Build a Sketch Booth for $5000 or Less

You may already know that Sketch Booth is the most affordable way to add Screen Graffiti and Drag & Drop Digitial Props to your photo booth. What you may not know, is how easy it is to purchase readily available equipment to build your own Sketch Booth at a fraction of the cost of other turn-key systems, without franchise or event fees. 

Equipment needed to create your own Sketch Booth

• Touchscreen Monitor
  The biggest appeal of a Sketch Booth is being able to draw on a large touchscreen monitor and drag & drop virtual props and stickers onto photos to decorate them. 42” touchscreens are going to cost around $2000 new. ELO, Planar, NextWindow are all good choices.
  The ELO 4201L is a popular choice.
  But if you are looking to save some money, you can usually find some good deals on 42” touchscreens on eBay. Here's a few models to look for:
  HP LD 4200TM - $900
  Philips BDL4230ET - $943
   
• You can also use a 46” monitor.  Those will cost a bit more, but here's a few affoardable choices on eBay:
  Elo Touch Systems 4600L - $1445
  Samsung CY-TM46 - $999 (Touchscreen overlay.  Just add it to a 46” monitor)
   
• Monitor Stand
  Now that you have the monitor, you'll need a stand to put it on. If you Google for monitor stands, you are bound to end up at Displays2Go. You are bound to find a stand that fits your style.
  Here's one that we like.
  This stand is modular and breaks down into a carrying bag.
  Both of these stands are under $500
   
• Printer
  A dye sub printer is a must for quality prints. Imaging Spectrum has a very thorough comparison chart of all of the dye sub printer out there. 
  Sinfonia CS2 is under $800.
  HiTi P510S  is around $850
   
• Camera
  Sketch Booth will work with a Canon DSLR or an HD webcam.
  For the DSLR, a Canon T3i is fine.  You can pick one of those up on Amazon for $500 or even used on Craigslist for $400
  For the webcam, a Logitech C920 is currently the best choice for under $100
   
• Camera Mount
  There's lots of camera mounts to chose from, and none are particularly expensive. This clamp is just one of the many out there.
   
• PC
  There are way too many possibilities when it comes to PCs to make a recommendation on a particular make/model. The PC doesn't have to be top of the line, but it's not a good idea to skimp either. I usually suggest a pretty decent machine like an i3 or i5 processor with 4GB RAM. It will run on less, but it will definitely perform smoother on a faster machine. Something with those specs should be in the $500 - $1000 range.
   
• Software
  The Sketch Booth software can be purchased with either 1 or 2 machine licenses. A single license is $2,000. The 1st year of updates are included in the price and are optionally $250/yr after that.

Sketch Booth Costs:

Total Cost of Ownership:

A single Sketch Booth can be built for $5-$7k, while 2 units will cost you around $10-$12k.  There's no franchise fees or revenue sharing.