ANALOG PHOTO BOOTH GUIDE

VINTAGE PHOTO BOOTHS STILL CAPTURE THE MOMENT

MODEL 21

MODEL 58

MODEL 11

MODEL 9

MODEL 17

MODEL 14

LET’S START WITH THE BASICS, WHAT IS AN ANALOG PHOTO BOOTH?

First things first

  • An analog photo booth is a mechanical machine that captures and develops images without digital sensors or printers. Unlike modern booths that simulate vintage aesthetics with filters, analog booths create real, chemical-based photo strips. Every session is truly one of a kind, giving guests a tactile, time-tested piece of nostalgia they can hold.

  • Classic looks with timeless appeal. Choosing a vintage photo booth means opting for authenticity. The charm lies in the satisfying clunk of the shutter and the anticipation of watching images develop before your eyes. While digital booths offer convenience, analog booths offer experience — something rare, beautiful, and rooted in decades of tradition. It’s not just a photo. It’s a moment made tangible.

  • The magic behind the curtain: light, lens, and chemistry. Vintage photo booths operate using a fascinating blend of mechanical precision and photographic chemistry. When you step inside and press the shutter, a 35mm film roll advances, exposing the frame to light through the lens. The film then travels through a dark chamber where the photo develops using classic chemical processes, resulting in authentic photo strips. This hands-on, analog method creates a unique, one-of-a-kind keepsake, full of character and charm that digital simply can’t replicate.

Time for a booth tour

MEET OUR COLLECTION OF VINTAGE AND ANALOG PHOTO BOOTHS

DISCLAIMER

Due to their vintage nature, our analog booths are not available for private event rental (like wedgs or parties).

Check out our authentic, vintage analog photo booths that you can rent out for productions below. 

In addition to offering our analog collection for prop rental, we craft two of our own vintage-inspired digital booths: the Photomatica Model 58 & Photomatica Model 67, both featuring metal signage, custom posters, and hand-painted painted wooden stools. If you want a custom-built photo booth in your bar or venue:

hit us up here

MODEL 9

AUTO-PHOTO

The Model 9 was launched in the 1940’s by Los Angeles-based manufacturer Auto-Photo, and is one of the most distinct looking analog photo booths. Drawing on the aesthetics of the late art deco era, the Model 9 sports these instantly recognizable characteristics:

  • Curved cabinet

  • Curved custom trim

  • Floodlight flash system

  • Colorful, thick interior enamel coating

From the post-war 1940’s to the mid-1950’s, the Model 9 was the most commercially viable photo booth on the market. In comparison to earlier models (i.e. Mutoscope’s Photomatic), the Model 9 was both easy to use and maintain.

Photomatica has a number of Model 9’s in our collection; including the original woodgrain booth and a custom designed black booth with aluminum trim that previously lived in the old Rayko Photo Center of San Francisco.

MODEL 9 (TOP TO BOTTOM): coin deposit, signage, eye-level internal cabinet, adjustable stool

  • Model 9 front

  • Model 9 3/4 view

  • Model 9 banner

  • Rayko Model 9

  • Rayko Model 9 poster

  • Rayko Model 9 poster

MODELS 11 & 11C

AUTO-PHOTO

In 1955, Auto-Photo released perhaps their most iconic machine, the Model 11. This was the booth that made it big—showing up everywhere from the county fair to the opening sequence of The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night (1964). The Model 11 stuck with a curved body design, but with upgraded materials and mechanics, such as:

  • Natural wood grain cabinet paneling

  • Teal-green seat, door and matching exterior panel

  • Aluminum metal banding

  • Strobe light flash system in favor of the antiquated flood lights.

  • The superior “spider” arm assembly.

The development of the Model 11’s spider arm assembly revolutionized the efficiency of photo booths. Instead of developing one strip every two minutes, the machines could now process up to seven strips simultaneously. The Model 11 also found massive success due to its crisp image quality. The US and other governments began to accept photo booth pictures as valid ID and passport images with this model.

Auto-Photo capitalized on this by building barebone variations such as the Model 11A & 11C. These models were purely for identification purposes, and were marketed primarily to military bases and prisons. 

MODEL 11 (TOP TO BOTTOM): SERIAL PLATE, ON/OFF SWITCH, SPIDER ARM ASSEMBLY

  • Model 11

  • Model 11 3/4 view

  • Model 11C front

  • Model 11C 3/4 view

  • Model 11C side

MODELS 12 & 14

AUTO-PHOTO

As the 1950s came to an end, Auto-Photo leaned heavily into mid-century modern aesthetics while designing their next booth, the Model 12. Released in 1958, it subverted expectations and made aesthetic upgrades and cost reduction changes such as:

  • A sturdier, boxy body design

  • Floating roof

  • Full-body wood grain walls

  • Open-air seating area

  • Back wall artwork highlighting the electronic speed light flash system

In 1964, the Model 14 was released with improved mechanics but few aesthetic changes. Due to the poor quality of the ply wood used, many Model 14s succumb to rot, though there are still few dozen worldwide that are publicly operable. Their big visual upgrade—a new winged roof—was ultimately a flop purely because of mobility issues. Can you spot the other design difference? 

MODEL 12 (TOP TO BOTTOM): model 14 variations

MODELS 17 & 17C

PHOTO-ME

Photo-Me International, a British company that would eventually operate over 15,000 booths around the world, was responsible for the Model 17. This booth was not only a favorite of Clark Kent’s, but also the first model to sport Photo-Me’s “Made In England” signage. 

As color film finally became commercially accessible to the public in the 1970s, photo booth paper followed suit. After reworking the mechanics to work with color chemicals, Photo-Me began to tack on a “C” to the name of some models to denote their newfound ability.  The design of the Model 17C reflected this with eye-popping exteriors and features such as:

  • Brightly colored posters

  • A boxier shape with only one-sided entry

  • Interior wood grain panels

  • Instructional door graphics

The Model 17 & 17C were successful, but several factors such as the introduction of Polaroid cameras and several international government’s reversal on policy regarding the acceptance of photo-strip images as valid forms of identification led to a downturn in popularity for photo booths.

MODEL 17 (TOP TO BOTTOM): TOP SIGN, POSTERS, ADJUSTABLE STOOL, INTERNAL CABINET SIGNAGE

MODEL 21C

PHOTO-ME

This Model 21C is a machine from the 1980s that represents the beginning of the end for dip-n-dunk chemical photo booths. Although a few more analog models were produced beyond the M21, exterior designs had grown formulaic and no longer shifted to represent design trends between generations. However, the Model 21C sported a few attention-grabbing features:

  • Bold rainbow posters (to highlight its color capabilities)

  • Glowing color top signs

  • A second set of inlaid posters seemingly wrapped around the booth

The interior mechanics had only improved marginally over the past few decades, and consumer interest began to favor the shiny new bells and whistles that were featured in emerging digital-print booths of the early aughts. The transition to the easy-to-maintain digital-print booths would become the standard, despite the initial sub-par quality of the early digital technology. Around the same time, many chemical booths were recovered by the Canadian wing of Auto-Photo to be disassembled and used for parts—estimates report thousands of booths were scrapped by the brand. 

MODEL 21C (TOP TO BOTTOM): 3/4 view, strip delivery, serial plate

MODELS 58 & 67

PHOTOMATICA

While companies like Auto-Photo began to fade away, the spirit (and technology) of the analog era was kept alive by several small studios and a few devout fanatics. Shortly after the last analog photo booths were released in 2004, the number of photo booths out in the wild quickly dissipated.

Photomatica began collecting analog photo booths to help preserve this corner of photographic history, and this collection served as inspiration for crafting our own updated iterations, the Model 58 and Model 67.

Our digital-print Model 58 combines the mid-century aesthetics of the Auto-Photo Model 12 with today’s tech to produce a studio-quality, gimmick-free photostrip. It’s open-air seating area allows multiple people to cram in and makes it a favorite at high capacity locations. Almost everything about this vintage-inspired photo booth is customizable, from large design elements like back wall image wraps down to small details like the color of its curtain rod. 

Similarly, our digital-print Model 67 builds upon the sturdy, stoic design of the Photo-Me Model 17 to create an enclosed option that feels at home at a local dive bar or lobby of a five-star hotel. The Model 67 is a favorite among those looking for the most private photo booth experience. Its customization options, such as elongated exterior posters or even hand-painted artwork, allow for unique, eye-catching branding on each wall.

MODEL 58 (TOP TO BOTTOM): DELIVERY SIGN, SIGNAGE, COLOR/B&W BUTTONS, ADJUSTABLE STOOL

  • Model 58 front

  • Model 58 front

  • Model 58 front

  • Model 58 front

  • Model 67 front

  • Model 67 - Gold

  • Model 67 - Lips

  • Model 67

  • Model 67 - Fox

  • Model 67 - Web

  • Model 67

  • Model 67 - Hanks

  • Model 67

  • Model 67

Information for this webpage was sourced in part from Meagz Fitzgerald’s book Photobooth: A Biography, PhotoBooth.net, and Mark Bloch’s blog Behind the Curtain: A History of the Photobooth in combination with our own experience and findings over the past decade.