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PhotoBox · Mac app

A photo booth for the party, built from what's already at home.

PhotoBox turns a Mac, a webcam and your camera into a photo booth: live view on the TV, a 3-2-1 countdown, full-resolution shots from the real camera, a tablet as remote and gallery, and prints right at the party.

Download for Mac Free · Apple Silicon · macOS 15+
Kids crowd in front of a TV showing the PhotoBox live view, with a camera and webcam on top and a photo printer beside it

What it does

Live view on the big screen
The webcam shows everyone what the shot will look like, on the TV or a second monitor. A frame marks exactly what the big camera will capture.
3, 2, 1, cheese
Start with a wave of the hand or from the tablet. A countdown runs, a little animal flies up to the camera so the kids look the right way, and the shutter fires right on zero.
Your real camera
Plug in a DSLR or mirrorless camera via USB and PhotoBox shoots with it, full resolution, autofocus included. No camera attached? It quietly uses the webcam instead and switches back as soon as the camera returns.
Tablet remote
Scan the QR code on screen with any tablet or phone: start a photo, browse the gallery, print. Protected by a key in the QR code, so only the tablet next to the booth can control it.
Prints on the spot
One tap prints the photo, on a Canon SELPHY or any other printer on your Mac. PhotoBox picks the paper size from the loaded cassette and shows when paper or ink runs out.
Everything stays local
All photos land in a folder on your Mac, sorted by day. No cloud, no account, nothing leaves the room.

My setup

This is the setup I use. None of it is special hardware.

  1. 1 Mac
    Any Apple Silicon Mac, macOS 15 or later.
  2. 2 Webcam: Logitech C920 HD Pro
    Sits on top of the TV for the live view. Any USB webcam works; for common models PhotoBox knows the field of view and sizes the frame itself.
  3. 3 Camera: Nikon D3500
    On a tripod right next to the webcam, connected via USB. A Canon EOS RP works just as well.
  4. 4 Printer: Canon SELPHY CP1300
    Postcard-size prints in about a minute, borderless, on Wi-Fi or USB.
  5. 5 An old tablet
    Remote control and gallery, connected to the same Wi-Fi as the Mac.

Which cameras work?

PhotoBox controls the camera with gphoto2, which is built in, so there is nothing to install. It knows more than 2,700 models; anything that can be remote-controlled over USB will do. A few examples:

The full list is on the gphoto2 website. Without a camera, PhotoBox simply takes the photos with the webcam.

Open source inside

PhotoBox ships gphoto2 and its libraries (GPL and LGPL) unmodified as a separate helper program. The complete source code of exactly these versions is available here: PhotoBox-OpenSource-Source.zip.

Bring the booth to the party.

Download for Mac Photos stay on your Mac.