As well as photos, the booth can make boomerangs and short videos, keyed onto the backdrop just like photos. All three modes are on every plan.
The three modes
- Photo: still photos on a layout. This is the default.
- Boomerang: a short burst of movement that plays forwards then backwards, over and over. No sound.
- Video: a keyed video clip, with sound if you choose.
Choosing the mode
Set what the booth starts with under Booth defaults > Starts with > Mode. With Guests can change > Mode on (the default), guests switch modes in the quick settings. Held upright, the booth also has a Photo / Boomerang / Video switch just above the shutter, like a phone's camera app. A guest's choice lasts until the booth goes back to its defaults.
Boomerangs
A press runs the countdown as usual. Then a Boomerang pill shows with a ring that fills, counting down the seconds, so guests know to keep moving until it's done. The booth then shows Making your boomerang… and the result.
- Boomerang length: 1, 2 or 3 seconds (2 by default).
- Boomerang resolution: 720p or 1080p (1080p by default).
- Frame rate: 24, 30 or 60 fps (30 by default). 60 only shows where the device can record it.
- Save boomerangs as a GIF too: on by default. Each boomerang is also saved as a looping GIF, 720 px wide (540 px held upright), that plays at the same pace. It's made in the background a few seconds after the result appears. A GIF that would be over 8 MB is made again smaller, at 480 px.
Videos
A press runs the countdown, then the booth records. A Recording pill with a red dot shows the time left, and Tap Stop or press the remote to finish under it. A large round Stop button sits where the shutter is, so a video can end even without a remote. It works after the first 2 seconds.
- Video length: 3, 5 or 10 seconds, or Unlimited (5 by default). With Unlimited, a video only ends when someone taps Stop or presses the remote. As a safety stop, every video ends at 10 minutes, or when the device is nearly full.
- Video resolution: 720p, 1080p or 4K, only the sizes the device can record (1080p by default). 4K files are large.
- Frame rate: 24, 30 or 60 fps (30 by default).
- Record sound: off by default. Turning it on asks for the microphone. The microphone is used only while a video records.
- Music: a track played over each video at half volume. Personal and up.
All of these are in Media output, under Video and Boomerang.
What clips are and aren't
- A clip is saved as an MP4 in the same album as your photos, and counts as one photo, including towards when Free's ads come.
- Clips use the live keyed picture, not full-resolution stills. They have no layout, frame, caption or logo, and no screen flash. The Frame and Layout tabs hide while Boomerang or Video is chosen.
- On Free, every frame carries the small "Made with ZeroCapture Studio" mark, as photos do.
- On the result, a clip plays at once, looping, with Retake and Discard. Clips can't be printed or edited.
- Guests can save a clip from its QR code page, which shows Save video. A boomerang's page also shows Save GIF once its GIF is ready (reload the page if it was opened straight away). Clips and GIFs can't be emailed or sent by SMS yet.
- A boomerang's GIF sits beside it in the album with the same name. It's shared, deleted and discarded with its boomerang, and doesn't count as a photo of its own. Videos and photos never get a GIF; GIFs saved beside photos by older versions stay in the album but aren't offered to guests any more.
- With ZeroCapture Cloud, clips upload only if you allow it. See ZeroCapture Cloud.