LumaBooth vs Darkroom Booth
Darkroom Booth is one of the original Windows photo booth programs and plenty of operators have run it for a decade. dslrBooth is the other long-running Windows option, and the same account now also covers Mac, iPad, iPhone and Android.
Prices and features checked September 4, 2026The Short Version
dslrBooth (LumaBooth for Windows)
- $17 per month billed annually, two computers included
- SMS, email, cloud galleries and AI portraits in the subscription
- Rebuilt for version 8 in March 2026, with 33 releases since
- Same account covers Mac, iPad, iPhone and Android
Darkroom Booth
- $295 up front, then about $95 a year to keep receiving updates
- A smaller annual bill than a subscription, not the absence of one
- Bill acceptor support for coin-op and kiosk installs
- Suits a stable, heavily customized Windows setup
Pricing
| dslrBooth | Darkroom Booth | |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Subscription | Up-front license, plus an annual maintenance plan to keep getting updates |
| Price | $17 per month billed annually, so $204 a year. Or $49.99 monthly | Darkroom Booth 2025: $295 full version, plus $95 a year to renew maintenance |
| Devices included | 2 computers | 1 license |
| Updates | Included, continuous | Requires a current maintenance plan |
| SMS sharing | Unlimited US and Canada, international included | Darkroom Phone with maintenance, or your own Twilio account |
| Cloud galleries | Included, every event | Event Gallery, custom pricing |
| AI portraits | Included, $0.10 per portrait usage | Not offered |
| iPad version | LumaBooth at $18 per month annual with 2 devices, and the same subscription covers iPhone, Mac and Android | Booth for iPad, $29.99 per month or $299 per year, one device |
Scroll the table sideways to see both columns.
Three-year cost, one booth
Darkroom Booth 2025 is $295 up front plus $95 a year to renew maintenance, so about $485 over three years, before Twilio and gallery hosting.
dslrBooth is $612 over three years, with two computers, SMS, email, cloud galleries and AI included.
Add a Twilio account and any gallery hosting to the Darkroom column and the two land close. Add a second booth and dslrBooth is clearly cheaper, since your second computer is already covered. We would rather show you that math than hide it.
One word worth being precise about, though: one-time. The Darkroom license is bought once, but updates stop without a current maintenance plan, and Darkroom Phone needs one too. So the honest comparison is roughly $95 a year against $204 a year, not $0 against $204. It is a smaller recurring bill, not the absence of a recurring bill.
Platforms and Cameras
| LumaBooth | Darkroom Booth | |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| Mac | Yes | No |
| iPad and iPhone | Yes | Separate iPad app, billed separately |
| Android | Yes | No |
| Canon | Yes, tethered | Yes, tethered |
| Nikon | Yes, tethered | Yes, tethered |
| Sony | Yes | Not supported for tethering |
| GoPro | Yes | Not listed |
| Webcam | Yes | Yes |
| 360 booth | Yes | Not listed |
| Mirror booth | Yes | Yes |
| Bill acceptors and kiosk mode | Cashless QR payments | Built-in bill acceptor support |
Sony is the one clear gap
Darkroom's own support documentation states they do not support tethering for any Sony camera, on Booth or on Core and Pro. Photos from a Sony body can still be imported from a card or a watched folder, but you cannot drive the camera from the software. If you shoot Sony, or you are weighing an a6400 or a ZV-E10 for a new booth, that decides it on its own.
The other side of that coin: Darkroom Booth has deep support for coin-op and unattended kiosk installs, including bill acceptors. If that is your business, look closely at that before you switch anything.
Printing
| LumaBooth | Darkroom Booth | |
|---|---|---|
| DNP and HiTi | Yes | Yes |
| Print sizes | Full range, plus panoramas on iPad and Mac over USB | Full range including photo book PDF |
| Survey answers printed on the layout | Yes | Yes |
| Guest signing on the print | Yes, since 2017 | Yes |
| Multi-monitor | Yes, with per-display scaling | Yes |
Both are strong Windows printing platforms. Load a ribbon, plug in a Canon, and either one will hand your guests a print all night. This is table stakes on the desktop and neither will let you down.
Worth knowing if you also run iPads: LumaBooth prints straight from an Apple silicon iPad or a Mac over one USB cable with no print server, and can print 6x20 or 8x32 panoramas off standard ribbons. Darkroom's iPad app does not do that.
One detail that gets overlooked: HiTi. No other app on this page prints direct to a HiTi over USB. If you run a P525L or a P520L, LumaBooth is the only one here that talks to it without a server in the middle.
Guest signature comes up often, so to be clear about it: dslrBooth has had it since 2017. Guests sign on-screen before the print, and a Signature element in the template editor lets you place and style it in the layout alongside survey answers. The same feature is in the iPad and Mac app with freehand pen colors and a glow style. Both products do this well.
Cloud, Sharing and the Dashboard
| LumaBooth | Darkroom Booth | |
|---|---|---|
| Online dashboard | Included. Set up booths, edit every setting and manage events from any browser, synced to every device on your account | Not listed |
| Cloud galleries | Included, every event, through fotoShare Cloud | Event Gallery, custom pricing |
| SMS sharing | Unlimited US and Canada, international included | Darkroom Phone with maintenance, or your own Twilio |
| Email sharing | Included | Yes |
| Remote control | Booth CoPilot app, included | Not listed |
| Offline sharing | Yes, queues and sends when back online | Check their current list |
| Templates included | 820+ designs, and each one is a full matched set: ten print layouts from 2x6 strips to 4x6 landscape and square, a custom welcome screen, plus portrait and square overlays for GIFs and video. Over 8,000 files, free, with a full layout designer | Template library, plus a designer |
This is where the two models diverge most. dslrBooth includes unlimited US and Canada texting, international texting, email and a branded gallery per event, with no second account to manage. Darkroom's phone and gallery features are add-ons that depend on a maintenance plan or your own Twilio credentials, and with Twilio you pay per message on top.
The online dashboard is the other gap. Every dslrBooth setting can be configured from a browser and pushed to every booth on your account, so you can fix a client's template from a laptop in a coffee shop instead of driving to the venue. Darkroom does not publish an equivalent.
AI and Effects
| LumaBooth | Darkroom Booth | |
|---|---|---|
| AI portraits | 170+ presets on Windows and Apple | Not offered |
| Custom prompts | Yes, from Subject, Scene and Style, plus an optional logo | Not offered |
| Per-guest personalization | Yes, guest answers built into the artwork | Not offered |
| AI pricing | $0.10 per portrait, 20 free to start | Not offered |
| Green screen | Included | Included |
| Glam and filters | Included | Included |
| GIF and boomerang | Included | Included |
| Video guest book | Included | Video sessions |
| Slow motion and 360 | Included | Not listed |
Darkroom Booth does not offer generative AI portraits today. If AI is a package you want to sell this season, that is a clear gap.
Interface and Update Pace
dslrBooth was rebuilt for version 8, which shipped in March 2026. The screen and layout editors are touch-first, with resize handles and selection styling that match the iPad app, sliders that respond to a drag rather than a press-and-hold, and guest screens refreshed with a new typeface. Multi-monitor setups respect per-display scaling. You can pick whether a welcome screen is designed for a phone, a tablet or a desktop, and it syncs to every device on your account.
Updates ship continuously. Between the version 8 release on March 23, 2026 and August 20, 2026 there were 33 releases, each written up in plain language rather than a version number and a shrug. The full history is public at dslrbooth.com/releases, including what shipped this month.
Judge that pace for yourself against the alternative. Both products publish their history, and an operator deciding where to spend the next five years should read both before choosing.
Who Should Choose Which
Choose dslrBooth if you
- Want SMS, email and cloud galleries included with no extra accounts
- Want to sell AI portraits
- Run two computers, or a Windows booth plus an iPad booth
- Want Mac, iPad or Android on the same account
- Shoot Sony, or are considering a Sony body for a new booth
- Want to change booth settings from a browser instead of driving to the venue
- Want continuous updates published openly
Choose Darkroom Booth if you
- Prefer a larger payment up front and a smaller bill each year after
- Run coin-op or unattended kiosks with bill acceptors
- Have years of Darkroom templates and workflows you do not want to rebuild
- Do not need cloud galleries or built-in SMS
Switching from Darkroom Booth, Honestly
The price is never what stops people. Losing a weekend to rebuilding templates is.
What carries over untouched:
- Your Windows PC
- Your Canon or Nikon body
- Your DNP or HiTi printer
- Your booth and kiosk hardware
- Your backdrops
What you actually have to redo: your print layouts. There is no import path between photo booth apps, not between any two of them, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. Your designs have to be rebuilt in our layout designer.
- Start on the free trial. It is unlimited and only watermarks photos, so you can rebuild and rehearse a full event without paying anything or cancelling your Darkroom maintenance plan.
- Rebuild your two or three most-used layouts first. Most operators run a handful of designs over and over. Do those, not the whole library. Or start from one of our 820 designs, each of which already ships with ten print layouts, a matching welcome screen and overlays.
- Run one real event on both. Keep your existing setup as the backup for a single booking. Nobody should switch software cold on a wedding.
- Ask in the group. 81,400 operators are in our two Facebook communities, and a good number of them have made exactly this move. Post a photo of your existing layout and someone will tell you how they rebuilt it.
- Or let us do it. Send our team your existing templates and we will help you get them across. That is a real offer, not a support-page platitude.
Common Questions
Is dslrBooth the same as LumaBooth?
Yes. dslrBooth is LumaBooth for Windows. Same team, same account, same cloud galleries. The name is being unified across platforms.
Is dslrBooth cheaper than Darkroom Booth?
Darkroom Booth 2025 is $295 up front plus $95 a year for maintenance. dslrBooth is $204 a year with two computers, SMS, email, cloud galleries and AI included. Over three years with one booth they are close once you add Twilio and gallery hosting to Darkroom. With two booths dslrBooth costs less.
Does Darkroom Booth run on Mac?
No. Darkroom Booth is Windows software with a separate iPad app at $29.99 per month or $299 per year. LumaBooth runs on Windows, Mac, iPad, iPhone and Android.
Does Darkroom Booth have AI portraits?
Not today. dslrBooth includes 170+ AI presets plus custom prompts at $0.10 per portrait.
Does Darkroom Booth work with Sony cameras?
Not for tethered capture. Darkroom's support documentation states they do not support tethering for any Sony camera. You can import JPGs from a card or a folder, but the software cannot control the camera. dslrBooth supports Canon, Nikon and Sony.
How often is dslrBooth updated?
Version 8 shipped in March 2026 and there have been 33 releases through August 20, 2026. Every one is written up at dslrbooth.com/releases, so you can see what changed before you install it.
Can I switch from Darkroom Booth to dslrBooth?
Yes. Your Windows PC, camera and DNP or HiTi printer work as they are. Rebuild your layouts in the designer, import your assets, and our team will help with the move.
The Group Chat Alone Is 81,400 Operators
Software is the part you can compare on a table. This is the part you feel at 11pm when the printer stops.
To be clear about that number: 81,400 is how many operators are in our two official Facebook groups. It is not our user count, which is a good deal larger. It is simply the part you can go and count for yourself, which is why we use it.
Ask a question in the Windows group at 2am and someone in Manila answers before someone in Chicago wakes up. That is not a support policy, it is tens of thousands of operators who have already run the event you are about to run. Our own team is US-based with people spread across the time zones, so a Saturday night in any country is a working day for somebody.
The long history matters for the same reason. We shipped the first version in 2012 and we have not stopped. Every release is written up in plain language at dslrbooth.com/releases, so you can read exactly what changed before you install it, going back years. Pick any photo booth app and read its release history next to ours. That comparison tells you more about the next five years than any feature table.
Try It at Your Next Event
Download dslrBooth and run a full event before you pay anything. The trial is unlimited, it just watermarks your photos.
Start Your Free Trial See PricingOther Comparisons
Darkroom Booth 2025 pricing and the $95 annual maintenance renewal verified September 4, 2026 from Darkroom Software's own pricing page. Sony tethering support and the iPad app price taken the same day from Darkroom's own published support documentation and pricing. Darkroom Booth User Network membership taken the same day from its public Facebook group page. Both products change often. Current LumaBooth pricing always lives on our pricing page. Spotted something out of date? Tell us at support at lumasoft dot co and we will correct it.