for yourself

.. check out the new tutorial for Booth (DSLR + Windows) / DSLR Remote Pro users here

Stay safe,

Sue & Chris

© Breeze Systems April 2020

Adding privacy statements, T & C, and other information screens to your booth

There’sa new tutorial for DSLR Remote Pro users on the website explaining how to add privacy statements, Terms and Conditions or other information pages to the booth. Find it here

Sue

© Breeze Systems 2020

Canon Rebel T7/2000D update – now a great budget camera for photo booths

Tuesday 26th February. Canon announced at Photo Booth Expo that the EOS Rebel T7/2000D camera has been  updated to add a center contact (X sync) on the hotshoe.

Why does this matter?

The updated T7/2000D B2B version camera will trigger most external flashes or studio strobes, making it a great budget choice DSLR camera for photo booths.

Older versions of the T7 did not have this center contact, meaning that this camera model was not suitable photo booths which use flash.

Spot the difference

Can I use the new EOS T7 B2B with Breeze?

Yes, all versions of Breeze which supported the original T7 will support the new version of the camera. That’s

How do I tell which camera I am buying?

Canon call this a running change, and have not changed the model name. Initially the camera will only be available to B2B customers. US buyers will need to place their order through Canon Inc.

There may be a mixture of new and old versions on the market. Do take care  that you are sourcing the new version with X Sync when you order this camera.

We will have the updated EOS T7 on the Breeze stand (1113) when the Photo Booth Expo tradeshow opens this afternoon.

© Breeze Systems 26 February 2020

 

Breeze at Photo Booth Expo 2020

 

We are counting down the days to Photo Booth Expo, and looking forward to seeing many of you in Vegas. Find us in the Exhibition Hall at booth 1113; book your place at Steve Bliesner’s classes (details below).

Steve will be running four classes on Breeze at PBX this year. Classes will cover both Breeze Booth for iPad and Breeze Booth for Windows ( aka DSLR Remote Pro). There are separate classes for beginners and advanced users, with discounts for people booking several classes.

Breeze Booth for iPad, Beginners Class – Wednesday the 26th 11am

Everything you need to get a basic event up and running with the Event Editor, and then synced to the iPad app using Dropbox. The finished event will include the option to take photos, make a GIF, and apply digital props, as well as options to send them via email and SMS, direct from the iPad.

Breeze Booth for iPad, Advanced Users Class – Wednesday the 26th 12pm

For users who are already comfortable cresting events and syncing them to the iPad. This class will work through some of the more advanced features, such as white labelling the iPad App, animated screens and countdown, setting up Event Codes (for easy deployment across multiple booths), using Breeze Hub, Information screens and menus, creative uses of surveys and sending HTML emails.

Breeze Booth for Windows (aka DSLR Remote Pro) Beginners Class – Wednesday the 26th 1pm

The basics of getting up and running with Breeze Booth for Windows. A complete walk through of the using the Setup Wizard, adding print layouts, making some basic interface tweaks through to sending images and GIFs via email and SMS.

Breeze Booth for Windows (aka DSLR Remote Pro) Advanced Users Class – Wednesday the 26th 2pm

For users who already have the basics down and are looking to take advantage of some of the more advanced features. How to structure your setup for fast and efficient handling of multiple events, the best way to deploy events across multiple photo booths, profiles, advanced interface tips and tricks and how to use Breeze Hub for a better way to send emails.

Book your place

Buy your tickets here. You will need to select buy tickets in the top right corner of the page.

 

 

 

New in Breeze Booth 1.0.6 & 1.0.5

We have released two upgrades to Breeze Booth, Hub and the Event Editor in the last few weeks. These are free upgrades to anyone using these apps.

Find a quick summary of the changes to Breeze Booth for iPad, Event Editor and Hub here:

New in Breeze Booth

  • Default background image for screens to make it easier to rebrand an event
  • New status screen showing number of sessions and shares, and whether any files are queued for syncing to Hub

Breeze Booth 1.0.6 sharing screen.

  • Support for video animations with alpha channels
  • More fluid screen transitions with optional fading between overlays
  • Ability to dynamically select print and GIF backgrounds and overlays e.g. in response to survey data
  • Improved support for AirPrint
  • Improved handling of SMTP email errors when using a poor quality internet connection

v1.0.6 also fixes an issue selecting manual exposure in the camera settings, and an AirPrint issue where only the first session was printed.

New in Event Editor

  • Easier rebranding of events using a default background image for screens
  • Touchscreen editor can display the JPEG background screen image when an overlay is selected
  • Event creator updated to create screens with default_background.jpg screen and overlays instead of separate backgrounds for each screen

Event Editor 1.3.3 also fixes an issue with the default gif_background.jpg image not being added to animated GIFs

New in Hub

  • New statistics tool
  • New survey tool
  • Hub now auto rotates JPEG images using the EXIF orientation data when sending emails

Hub 1.1.1 also fixes an issue cropping JPEG attachments when emailing photos

Event statistics in Hub

The new Hub statistics tool can display statistics of sessions and shares from your booths. Hub works with both Breeze Booth for iPad and our Windows based photo booth apps.

Breeze Hub event statistics

Link your iPads to Hub to see

  • Total number of sessions
  • Breakdown of sessions by photo and GIF
  • Total shares
  • Shares by  email and text*
  • Busiest device**
  • Busiest hour and day
  • Summary data for last 30 days

*Hub statistics show SMTP emails, and texts shared using Twilio.

** iOS devices only

Rapid  export to Excel and other spreadsheets

Copy and paste data from the Hub statistics page into spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel to create graphs for corporate clients.

Copy and paste event data from Breeze Hub into your spreadsheet

View survey statistics in Hub

Sample Breeze Booth for iPad survey screen

The survey data tool can create a report showing survey responses from Breeze Booth for iPad and our Windows based photo booth apps.

Rapid  export to Excel and other spreadsheets

You can also copy and paste data from the Hub survey page into spreadsheets to create graphs for corporate clients.

Sync Breeze Booth survey data to Hub, then copy and paste into Excel or other spreadsheets for corporate clients

Download Breeze Booth, Hub & the Event Editor

There’s no charge to upgrade to the latest versions of Breeze Booth for iPad, Hub and the Event Editor. Download all three apps here

  • Breeze Booth for iPad runs on iPads and iPhones running iPadOS, iOS13 and iOS 12
  • Breeze Hub and Event Editor run on Windows 10, 8 and 7
  • Breeze Booth for Windows (DSLR Remote Pro and Webcam Photobooth) users can also use Hub free of charge.

Help getting started

© Breeze Systems December 2019

DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.3 supports new slow motion cameras

DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.3 aka Breeze Booth (DSLR + Windows) was released today, 30 October 2019.

DSLR Remote Pro is a highly configurable, yet simple to use Windows based photo booth and tethered shooting application for Canon cameras.

Learn more about this powerful program here.

What’s new in v3.14.3?

This release adds support for three new Canon cameras; two mirror-less models and the EOS 90D.

  • EOS 90D
  • EOS M6 Mark II
  • EOS M200

This release also fixes an issue with sharing slideshow MP4s which affected v3.14.2.

Support for new cameras

The EOS 90D and M6 Mark II both offer higher resolution slow motion than the M50. The M200 is essentially  a cut down version of the M50. Key features of these cameras for photo booth use include

EOS 90D

  • 120 frames/second slow motion at 1080p
  • Center hotshoe contact allowing external flash to be triggered

EOS M6 Mark II

  • 120 frames/second slow motion at 1080p
  • Center hotshoe contact allowing external flash to be triggered

EOS M200

  • 120 frames/second slow motion at 720p
  • No center hotshoe contact so difficult to trigger external flash
  • No exposure mode dial
  • No viewfinder

Note: DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.2, released earlier this week, added support for two new Canon PowerShot cameras, the G5 X Mark II and G7 X Mark III

Watch out for more details about the pros and cons of  recent camera models for photo booth use soon.

Upgrade to DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.3 today

DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.3 is a free upgrade for all registered users who purchased DSLR Remote Pro after 30th October 2018. Customers with older licenses need to buy an upgrade license to use this release.

Download DSLR Remote Pro    Buy DSLR Remote Pro

Do share this post with others who may find it useful.

© Breeze Systems 2019

DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.2 supports new PowerShot cameras with 120fps slow motion

What’s new in v3.14.2?

  • Support for two new Canon PowerShot cameras G5 X Mark II and G7 X Mark III
  • Photo booth printing now automatically bleeds both the background and overlay to fill the printable area
  • Optional gray background to frames and emoji/stamps on the drawing/signing screen
  • New monochrome icon set on the signing and drawing screen
  • Video playback window is hidden until the video starts playing

Support for new PowerShot cameras

Many long time photo boothers loved the simplicity, compact size and automatic zoom of Canon PowerShot cameras. Sadly Canon stopped making suitable PowerShot models for over 10 years.  We are delighted to  add support for the new PowerShot G5 X Mark II and G7 X Mark III to DSLR Remote Pro.

These compact cameras both offer 120 frames/second slow motion capture at 720p and 1080p, as well as a power zoom.

Note: The PowerShot G5 X Mark II, G7 X Mark III and SX70 HS have no hot shoe so it is difficult to trigger flash. Watch out for more details about their pros and cons for photo booth use soon.

Automatic bleed for print background and overlay

You no longer need to oversize print layouts to allow for printer positioning. DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.2 will automatically bleed print background and overlay (background.jpg and overlay.jpg) to fill the printable area.

For example classic  dye sub. 6″ by 4″ prints at 300 dpi can now be sized 1800 by 1200 pixels.

‘Old style’ oversized print layouts eg 1844 by 1240 pixels will still work.

Optional gray background to frames and emoji/stamps on the drawing/signing screen

To display white frames and emoji, switch to a new mid gray background on the signing and drawing screen. The icons to the left of this screen are now monochrome on a white background.

Frames and emoji can be shown on a gray or white background in Breeze DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.2

Note: You can also use your own icons on this screen or keep using the original colored set if you prefer.

More about customizing this screen.

Hiding the video playback window until the video starts playing

This upgrade prevents a blank window appearing while a screen animation is loading.

Fixes

DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.2 also includes fixes for

  • issue loading ‘profile X + start‘ touch screen action when there is a looping ready screen animation
  • using filenames to position GIF and MP4 animations ( only affected v3.14 and 3.14.1).

More details

Upgrade to DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.2 today

DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.2 is a free upgrade for all registered users who purchased DSLR Remote Pro after 22th October 2018. Customers with older licenses need to buy an upgrade license to use this release.

Download DSLR Remote Pro    Buy DSLR Remote Pro

Do share this post with others who may find it useful.

© Breeze Systems 2019

Adding guest names to prints with DSLR Remote Pro

Several of you want to include guests names on DSLR Remote Pro prints. This post shows you how.

You can either start from an existing design, or run the setup wizard to create something completely new. You then need to

  1. Create a keyboard where guests are prompted to type in their names
  2. Choose whether to enter names before or after taking the photos
  3. Add a caption to your print layout showing the name

Updates 21 August 2019

  • Reprint note: Fast reprint runs off a copy of the original print layout (with the data guests have already entered )
  • Post updated to correct error adding guest details after taking photos.

Create the keyboard where guests enter their names

Go to Advanced Settings and select the Touchscreen Settings screen

On this screen, click the Test Keyboard button, then choose Message keyboard from the dropdown menu

The Touchscreen Settings screen is accessed from Advanced Settings as here (DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.1)

Hold down the Shift and Ctrl keys and left click your mouse.

This will save five files to your photo booth images folder: message_keyboard.xml, message_keyboard_lowercase.tif, message_keyboard_lowercase_pressed.tif, message_keyboard_uppercase.tif, message_keyboard_uppercase_pressed.tif

PhotoboothImages folder highlighting the 4 tif files you need to delete and the xml file you need to rename

Go to your PhotoboothImages folder and

  • delete these 4 tif files
  • rename message_keyboard.xml as keyboard.xml 

My PhotoboothImages folder then looks like this:

PhotoboothImages folder after deleting and renaming files

Now open keyboard.xml in a text editor such as Microsoft Notepad (which comes free with Windows 10) and change the wording of the prompt from Please enter your message to Please enter your name (or whatever text you prefer).

Original keyboard.xml prompt
Original prompt text in keyboard.xml
Revised prompt text in keyboard.xml

Save your changes and close the text editor.

The edited version of keyboard.xml will build a touchscreen keyboard looking like this:

Keyboard screen for guests to type in their name. (The new prompt has been highlighted)

Advanced users: may wish to make other changes to the xml to customize this screen. See Collecting both guest names and a message below for an example.

Choose whether guests enter their names before or after taking the photos

You can control whether guests type in their names before or after taking the photos. Just select Email input at start of sequence  or Email input after taking photos on the Touchscreen settings screen as below

Use the drop down menu to choose whether guests type in their names before or after taking the photos (DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.1 Touchscreen settings screen)

Extra screen when collecting guest data after taking photos

If you choose to collect the information after the photos are taken, you need to add an extra screen to your PhotoboothImages folder called keyboard_input_ok.jpg. This will be displayed for a short time after guests enter their data and hit OK.

You can create this screen by taking a copy of a blank screen such as taking.jpg and renaming the copy.

Showing keyboard_input_ok.jpg screen in PhotoboothImages folder

So far we have created a screen for guests to enter their names. Now we need to adapt your print layout to add these names.

Add a caption to your print layout which displays these names on the print

Open the Print Layout Editor and right click anywhere on the print. Select Add caption

Right click anywhere on the print to add your caption ( DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.1 Print Layout Editor)

To display the guests names, your caption must include the token {user1_data}. Adjust the font, color, position and angle of the caption as usual:

Caption text including the token {user1_data}

When you run the booth the name(s) guests enter will replace {user1_data}

In this example the guests type Josie & Pete

 

… and their names are included in the print

You can combine these dynamic captions with the signing and drawing screen, including the ability for guests to choose the picture frame

Guests can add also stamps, emoji &/or frames, as well as draw or sign on prints (DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.1)

Learn more

I have shown you how to add each guest’s name to prints. Taking this a bit further

Collecting both guest names and a message

Thanks to Caroline & Josh www.giggleandriot.com for allowing us to use these lovely examples

To collect more information such as a message make these changes to keyboard.xml:

  1. Make room to collect a second data item
  2. Add a second prompt and data field, 
  3. Change the background color of the screen.
  4. To display the extra information on the print add a caption including {user2_data} to the print layout
Here I have edited keyboard.xml to (1) Make room to collect a second data item (2) Add a second prompt and data field, and (3) change the background color of the screen. To display the extra data on the print add a caption including {user2_data} to the print layout

Useful links

Try for yourself

Download DSLR Remote Pro       Buy DSLR Remote Pro

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Do share the post with others who may find it useful.

© Breeze Systems 2019

 

New in DSLR Remote Pro 3.14

DSLR Remote Pro 3.14 introduces a choice of frame after photos are taken, support for the latest Canon camera, and sharing counters.

New in this release

  • Guests choose frame for their own print in the drawing/signing screen
  • Counters for the total number of emails, texts and tweets
  • Print logos are now placed on top of overlays
  • Support for new Canon EOS 250D/EOS 200D II/Rebel SL3 camera
  • Fix for reliability issue playing videos in photo booth mode caused by recent Windows updates.

Note: DSLR Remote Pro 3.14.1 (published on 31 July) fixes an issue which could cause logos not to be displayed in the print layout editor.

Guests choose their own print frame

Offer your guests a choice of print frames on the signing/drawing screen*.

Guests choose from a selection of print frames on the signing/drawing screen (DSLR Remote Pro 3.14)

Social sharing totals

Display Sharing totals by selecting Preferences then Photo Booth Event Info ( DSLR Remote Pro 3.14)

DSLR Remote Pro now counts the total number of emails, texts and tweets sent from the booth.

You can reset these counters between events. More details

Print logos placed over the print overlay

You have been able to add logos to your prints without using Photoshop® or other image editors since v3.12. Many of you asked us to place these logos over the print overlay – so we have made this change in v3.14

png and jpg logos added in the Print Layout Editor are now displayed in front of the print overlay (DSLR Remote Pro 3.14)

Support for new camera

DSLR Remote Pro supports almost all Canon DSLR cameras, plus the mirrorless M50 and EOS RP.

DSLR Remote Pro 3.14  adds support for the new EOS 250D/Rebel SL3/EOS 200D II/EOS Kiss X10.

*Enabling guest print frames

Enable signing and drawing on prints in the usual way.  (Select Advanced Settings, then Output Options Settings. Check the box marked Sign or draw on photos before printing, and OK as you leave.)

Enabling the signing/drawing on prints screen. Guests can choose a frame as well as drawing on the print and adding custom stamps/emoji (DSLR Remote Pro 3.14)

More details here

Your frames should be png images the same size in pixels as the print layout. Place them in the PhotoBoothImages folder for the event. The name of each frame must start frame_ as below:

I also customised the icons to the left of this screen by placing my own images in the PhotoBoothImages folder. You can customise all these icons in the same way. Make this screen your own.

Try DSLR Remote Pro 3.14 for yourself

DSLR Remote Pro 3.14 is a free upgrade for all registered users who purchased DSLR Remote Pro after 24th July 2018. Customers with older licenses need to buy an upgrade license to use this release.

Download DSLR Remote Pro Buy DSLR Remote Pro

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Do share the post with others who may find it useful.

Breeze Systems 2019

Quick tips : Error copying to C:\Program Files\(x86)\…

Several people have asked why they can’t copy their backgrounds, logos, print layouts etc into their PhotoboothImages folder recently – they see an error similar to this:

Error copying to C:|Program Files (x86)\Breezesys…

This error happens because Windows 10, 8 and 7 all protect the Program Files (x86) folders from accidental or malicious damage to applications.

Please do not try to use C:\Program Files (x86)\Breezesys\DSLR Remote Pro\PhotoboothImages\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Breezesys\Webcam Photobooth\PhotoboothImages\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\Breezesys\Hotfolder Prints\PhotoboothImages\ for your PhotoBoothImages folder.


Instead place your PhotoboothImages folder in your Documents folder  C:\Users\yourname\Documents\PhotoboothImages

Setting the locations of your PhotoBoothImages folder

DSLR Remote Pro

Location of PhotoBoothImages folder DSLR Remote Pro 3.13

Webcam Photobooth

Location of PhotoBoothImages folder Webcam Photobooth 2.4

Hotfolder Prints

Te equivalent to a PhotoBoothImages folder where you place print layouts and backgrounds etc in Hotfolder Prints is here:

Location of folder containing print layouts etc Hotfolder Prints 1.7

Thanks for taking the time to read this post.

Breeze Systems 2019