For today’s “ESPER Customer Stories“ we spoke with Rolf Mooibroek, founder of Fotodoos photobooth company.
By adding bullet time booth to their portfolio of services, Rolf has captured the attention of several event agencies and got more activations for large brands and events.
Let’s hear his story.
Fotodoos is one of the largest photo booth rental company in the Netherlands. We rent photo booths for parties, trade shows, events, fairs and other occasions.
Clients can choose from one of our photo booths and let their guests take the most beautiful or craziest photos to make their event unforgettable!
We also build 180 & 360 bullet time booths with 12, 24 and 48 cameras for that WOW effect!
Over the years, we have served over 5,000 weddings, birthdays, staff parties and other events for brands like Heineken, Vodafone and Shell.
For a start, you need a reliable software that will synchronize all the cameras.
We use Breeze, the multi-camera software. It is very reliable and very well developed so it was a natural choice to use it in the setup. For uploading the photos and gifts we use our own software, including our own online gallery for sharing purposes, emailing, etc.
Nowadays our bullet time booths, use Canons 1200 D’s with the standard kit lens, Microsoft Surface Pro for running the software, and of course, ESPER TriggerBoxes and PowerBoxes to power and sync the cameras.
In the early days, before going with the ESPER boxes, to fire all the cameras at the same time we used to join all the sync cables from the cameras together and then connect them to a remote trigger.
But there was a big problem.
When one connection is loose or it’s broken, you have no idea where to look and so you have to check every single connection. When troubleshooting 24 cameras and 48 connections in the array it was really frustrating and time-consuming.
That’s when we saw on the Breeze MultiCam site a referral to ESPER, along with all sorts of technical stuff stating you could use the TriggerBox for triggering multiple cameras at the same time.
There were a few reasons.
Firstly, we definitely needed something reliable that will always work. That’s why we went for ESPER TriggerBoxes because they’re ideal and you can see right away which camera is connected and which isn’t.
Secondly, because of the TriggerBoxes accurate multi-camera synchronisation. Firing all of the cameras exactly the same time, with a minimum time in between shots was crucial for creating a smooth bullet time effect.
Thirdly, the ESPER TriggerBox has the option to program the intervals between cameras. If you have everything connected on one single sync cable, you have no way of controlling when a camera fires. But, with ESPER hardware we can tweak the delay between the firing of the cameras.
Lastly, we also needed something that would work in all conditions.
One of those situations that really put the ESPER TriggerBox to test, was a four-day activation we launched in November last year. It was really cold at night and also had a lot of fog in the camera, but everything worked.
So that was really exciting to see the ESPER TriggerBoxes performing so well in such extreme weather as they had to stay there overnight!
That’s right.
We needed a solution that would get rid of all the power plugs that were causing a mess in the array.
Using ESPER PowerBoxes with DC Couplers we can easily and conveniently power all of the cameras and we don’t have to worry about batteries dying ever again.
They also eliminate the risk of a false power plugs, ensuring reliable and constant power supply – something a battery can’t do.
Well, it’s definitely generated more revenue and got the interest of several big event agencies!
They were really interested in the technique as it was a new kind of activation in the photo booth marketing industry. We started to get more and more activations for large events and brands.
Click here to see ESPER TriggerBox customer gallery.
Since our first bullet time booth for KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines), we’ve gone on to do some really big bullet time activations for the likes of KPN (Dutch telecommunications company) and the ING Bank.
The bullet time effect and array really create amazing reactions.
When guests couldn’t see all of the cameras they were like “Okay that’s a nice thing”, but when they walked around to look at the array from the front, almost everybody was shocked!
It was really impressive to have all of these cameras pointed at you and then when they see you taking time freeze photos of them it is fun and really makes guests go “WOW”.
“Fantastic services and excellent quality. The Fotodoos was a big success. The operator was really friendly and everything was perfectly organized and executed. We would hire them again.”
– Michael, KLM
Learn more about ESPER TriggerBox and PowerBox.
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Built by the Department of Industrial and System Engineering at The Univerity of Iowa, Driver360 is an innovative 4D scanning system installed in a driving simulator environment.
The University selected ESPER hardware to provide the reliable powering and accurate triggering of 36 DSLR cameras, with minimal latency and no power management issues.
Professor Stephen Baek, Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Iowa along with his research team were presented with a challenge to develop a portable, modular 4D scanning system compatible with NADAS (National Advanced Driving Simulator) MiniSim, a high-performance driving simulator designed for research, development, clinical and training applications.
The Driver 360 4D scanning system, can capture time-synchronised HD videos of a subject sitting in and operating a driving simulator from different angles. The system then combines the videos, detects visual features and landmarks, and integrates them to reconstruct a 3D model for each video frame. The reconstructed models in the video frames are then combined to construct a dynamic 3D scan of the driver over time.
Key to the system was how to trigger all 36 DSLR cameras simultaneously. To this end, efficient relay and broadcasting of a shutter signal to multiple cameras with a minimal latency was the challenge.
The ESPER TriggerBox technology was tested side-by-side with the University’s in-house system.
“We compared their technology with the one we made in-house, and the Esper trigger box showed less latency and had a significantly lower failure rate.”
The University purchased six TriggerBoxes from ESPER. The boxes were connected as a daisy-chain, each box can broadcast signals to up to six cameras and 36 cameras total. One of the boxes was connected to a wired remote control (RC) unit or a computer, and the signal from the RC or the computer is spread out to all the connected cameras.
Secondly, because 36 DSLR cameras were required to operate in the Driver360 system, power management was an issue. The DSLR cameras by default operate on a lithium-ion battery as a sole power source, but this can be not only inconvenient but also unstable under the 32-camera setup.
The University decided to use a “dummy” battery to achieve a more stable power supply. The DC couplers have the same shape as the original camera batteries but are wired to wall outlets so the cameras have a more stable and persistent power supply. The dummy batteries are then connected to an ESPER PowerBox before being connected to the wall power outlet.
The role of the ESPER PowerBox is to convert the AC current from the wall outlet to a reliable, regulated DC current. Each PowerBox can supply power to up to six DSLR cameras.
36 camera face scanning system by Visual Intelligence Laboratory research group.
32 camera face scanning system by Visual Intelligence Laboratory research group.
The new system marks the starting point for many innovative driving research studies. The capability of acquiring high-resolution videos enables immediate new research opportunities for measuring and analysing driving behaviours. Data collected using the system will produce a unique, rich dataset for better understanding drivers.
“Esper was selected based on their incomparable experience and expertise in building multi-camera systems, including the current state-of-the-art systems at Hollywood studios, video game companies, etc… and has the leading technology amongst the very few that are available in the market.”
Professor Stephen Baek, Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Iowa
Learn more about ESPER TriggerBox and PowerBox
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Joy Squad has built a “Mad Max” themed 30 camera bullet-time array using ESPER Trigger and PowerBoxes.
Over 27,000 guests at one of the world’s largest gaming expos, G2E 2018, were able to pose for striking bullet time shots next to the genuine car from the movie ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’.
Joy Squad specialise in delivering high-end photo booth activations and 180 degrees/ 360 degree multi-camera setups for corporate events, trade shows and exhibitions throughout the United States. They boast an impressive client list of brands like Chevrolet, 7-UP, Dell, and Forbes.
This stunning 180-degree multi-camera array was built for Aristocrat Gaming to create an unforgettable experience for the G2E guests bringing together the ‘Mad Max’ car and bullet time photography.
The 180-degree rig was mounted with 30 DSLR cameras controlled by 5 ESPER TriggerBoxes and powered by 5 ESPER PowerBoxes. JoySquad were able to bring everything together flawlessly to create hundreds of eye-catching, bullet time animations which guests could email or share to their social media profiles.
“ESPER’s equipment performed great over a combined 22 hour time frame. In addition, the TriggerBox has endless options to trigger multiple cameras at various times to create the most insane animations.” – Thomas Kuemmel Owner & Director of Operations. Joy Squad
Edward Murzyn the Creative Director at Aristocrat said “It was the best activation at G2E and the best activation that we’ve ever had. Everybody loved it and it was the talk of the crowd!”.
“Oh I love it! It’s the best activation on the show floor.”
“It’s the most fun I’ve ever had of G2E!”
“It was really cool, I didn’t expect it.” – G2E Guests
The whole experience was not just a hit with guests on the expo floor it had an impressive social reach as well, with over 1,000 shares of the branded, bullet time videos. Delivering the impact Aristocrats wanted and a photo booth experience that the guest won’t forget.
“The ESPER TriggerBox will have a permanent spot in my gear bag. When it comes to triggering multiple cameras, there is not a better and more reliable device than the ESPER TriggerBox. – Thomas Kuemmel, Owner & Director of Operations. Joy Squad
Click here to learn more about the ESPER TriggerBox.
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This is the first of our “ESPER Customer Stories” series, in which we’ll analyse the challenges faced by our customers and show how ESPER products have helped to solve their business issues. We hope you will get value from learning about stories that made small to medium businesses more successful as a result.
Today’s interview is with Ewan Sou, Founder and CEO of Instantly.sg.
Here’s how the ESPER TriggerBox helped Instantly gain a competitive advantage, increase revenue and become the market leading bullet time photo booth company in Singapore
Here’s his story:
We’re based in Singapore and we specialise in custom photo, video and 180 & 360 bullet time booths for events and high profile brands such as Apple, Unilever, Disney, MasterCard, Google, Starbucks.
Our goal has always been to create unique, unforgettable experiences, by combining the art of photography with WOW of technology.
I was looking to grow the business through differentiation and customizing our offerings. We wanted to add something unique and special to our photo booth experiences.
This lead me to bullet-time or time stop photography.
Initially, we looked into building our own multi-camera triggering system, but it wasn’t precise. All cameras weren’t firing at the same time and it just wasn’t reliable. As business servicing large events and big brands, your equipment absolutely cannot fail.
Then, I saw on the Breeze website that they recommended the ESPER TriggerBox. It seemed to be exactly what we were looking for, so we decided to give it a try.
Honestly, I had some reservations before the purchase!
Back then, ESPER didn’t even have a website! So it was a kind of scary purchase (no offense!). But Nick, one of the ESPER directors was really helpful and answered my queries patiently.
So in the end, we just took a leap of faith and bought it!
Click here to see ESPER TriggerBox customer gallery.
We’ve been very impressed with the whole product. The overall appearance and design of the TriggerBox is good but most importantly we were able to achieve precise, reliable multi-camera triggering we needed!
As for the rest of the setup, we use Multi-Camera DSLR Pro software by Breeze for controlling our Canon 1300D cameras. For our 180 time stop array, we use 9 cameras. For our 360 time stop, we use a minimum of 28 cameras and depending on requirements, we may use up to 36 cameras.
We now only use ESPER TriggerBoxes on our rigs and it’s been a major factor in helping us grow the business.
Absolutely.
The decision to implement bullet-time and use the ESPER TriggerBox has paid off.
In Singapore, we are the only company that can do 360 Time Stop photography which has given us a great competitive advantage. It’s opened up alot of opportunities and significantly increased revenue as a result!
Customers now see us as the market leader and an expert in creating innovative photobooth experiences. They are amazed that such things can be done at events and the WOW factor is always there when they see so many cameras on site.
Growth wise, we’ve now branched out to Malaysia! Of course our Malaysia branch (instantly.my) uses ESPER too!
Click here to learn more about the ESPER TriggerBox.
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Crash FX Group, the 3D scanning studio behind the incredible face scans in the multi-award winning Marvel Spider-Man PS4 game get hands-on with ESPER’s state-of-the-art LightCage 3D head scanning rig.
We have interviewed experienced artists who have captured scans of humans and assets for large projects including EA, Sony, Netflix, DICE amongst others.
Crash CEO Tony Stranges and 3D Scan Manager Ed McDonough share their experience about using ESPER’s demo scanning rig for capturing photorealistic scans.
We do a lot of photogrammetry scanning. Things we can talk about are Spider-Man for PS4, which we scanned all the heads for. We also did scans for Long Shot Homecoming. This is our first experience with the ESPER Light stage. We’ve used a lot of ESPER products in the past, ESPER Triggers, ESPER Powers, which have worked fantastic with our rigs. We’re very excited to see exactly how we can incorporate this into our workflow.
It’s a 20 camera set-up – 16 2000D’s to basically get the rough face. Then we have three projection cameras of the 7D’s to project all the different lighting patterns onto the geometry. What we are traditionally used to is using a series of strobes, which is just the pop flash. Where as in this light stage rig we get very, very fast flashes, a lot more information. A lot of image data that we normally wouldn’t have been able to get. As far as specular maps, straight diffuse maps, reflection maps and normal maps.
We were doing a few different things. Testing heads, testing hands. The speed of the whole system, the speed of the cameras as well. Make sure that the sync of the lights and the cameras are consistent with a multi-camera set-up. Which has all been great.
Everything is fully manageable, keeping your eyes open for the whole time. The software is actually very easy to use. I’m not a programmer and I was able to pick it up in a few seconds.
We’ll go away and process it and get all the images aligned. Once we do that we’ll be able to take all the images and re-project onto the geometry and then we’ll be able to kick out a normal map. I think having a multi-directional lighting set-up is definitely a change from what we’re using with just strobes. This is going to basically take our data to the next level.
Click here to learn more about ESPER LightCage.
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Good news for Breeze and ESPER TriggerBox users.
Breeze DSLR Remote Pro Multi Camera v2.0 update brings more features and adds improved functionality for multi-camera photo booths.
The update comes with a new live preview of multi-camera photos, integration with ESPER TriggerBoxes, easier multiple cameras control and calibration, and post-processing screen customization!
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Photo booth mode The new mode allows guests to see themselves pose live on the screen. Includes an automated countdown for taking multi-camera photos. Start the action and view the animated GIF/movie on the screen. Also, you can customize and brand video/GIFs in the processing screen. |
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Integrated control for ESPER TriggerBox Now fully integrated with ESPER TriggerBoxes. Quickly adjust the delay, shutter and focus settings of multiple TriggerBoxes. TriggerBox will fire all the cameras at the end of the countdown of the live view display. Also compatible with the new Photo Booth Mode. |
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Improved automatic multi-camera alignment Adjust all cameras in the setup with a faster and easier to use point and click feature. The calibration automatically scales and rotates photos when aligning the cameras. |
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New Breeze multi-camera control software version is now compatible with:
Note: The Canon ESO 3000D / 4000D / M50 models are not recommended for multi-camera setup. This is because they lack of remote release sockets and support for external power (3000D / 4000D only).
TriggerBox v1.3 firmware is now available and is required to access the new features in their development of Multi-Camera v2.0. See this guide for firmware update instructions.
The new multi-camera control software version is a free upgrade for all registered Breeze users who purchased license on or after 25th July 2017. Head over to Breeze website and download the latest update.
Learn more about Breeze DSLR Remote Pro Multi Camera control software and download a 15-day trial of the program to try for yourself.
Learn more about the ESPER TriggerBox.
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