Posts Tagged "beta"

We're thrilled to announce a brand new feature in Sparkbooth that enhances the way you track your photo booth sessions and prints — the Counter Screen Overlay! This new feature is exclusively available in the Sparkbooth 7.2 Beta, and it makes keeping tabs on your sessions, prints, and uploads easier than ever.

We’ve revamped the Counter Dialog UI to ensure all the crucial information is always at your fingertips. Here’s what’s new:

📊 Counters in the Lower Left Corner

No need to keep the counter dialog open while running your booth. With the new overlay feature, you can now display all your counters directly on the screen in the lower-left corner. This keeps your session information visible without disrupting the photo-taking experience.

👁️ Easy Toggle with the Display Button

Want to show or hide the overlay? We've added an eye icon button next to each counter in the Counter Dialog. Just click the eye icon to quickly toggle the display of each counter. Customize which counters are visible on the overlay based on what matters most to you during your events.

🖥️ Simplified Counter Dialog UI

We’ve streamlined the Counter Dialog interface to make it cleaner and more user-friendly. You can easily reset counters, see your print limits, and track session numbers with just a glance. No more clutter — just the essential info when you need it.

🚀 Why You'll Love This Update

• Stay Informed: Always know how many sessions you've run, prints you've completed, and uploads processed — right on your screen.
• Flexibility: Choose which counters you want to see and hide the ones you don’t need.
• Efficiency: Spend less time clicking through menus and more time creating memorable moments for your guests.

🔧 How to Use It

1. Upgrade to Sparkbooth 7.2 Beta to access this feature.
2. Open the Counters Dialog.
3. Next to each counter, you'll see an eye icon.
4. Click the eye icon to toggle visibility for that specific counter.
5. When enabled, the counter will display in the lower-left corner of the screen.

This enhancement helps keep your photo booth sessions running smoothly while giving you full control of your counters at a glance. We can't wait to see how this feature helps streamline your events!

Download Sparkbooth 7.2 Beta

Premium for Windows Premium for MacOS DSLR for Windows DSLR for MacOS

We're excited to announce the release of Sparkbooth Premium and DSLR 7.2 Beta! Moving from 32-bit to 64-bit architecture, this new version will bring better performance and stability to your photo booth.

Notably, Sparkbooth DSLR now supports both Canon and Nikon cameras on Windows and MacOS, eliminating the need for separate versions for each brand. Additionally, the MacOS version is now a universal binary, ensuring native compatibility with Apple Silicon Macs.

The update expands support to include the following camera models:

• Canon EOS R5 Mark II
• Canon PowerShot V10
• Canon PowerShot Zoom
• Canon EOS R100
• Canon EOS R8
• Canon EOS R50
• Canon EOS R6 Mark II
• Canon EOS R7
• Canon EOS R10
• Canon EOS R3
• Canon EOS M50 M
• Nikon Z5
• Nikon Z6 II
• Nikon Z7 II
• Nikon Z9
• Nikon Z8

Please note this is a beta version and there might be some issues. Test before using in for an event. If you have one of the newly supported camera models, please let us know if it’s working smoothly for you. Please report any issues you find by contacting us.

Download Sparkbooth 7.2 Beta

Premium for Windows Premium for MacOS DSLR for Windows DSLR for MacOS

This is the first release of the 7.1 beta. New features include:

• Display QR code for photos uploaded via Send to Account. QR code works with following uploaders:
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Giphy
  • Google Drive
  • Google Photos
  • Imgur
  • Shootproof
  • SmugMug
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
• For DSLR, minimize the toggling off and on of live view
• Display on-screen keyboard for gateway screen (with option to disable if not needed)
• Separate timeout setting for decorate and drawing screen
• Update Google authenticator for OOB change. Affects Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos
• Custom uploader works with QR codes and supports JSON response Documentation
• Added photo overlays for mirror booth

Please download and give this beta a try and let me know if you find any issues.

Stay tuned for more updates and features.

Download Sparkbooth 7.1 Beta

Personal / Premium for Windows Personal / Premium for MacOS Canon DSLR for Windows Nikon DSLR for Windows Nikon DSLR for MacOS

Today we are releasing the early beta for Sparkbooth DSLR Beta for Nikon on MacOS.

The beta also includes all the new 7.0 features. Canon cameras are not currently supported for MacOS, but we are looking into it. Supported Nikon DSLR models:

Nikon 1 V3, Nikon D3, D3X, D4S, D5, D6 ^* D90, D300, D300S, D500, D600, D610, D700, D750, D780 ^* D800, D810, D850, D5000, D5100, D5200, D5300, D5500, D5600, D7000, D7100, D7200, D7500, z6, z7 z50 ^*

^* Supported by camera component but unverified. If you have this camera model and it works for you, please let us know.

Download Sparkbooth Nikon DSLR Beta for MacOS

Sparkbooth 7.0 beta is now available. This release focuses on the new GIF Booth mode and virtual props.

You can now configure Sparkbooth to lets guests select the photo or GIF booth using the new selection start screen

With GIF Booth mode, you can configure Sparkbooth to create GIFs with multiple frames like the rewind example above.

New virtual props have been added to Sparkbooth 7 as a replacement for actual props. Guest can decorate their photo using the virtual props or customize with your own images.

If you have configured Sparkbooth to generate GIFs from the photo booth photos, guests can select which image to upload with the new upload selection screen.

Sparkbooth 7 integrates with background removal services like Gadbooth and Remove.bg to automatically remove backgrounds without using a green screen.

Use Snap Camera with Sparkbooth as another option for virtual props. Sparkbooth can send key presses to Snap Camera to automatically change lens for each photo.

Multi-printer support. Sparkbooth will automatically cycle through multiple printers for printing. Or send duplicate strip layouts to specific printers configured for cutting.

New features and changes to 7.0 include:

• GIF Booth mode to record multi-frame GIFs including rewind or boomerang GIFs
• Display Photo Booth and GIF Booth selection screen to allow guests to select mode
• New virtual props and stickers. Or use your own images to create your own sets of props
• Separate upload settings for GIF verses JPEG/PNG. Some uploaders do not work with GIFs
• Separate photo album/kiosk settings for GIF verses JPEG/PNG. For example, no print option for GIFs
• Decorate screen to allow guests to draw or apply virtual props on individual photos
• Email or texting input screen displays image to be sent
• Customizable button and screen title font and color
• Snap Camera hotkey sets to automatically change Snap Camera lens per photo
• Multi-printer support including sending duplicate photo layouts to printers setup for cutting
• Redesigned, reorganize, and streamlined settings dialogs

Sparkbooth 7 has a free 30-day trial. If you purchased a Premium or DSLR license after February 1, 2020, your license will already unlock and activate Sparkbooth 7. If you purchased a license before, you can upgrade your license to the current version to use with Sparkbooth 7.

Please note: All new features are only available for Premium and DSLR licenses. This is a beta so test before using for your events. If you find any issues or have questions, please send us an email.

Download Sparkbooth 7.0

Personal / Premium for Windows Personal / Premium for MacOS Canon DSLR for Windows Nikon DSLR for Windows

The recent Sparkbooth 6.1 update allows guests to select photo layouts of different photo sizes. Previously, guests could only select photo layouts of the same photo size (square, widescreen, portrait, etc.). Some changes that were made to allow this to happen:

• The list of photo layouts is no longer separated by photo size. It is now one long list of layouts.
• Under settings, you can filter photo layouts by photo size to help find a layout, but the list of favorite layouts still includes all photo sizes. If you want guests to only be able to select layouts of a single photo size type, you will have to un-favorite all the layouts of the other photo sizes.
• In the photo layout lists, the name of the layout is followed by the photo size, paper size, and then orientation.
• Under camera settings, the rotate camera settings is visible and applied regardless of the current photo size of the photo layout. Previously, rotating the camera only worked for portrait photo sized photo layouts. You can also select the photo size from camera settings to help position and adjust the camera for the various photo sizes.
• It is recommended that you use the photo layout selection screen instead of the on-screen button since the user interface will change proportion to the photo size of the layout you have selected. If you use the button, the button will move as the proportion of the screen changes.

Download 6.1 Beta:

• Windows
• Mac
• Windows Canon DSLR
• Windows Nikon DSLR

This is the first release of the 6.1 beta.

The web browser view has been updated to a modern web browser standard. Previously for the Windows version, Sparkbooth used Internet Explorer web browser component for this. Many web sites, like SmugMug, Flickr, and Tumblr, are no longer supporting Internet Explorer. With this update, you will be able to sign into those web services without opening an external web browser. The new web view browser also has the benefit of signing out of Facebook and other services much faster.

The Mac version of Sparkbooth for this update is now 64-bit. With the upcoming MacOS Catalina release, 32-bit applications will no longer work on Mac.

Please download and give this beta a try and let me know if you find any issues.

Stay tuned for more updates and features.

Download 6.1 Beta:

• Windows
• Mac
• Windows Canon DSLR
• Windows Nikon DSLR

Check out the new Sparkbooth 6 Beta including these new features:

• Mirror booth mode. Tutorial
• Add your own video clips for mirror booth. Tutorial
• Allow guests to draw or sign on top of layouts
• Allow guests to apply image stickers on top of layouts
• New video countdowns
• New settings user interface
• Layout editor includes image library with frames and images to customize layouts
• Layout background generators to create your own gradient, strips, tiled, images, or other background effects
• Add dynamic dates to custom filenames
• More features coming...

This is an early beta, so please test before using. Let me know if you find any issues or have suggestions.

Sparkbooth 6 can be activated using any license purchase after January 15, 2018. If you have a license from before, you can upgrade your license to work with the beta and release version (when it comes out) of Sparkbooth 6.

Sparkbooth 6 Beta Downloads

• Premium / Personal for Windows
• Premium / Personal for Mac
• DSLR Canon for Windows
• DSLR Nikon for Windows

Have you tried the Sparkbooth 5.0 Beta? Check out these new features:

• Comes in English, Spanish, German, French, or Brazilian Portuguese languages
• Animated text countdowns and prompts
• Take photos by trigger without countdown
• Retake photos in session
• Custom countdown audio so you can add voice clips for 1, 2, 3...
• Custom countdown images so you can use your own images
• Portrait mode for tall screens including camera rotation
• Display and upload layouts as split strip
• Print single strip layout as doubled strip
• Settable photo layout background color
• Use screensaver instead of cover screen
• Video and animated text screensaver and cover screens
• Post animated GIFs to Facebook using new "Facebook Post Share" uploader to posted GIF on photo sharing services and then share photo on Facebook
• Use animated GIFs for screen overlays or green screen backgrounds
• Support Vivial Connect service for sending photos to mobile devices
• DSLR supports Nikon cameras
• New "None" theme to maximumize the display of the live view window

Download and try the Sparkbooth 5.0 Beta

You can use any license key purchased after July 1, 2016 to unlock the 5.0 beta. If your license was purchased before, you can upgrade it to 5.0 at https://sparkbooth.com/upgrade

The Sparkbooth 4.3 beta is now available to download and try out. Here are some of the changes in this major update:

• Sparkbooth DSLR now supports Canon T6 / 1300D
• Faster and improved settings import and export. Including smaller file size, less memory usage, and fix for encoding large and corrupt images.
• Add limited GIF uploading
• Display GIF animations in previews and prompts
• Disable printing temporarily setting 0 prints via shortcut
• Add password confirmation for lock mode
• Add setting to toggle lock mode with close mode short cut
• Resolve some freezing issues when taking photos
• Optimize memory usage
• See release notes for a full list of changes

This is a free update for all Sparkbooth 4 users. Please try it out and let me know if you see any issues.

Download Now

Happy Thanksgiving!

With the latest 4.2 update, you can now import/export data into/from the "Send Photo Later" queue. This is great for backing up the queue, or if you need to re-upload photos.

To access this new feature, go to Settings and select "Send Photo Later", and note the new import and export buttons.

The import feature will import any of the tab-delimited files generated by Sparkbooth. If you have the prompts enabled, you can import the sparkbooth-prompts.txt. If you have uploads enabled, you can import the sparkbooth-uploads.txt file.

If you want to import the prompts or upload log from another computer, copy the photos folder over and set it as the layout folder under Settings > Saving before importing the log file.

The 4.2.40 update includes some major features:

• New Facebook "Post to Account Page then Share" guest upload option. Posts the photo to the configured Facebook account or page, then your guests can share the post from their Facebook account. Using this option does not require Facebook app review for custom Facebook apps.
• Automatically create new Facebook photo albums if the 100 photo limit has been reached
• Use new Facebook like dialog for pages. Facebook has retired the previous like dialog.
• Fix chroma keying issue for green-ish blue and yellow colors
• [DSLR] Add Canon EOS 7D Mark II support
• [DSLR] Add Live View bulb mode setting for dark preview using external flash. This option requires enabling "Use external flash or AF", and camera set to M or Tv mode.
• Other fixes and improvements. See release notes for all changes

Download Sparkbooth

New beta update 4.2.27 enables guest green screen selection. You can change backgrounds by enabling the keyboard shortcut, on-screen button, or selection screen. See release notes.

Download Sparkbooth

New beta update 4.2.10 enables user surveys in photo kiosk mode so you can collect names, emails, telephone, or comments before printing or uploading photos. You can enable this new feature under Photo Kiosk Settings, then select Prompts. See release notes.

You can download the beta below. Note: this beta also include the new green screen feature, photo kiosk counters, and photo kiosk mailing lists.

Download Sparkbooth

New beta update 4.2.6 enables email subscriptions with MailChimp in photo kiosk mode. You can enable MailChimp subscriptions under the Email settings, or from the Send Photo Later queue. See release notes.

You can download the beta below. Note: this beta also include the new green screen feature and photo kiosk counters.

Download Sparkbooth

New beta update 4.2.6 enables counters in photo kiosk mode. You can use counters to track uploads and prints, and actions like notifications, disabling printing, or closing the kiosk when counter limits are reached. Counters can be viewed under Settings > Counters, or by pressing ctrl-4 from the main screen. To learn more about counters watch our short tutorial. See release notes.

You can download the beta below. Note: this beta also include the new green screen feature.

Download Sparkbooth

We are releasing the beta for green screen (chroma key) for Sparkbooth users to try out. The green screen feature is for Premium license users only. Please review the Sparkbooth Green Screen instructions and setup tips. See release notes. You can download the beta below:

Download Sparkbooth

Please help test the Sparkbooth & DSLR 4.1 beta. It includes many fixes, optimizations, and some new features including:

• Start screens. Option to replace on-screen button with separate screens to select photo layouts, photo effects, and screen overlays
• Cover screen options to display a start image or slideshow of photos. Use this for Sparkbooth DSLR to turn off LiveView in between session
• Update Facebook log in screen and uploader to Facebook's 2.0 service
• Post to Facebook event page
• Photo layout search in photo layout settings to quickly find the layout you want to use
• Photo layout reset options to select next or random layout for next guest
• Twilio SMS can now send photo links uploaded to you Facebook, SmugMug, or Flickr accounts
• Send Photo Later can throttle uploads due for services with rate limits
• Send all photos to an account email. Great for websites with "post by email" photo galleries like SquareSpace or Wordpress
• Reset Layout Editor customizations for a photo layout - removing any images and text objects
• Doubled limit of image and text customizations for Personal license users
• Added counters for Facebook, Twitter, emailing, SMS
• Submit emails to MailChimp from Send Photo Later queue
• Keyboard enabled prints count on print prompt screen using arrow keys
• Hide photo layouts
• Workaround for Twitter login service changes
• Click to update from notification
• Name and re-order counter by dragging and dropping in list
• Other optimizations and fixes

Sparkbooth DSLR 4.1 includes all the above plus:

• Support for Canon T5 / 1200D
• Improved and optimized LiveView memory and CPU usage
• New DSLR app icon

This is a beta release, so please test before using at a real event! The beta will replace your existing install of Sparkbooth 4, and use your existing activation.

Download Sparkbooth

You asked for it and we listened. We're kicking off a crowdsource campaign and pre-selling licenses at $175 for our new Sparkbooth DSLR version - the next hot product in our line of photo booth software.

With the current beta, Sparkbooth DSLR connects to your camera via USB cable. Sparkbooth DSLR automatically connects to display LiveView video and takes photos from the camera. Early access licenses include activations on up to 3 computers, allows for commercial usage, unlocks commercial/premium features and works with the beta and released versions. View the rest of the new features here.

Join the campaign and be the first to get the new Sparkbooth software before release.

For questions, contact us at the Sparkbooth DSLR support site

Download Sparkbooth

I need help testing the "Send It Later" feature in Sparkbooth 3.4. This new feature will allows you to queue up photos, and send them later when you have an internet connection.

If you find any issues, please send me a message

I need help testing the new photo album feature in Sparkbooth 3.3. This new feature will allow your guests to browse through the previous photos taken, and they can print or send them to their Facebook, Twitter, or email accounts. Here is a quick demo.

Download and Try Out Sparkbooth 3.3 Preview

If you find any issues, please send me a message

Sparkbooth 3.0.10 preview update is now available. This update includes the new Facebook Guest uploader which will upload photos into your guest's Facebook account. Guests will be prompted for permission to upload into their Facebook account for each photo session.

Other changes include centering of on-screen messages when video screen is not displayed.

Download Sparkbooth

Changes include:

• Guest print copies selection control now works with keyboard (ctrl-P or cmd-P, or plus/minus keys)
• Streamlined guest print copies control setting. To turn on, Go to Options tab > Printing from list > check "Enable printing", "Prompt guest to print", and "with copies selection"
• Fixed show/hide issue with touch controls. Controls were not hiding or showing in certain situations.
• Cleaned up setting labels
• Cleaned up start up code

Download Sparkbooth

Just in time for your Halloween party! This update adds the ability for guests to select the number of print copies. To turn this new option:

1. Open Sparkbooth Settings by pressing F1 or the settings button in the upper right.
2. Select the Options tab, and selecting Printing from the list
3. Enable Printing. Also enable the print prompt by checking the option to "Prompt user to print" and "With preview"
4. Select User Controls from the list to show the print copies control.
5. Select "Enable Print Copies Selection"

Download Sparkbooth

Sparkbooth 2.6.7 update is now available for download. Changes include:

• Added Twitter uploader. You can now post photos directly to your Twitter account using Twitter's offical photo service.
• Disable fullscreen hotkey (ctrl-F or cmd-F) when Sparkbooth is locked (ctrl-L or cmd-L).

Sparkbooth 3.0.7 preview update is now also available on the download page. This update includes all changes above plus all Sparkbooth 3 preview features and...

• Change the portrait photo used in the layout selection preview
• Added a couple 4 x 8 (perforated) photo layouts

Your Sparkbooth license key will also unlock this version. If you have a Sparkbooth Party Edition license key, please contact me about upgrading pricing if you want to unlock Sparkbooth 3.

Download Sparkbooth

This update includes:

• Select available video colors for color button by keyboard via ctrl-K or cmd-K
• Hide distracting photos and video during user name/email prompts
• Improved user prompts - bigger and cleaner
• On-screen cancel button

Download Sparkbooth

This update includes:

• Fix watermark on preview for layout selection
• Switch off click/touch to start, if start button is displayed
• Option to select layout with ctrl-J or cmd-J

The previous changes and features for Sparkbooth 3:

• Added SendGrid to email photos to users. Select this option in Uploaders settings.
• Added Postmarkapp.com to email photos to users. Select this option in Uploaders settings.
• Added option to submit emails to MailChimp mailing lists. To turn on this option, go to Settings, select Option tab, select Saving from list and check the "Submit Email to MailChimp Mailing List" option. You will need to also select the Prompt for email option.
• New touch screen controls. To enable, go to Settings > Options tab > User Controls.
• New on-screen keyboard used for user prompts.
• New on-screen photo layout selection and layout preview, so your users can now select the layout to use. Only layouts marked as "Favorite" will be displayed.
• New on-screen color button so your users can change video filters.
• New on-screen start button as an alternative to the "Click to start" option.
• Option to always hide mouse cursor. Useful for touch screen users.
• Enable Facebook page albums selection.
• Fixed missing "z" key from on-screen keyboard.
• Fixed Posterous and SmugMug uploader issues.
• Other minor fixes

This preview does not include the Canon camera or the native webcam features. These are still under development, but feel free to email me if you want to try it. If you want to use your Canon camera, please read the instructions carefully to get access.

You can use your Sparkbooth license to activate this preview. If you have a Sparkbooth Party Edition license, I will be offering an upgrade to Sparkbooth which will allow you to get Sparkbooth 3. Details coming soon, or please email me if you can't wait.

Download Sparkbooth

Here is an update for the Sparkbooth 3 preview. Changes include:

• Added option to submit emails to MailChimp mailing lists. To turn on this option, go to Settings, select Option tab, select Saving from list and check the "Submit Email to MailChimp Mailing List" option. You will need to also select the Prompt for email option.
• Fixed missing "z" key from on-screen keyboard
• Fixed Posterous and SmugMug uploader issues

Download Sparkbooth

The preview of Sparkbooth 3 is now avaialble for download. New features in this version include:

• Enable Facebook page album selection
• Added SendGrid to email photos to users. Select this option in Uploaders settings.
• Postmarkapp.com to email photos to users. Select this option in Uploaders settings.
• New touch screen controls. To enable, go to Settings > Options tab > User Controls.
• New on-screen keyboard used for user prompts.
• New on-screen photo layout selection and layout preview, so your users can now select the layout to use. Only layouts marked as "Favorite" will be displayed.
• New on-screen color button so your users can change video filters
• New on-screen start button as an alternative to the "Click to start" option
• Option to always hide mouse cursor. Useful for touch screen users.

The new touch screen features work great with computers like the HP TouchSmart series. If you don't have a touch screen computer, the new features also work with a mouse.

This preview does not include the Canon camera or the native webcam features. These are still under development.

Sparkbooth 2.3 Beta 2 is now available to try. You can download the beta from here. If you have a previous version of Sparkbooth installed, click the replace option during installation (the version is displayed as 2.2.1 in the install dialog). Changes since 2.3 beta 1 include:

• Added 3-photo and 1-photo layouts. Sparkbooth can now handle less than 4 photo sessions.
• Added video display-only theme. This is useful if you are using a 1-photo layout.
• Added usage statistics to Settings > Options > Other
• Removed ScreenTweet, TwitDoc, and TwitSnaps uploaders since they do not support Twitter OAuth authentication requirement

Sparkbooth 2.3 Beta is now available to try. You can download the beta from here. If you have a previous version of Sparkbooth installed, click the replace option during installation (the version is displayed as 2.2 in the install dialog). Changes in this beta include:

• Convert Twitter service uploaders to new OAuth authentication. On August 31th, Twitter will be turning off basic authentication which is used by all the Twitter upload services in Sparkbooth 2.2. So these upload services will stop working on that date. Please use Sparkbooth 2.3 if you wish to continue using Twitter for uploads.
• Add yfrog uploader
• New re-print feature. Press control-P or command-P to reprint the last photo during the “Press Spacebar to Begin” screen.
• New application lock feature. When locked, users cannot quit the application, exit full screen, access settings or camera dialogs. Press control+L or command+L to toggle lock mode. Unlocking can be protected with a password.
• Fixed issue with clicking on “Press Spacebar to Begin” message to start photo session.
• Add missing “2 x 2 Top, Portrait” layout
• New 1 + 3 layouts
• New 4 x 1 duplicate strip with logo layout
• New 2” x 4” strip layout

Sparkbooth 2 beta update available here. Changes include:

• New camera settings controls
• Fixed count down background transparency

The Sparkbooth 2 beta is available here if you want to try it out. Please follow the install instructions carefully.

Coming soon...