Walk around any Korean neighborhood and you will spot pastel-signed “self photo studios” on almost every block. Friends, couples, and K-pop fans line up to shoot a four-cut strip and print it on the spot. What locals simply call 네컷사진 (ne-cut-sajin, “four-cut photo”) has become a K-culture experience that now sits on every traveler’s Seoul to-do list. But once you try to shoot, the sheer number of brands is confusing — Life Four Cuts? Photoism? Haru Film? Here is what actually sets them apart, and which brands Koreans prefer and why, backed by real data.

Quick answer (as of 2026)

  • The big three are Life Four Cuts · Photoism · Haru Film. Life Four Cuts and Photoism each have ~400 locations.
  • Korea has ~50 self-photo brands running roughly 3,000 stores nationwide.
  • Teens & 20s love the pastel mood of Haru Film, the black-and-white vibe of Mono Mansion, and the collab frames of Life Four Cuts / Photoism.
  • Mono Mansion is especially popular with women in their 20s and couples (moody black-and-white, refined tones).
  • 30s prefer natural retouching (Photogray) or well-lit Photoism Studio.
  • Travelers: booths cluster in Hongdae, Myeongdong, and Gangnam — walk in and shoot (map links below).

네컷사진 means shooting your own four cuts (or more) in an unmanned booth and printing them instantly. Since Life Four Cuts opened the first booths in 2017, the trend has stayed hot for 8+ years — and keeps evolving.

The heart of the appeal is the shared experience. Seoul National University professor Kim Nan-do notes that in a hyper-developed society, people come to find charm in “the satisfaction of imperfection.” In a digital age, a physical printed strip carries an analog warmth. Choosing poses with a friend, laughing, and splitting the prints is itself a form of play.

The market grew fast, too: the top three brands alone went from 827 stores at the end of 2022 to 1,006 at the end of 2023 (+21.6%), and the whole market is estimated at ~50 brands across ~3,000 stores.

Koreas big three photo booth brands, compared

Start with the three you will see most often. Store counts are from public data and keep rising, so treat them as ballpark figures.

BrandOperatorSinceLocations (approx.)Concept / toneMain users
Life Four Cuts (인생네컷)LK Ventures2017~370–410The original; broad, mainstream; many character/idol collab framesAll ages
Photoism (포토이즘)Seobuk2019~370–450Studio / Box / Colored lines; own strobe lightingTrend-seekers
Haru Film (하루필름)HJJ Company2021~116Pastel interiors & filters, brand collabsTeens & women in 20s

Sources: Korea Fair Trade Commission franchise data (Oct 2024), Seoul Economic Daily (end-2023), Munhwa “3-min data.” Counts vary by date and how they are tallied (direct vs. franchise, box vs. studio).

Life Four Cuts is the original and practically the generic name for the whole category. With roughly 2.3 million monthly and 28 million annual visitors, it is the most mainstream option and offers the widest range of frames, with frequent idol, anime, and brand collab editions. If you just want to “shoot something,” it is the safe pick.

📍 Find nearby Life Four Cuts

Photoism stands out for its own strobe (studio) lighting that makes subjects look sharp and radiant. Its stores are split into lines — Studio, Box, Colored — so you can pick a mood, and it draws buzz through celebrity/influencer collabs and overseas expansion. In search volume it runs almost neck-and-neck with the original.

📍 Find nearby Photoism

Haru Film is especially popular with teens and women in their 20s for its pastel interiors and soft, film-like filters. It has the fewest locations of the three, but stays strong on SNS hashtags thanks to cosmetic/fashion brand collabs and its emotional design. Want a pretty, dreamy tone? Go Haru Film.

📍 Find nearby Haru Film

Other brands worth knowing

Beyond the big three, plenty of brands have real personality. If your taste is clear, these are strong picks too.

BrandOperatorHighlightsBest for
Mono Mansion (모노맨션)HeimBlack-and-white / retro mood; refined tones over heavy filters; Hongdae, Mangwon, etc.Women in 20s & couples, black-and-white lovers
Photogray (포토그레이)APRRun by a beauty-tech firm; natural, polished skin retouching; expanding into Japan & SE Asia30s who dislike heavy edits, portrait quality
Photo Signature (포토시그니처)Image NetworksClean, refined studio tone; ~200 storesUnderstated mood
Don’t Look Up / Selpix, etc.variousBooth-space concepts (subway, elevator, etc.) or special backdropsNovel backdrops / concept shots

Sources: KFTC franchise data (2024), Channel PNU (Oct 2024), official brand channels.

Mono Mansion in particular is the brand blowing up among Korean women right now as “moody black-and-white photos.” Operated by Heim, it clearly differentiates from the pastel/color-heavy competition with a black-and-white, retro mood. Favoring refined tones over heavy filters, it earns a “the color and vibe just hit different” reputation and gets buzz from influencer and celebrity visits. It is especially popular with women in their 20s for date courses and “photo of a lifetime” shots. You will find it in emotional districts like Hongdae (Yeonnam) and Mangwon, some open 24 hours.

📍 Find nearby Mono Mansion

And Photogray is run by APR, the beauty/device company, so it is known for skin tones that look naturally polished rather than over-edited — a favorite of people in their 30s who want to “look good without looking filtered.”

📍 Find nearby Photogray

Teens/20s vs 30s: do they prefer different brands?

Every brand is used across ages, but what draws each age group differs.

For Korea’s Gen Z (largely university students), photo booths are pure routine. In a survey by the University Tomorrow 20s Research Institute, 19.0% of Gen Z had visited a photo booth in the past 3 months — second only to internet cafés (23.5%) among leisure activities. They respond to “pretty aesthetics” and “limited-edition collabs.”

In short: “mood = Mono Mansion / Haru Film,” “collab & mainstream = Life Four Cuts / Photoism,” “quality & natural retouch = Photoism Studio / Photogray.”

Tips for foreign travelers

Photo booths are unmanned self-service, so you can use them without speaking Korean. The flow is roughly:

  1. Pay & pick a frame — at the kiosk, choose a frame (color, number of cuts, collab design) and pay (cash / card / mobile pay, usually 4,000–6,000 KRW).
  2. Shoot — step into the booth and pose to the on-screen countdown. You typically shoot 6–8 and pick 4.
  3. Edit — adjust brightness, filters, doodle stickers on screen.
  4. Print + QR — two printed strips come out, and a QR code saves the originals (and a moving video clip) to your phone.

A few pointers:

📍 Photo booths in Hongdae 📍 Photo booths in Myeongdong

Bottom line: a 3-second pick

Korean four-cut photos are not just instant snapshots — they are a way to capture and share “this moment” with friends and partners. If the brands blur together, remember it this way:

While traveling, comparing two or three brands on one Hongdae block is a great move. For about 4,000 KRW, it is hard to beat as a K-culture keepsake.

Sources