Patent ID: 7626611

Claim:
A photographic apparatus comprising: a housing comprised of a pair of parallel-extending side panels, a top panel provided between the side panels, and a rear panel, and having a photo compartment defined therein, both side panels and the rear panel being formed generally flush with a floor surface on which the apparatus is to be installed, an opening to the photographic apparatus extending the entire width between the side panels opposite the rear panel such that the entire length of the entrance is flush with the floor surface; a photographic means installed at the rear side of the housing for taking a picture of an object inside the photo compartment; a printing means installed on the housing for printing the object image, captured by the photographic means, onto a photographic paper and ejecting the object image-printed photographic paper to an outlet; and a light-blocking member installed, by hanging, to the top panel at the front side, opposite to the rear side, of the housing; wherein the photo compartment in the housing is open at the bottom thereof and closed by the floor surface, and wherein the light-blocking member is movable in the directions of closing and opening the entrance; and further comprising a half mirror substantially horizontally centered on an inside wall of the rear side of the housing through which the photographic means takes the picture, and an illuminating means comprised of at least two illumination devices; wherein a first illumination device is disposed at the rear side of the housing, horizontally adjacent a first side of the half mirror, and obliquely offset in a first direction from the half mirror, a second illumination device is disposed at the rear side of the housing, horizontally adjacent a second side of the half mirror opposite the first side, and obliquely offset from the mirror in a second equal but opposite direction from the first direction and wherein the first and second illumination device have a difference in illumination intensity of between 1:1.5 and 1:3.