Photo booth

Christiewilson

What is the best printer to use to do a DIY photo booth using my Nikon 3100? Also, is there a way to make it wifi compatible to be able to print directly to the printer? I'm not sure how to set any of it up...any help would be appreciated greatly.

bruto

There is a wifi adapter, but I'm not sure it can communicate directly with a printer. It is only advertised as working with smart devices, like smart phones, and I suspect it would be frustrating.

As for the printer, I'm not sure what is best, but if you find a printer that accepts direct input from USB, it should work tethered, as the D3100 is "pictbridge" compliant. That means that you should be able to select a picture in the preview and

bruto

Sorry, software problem prevents finishing that post.

tethered to printer works if printer has usb input.

Otherwise, try using two memory cards with a printer that reads from a card. One in camera, one in printer, and rotate.

E.T.A. will try editing here.

I tried my wife's D7200 that has wifi, and could not get any connection with either wireless network or wi-fi enabled printer. It appears it will only connect with "smart" devices, and then only with the specified software. If it does with other devices I have not looked further.

The D3200 does work quickly and well through a tether to the USB input of my HP printer. As soon as you turn it on, it opens Pictbridge in the camera, and allows printing. Pictbridge prints only JPG, so if you shoot Raw you must convert. Much as I like Raw, I expect JPG to be more suitable for the photo booth anyway.

My printer is an HP all-in-one Deskjet. It works well. When shopping a fe years ago for a printer I also tried a Canon with card input, and it worked well too. I slightly preferred the look of the HP output but both worked well and fast from the card reader.

Whatever printer you use, make sure you have enough ink, and have practiced how to replace ink cartridges fast.

bruto

Adding to the above, if you have time and if you plan to put the camera on a tripod, where tethering might not be a problem, here's one way to do it, or to try it. What I don't know entirely is whether the D3100 will work this way. I know the D3200 and D7100 do, having tried them both.

There is a freeware open source program called "Digicam control," which allows you to tether the camera to a computer. I know this program works in Vista and in Windows 10. Some options are limited, but it transfers live view from the camera to the computer. LV in the camera is disabled. Within the program one can then set aperture, shutter speed, ISO, and a few other things, auto focus and shoot, all from the computer. The computer, then, can send files to the printer in whatever way the printer is connected to the computer. If you have a stable space to set up, this might work pretty well. Set camera up with target area, tell customer where to stand, and then focus, shoot and print, all from the computer. Pictures are saved in a "Digicam Control" folder in the computer's "Pictures" folder.

In the program as I tried it, one can enable auto focus with or without always autofocusing before the shot, and one can also do small focus adjustments.

Even if you end up doing something else, this is a pretty neat program and worth trying.