FAQ | fotoautomat.pt

How does it work?

Select curtain or background on the back wall.
Adjust the seat height until your reflection looks right in the glass.
Sit down.
When the green light comes on, tap your card to pay.
Look into the glass — that’s the camera.
The booth will automatically take four photographs — no retakes, no filters, no mercy.

(Tip: when the light comes on, so should you.)

How much does it cost?

€6 — credit card only / tap to pay.

What is analog?

Think of it like this: vinyl records, not Spotify. Film cameras, not smartphones.

In photography, “analog” refers to mechanical or manual image-making. It means physical: a process that happens in light, chemistry, and time. Not in pixels or code.

What is the difference between digital vs. analog photobooths?

Digital booths use iPads, printers, and ink.
Analog booths use light, chemistry, and a good deal of spite.

Digital booths live in metro stations, glowing blue and spitting out passport photos.
Or the kind you’ll find in Time Out Market — those are digital kiosks dressed up as nostalgia.

An analog photobooth is a real camera and darkroom in one machine. Mine — an original 1970 model 21 photobooth — is the real deal. It exposes light directly onto photo paper, then develops it right there inside the booth. A mental arm called the "spider" dips and dunks the photo strip through twelve tanks of chemical developer, bleach, clearing, fixer, and water. Five minutes later, a real photograph appears.

Digital booths print pixels.
Analog booths make photographs.

One is convenient.
The other is magic.

How long does it take?

About 5 minutes. That’s real chemical development time — not an app loading. Go grab a drink, and when you come back, your photos will still be drying.

Can I rent the photobooth for my event??

Unfortunately not at this time.

Analog photobooths aren’t really built to travel — they weigh 450+ kg (over 900 lbs!) and require specialized lifting equipment and a trained team just to move. Once relocated, they need hours of mechanical alignment and stabilization, then chemistry calibration and testing before they’re operational again.

Our booth is permanently installed in Lisbon. But in the near future, we are restoring another vintage photobooth specifically for events and off-site installations. Stay tuned.

I am a teenager, can I come use the booth?

Of course you can!

During the daytime hours the booth is open to everyone. It is located inside a bar that serves both non-alcoholic drinks and alcohol. However No purchase is necessary to enter and use the booth.

Can I bring my pet into the photobooth?
Yes please do. The photobooth loves animals — they don’t argue about lighting.

My photo strip did not turn out. Can I have a refund? :(

While the occasional light leak, streak or small imperfections may appear on a strip, this is normal and a part of the analog charm. That said, we take the quality of exposures very seriously.

Occasionally, a mechanical hiccup can occur and a strip may get caught in a paper jam or fail to emerge at all. If this happens, please use the contact form to let us know — we’ll be happy to refund you.

Can I get a copy of my strip emailed?

No. It’s analog, there’s no digital file to send. That’s the beauty (and the point).

Why do analog photobooths sometimes underexpose darker skin tones?

Original analog photobooths were built with fixed aperture and lighting settings that had real limitations...they often failed to flatter darker complexions.
That’s a design flaw, not a human one.

At Fotoautomat Portugal, our booth is calibrated to capture a fuller range of tones and contrasts. Either I or my technician visit the booth daily to run test strips and check both the aperture and chemistry — small adjustments that keep the exposures fair and consistent.

Even so, analog materials have their limits: each strip is a meeting of light, chemistry, and chance. Still, this booth is one of the few worldwide tuned with that awareness, and it shows.

Everyone deserves to look like themselves.

Do you have more locations?

Rhonda is currently our only booth. However we are slowly working towards restoring and operating a network of analog photobooths in the Iberian Peninsula.

And yes. Porto is part of our plan.

Can more than one person fit in the booth?

Yes. Two comfortably, three if you really like each other, and four if you’re trying to start a band.

Where can I buy a photobooth??
You can't.

Analog photobooths are unbelievably rare. Only about 300 are known to exist in the world, and they haven’t been produced in decades. Most were gutted, scrapped, or sent to landfills after digital photography took over. The few that survive require advanced electrical engineering, constant mechanical repair, and hazmat chemical sourcing worthy of a small war.

Owning a photobooth isn’t a side hustle...

it’s adopting a dragon that weighs half a ton.

And no, I don’t know where you can buy one — if I did, I’d already own it.

But this is my dream! How do I get into the analog photobooth world?

The same way most of us did, by fixing one first.

Become a photobooth technician. Seriously.

If you want to own a booth someday, start by apprenticing for a current booth owner; learning to maintain the chemistry, wiring, and mechanics of these complex machines.

There’s no manuals...just experience, patience, and other booth owners willing to share what they know.

I have a photobooth to sell - do you buy them?

Absolutely. We’re always interested in acquiring analog photobooths, no matter their condition. Send us a message with a few photos and details about your machine!

At Fotoautomat Portugal, we’re part restoration lab, part love letter to a disappearing medium. Our mission is to rescue and restore these rare mechanical marvels, keeping them alive for future generations to enjoy.