How-to Connect LumaShare to dslrBooth or LumaBooth

LumaShare downloads images directly from dslrBooth or LumaBooth if both are on the same network. This is the preferred way of using LumaShare.

Normally to use LumaShare with our photo booth apps, you will need to connect both of them to the same network. The easiest way to do this is to connect to the same Wi-Fi Network. However, you should never rely on connecting to a venue's Wi-Fi directly as the large majority of them venues block communication from different devices on the network such as dslrBooth on a PC (or LumaBooth on iPad) and LumaShare on the iPad for security reasons.

There are several options we recommend in this order:

1. 4g MiFi Device
   Use your own 4g MiFi device from a wireless carrier. This will create your own personal Wi-Fi network which your booth device and LumaShare can connect to. Test to make sure the device enables communication between wireless clients connected to it. This might be a configuration option in the MiFi device.
2. Your Own Access Point
   The ideal setup is to have your own wireless Access Point that you control and bring with you. Get a hardwired connection from the venue and use your own wireless access point. Connect the computer and the iPad to your access point using either a wireless or wired connection.
   1. Wireless: Your PC/Mac/iPad running dslrBooth or LumaBooth as well as your iPad running LumaShare would connect to your access point's Wi-Fi. 
   2. Wired: In conventions and other very crowded events, another option is to connect the PC and computer to your network using a wired Ethernet connection. You can use an Apple USB Ethernet Adapter to connect your iPad to your network. You'll also need the Apple Lightning to USB Camera Adapter. Connect the iPad to the Camera Adapter, connect the Ethernet Adapter to the Camera Adapter, connect your charging cable to the camera adapter, and finally connect an Ethernet cable to the Ethernet adapter. For permanent installs, checkout these alternative ethernet adapters.
3. Use Computer as Hotspot
   An alternative way to connect to a venue's Wi-Fi is to connect computer directly to a venue's Wi-Fi then iPad connects to your computer which acts as a hotspot.
4. Travel Router
   Use a wireless router (travel router) that can act as a client and connect to the venue's Wi-Fi while serving as an access point and your PC and iPad would connect to your own access point.
5. Use iPhone/iPad Cellular as a Personal Hotspot
   If using LumaBooth on an iPhone/iPad with cellular connectivity, you can use the device's built-in hotspot to create a local network that the iPad running LumaShare an connect to. Please use this as a backup as the iPhone's hotspot was found not to be reliable by many of our customers.
6. Hardwired Connection to the Internet with Own Access Point
   Get a hardwired connection from the venue and use your own wireless access points. Connect your devices to your access point.

If none of these are possible then LumaShare will download your prints from fotoShare Cloud's servers (yellow Wi-Fi symbol) provided that your photo booth app (dslrBooth or LumaBooth) has access to the internet. dslrBooth must have Enhanced Sharing turned on. LumaShare on the iPad must have internet access as well. This method will be much slower and will largely depend on your internet speed. In most cases the above recommended solutions will be 50-100x faster and are highly recommended instead.

Having issues? Read our Troubleshooting Guide