The photo cards are probably the most popular piece of merchandise among the KPop fans and probably the most common item we can find as a part of a collections released by the artists. It's almost natural nowadays to include at least one (but often even several) photo card with the album of a particular group or soloist. The fans made out of collecting the photo cards almost a new hobby and are eager to complete their collections composed of either a single favourite member's photos or full sets of cards from different albums. One would say these are the most desirable goods among the fans beside the albums with the prices for a single sheet reaching $10 and beyond, with some rare, limited edition examples available for hundreds of dolars.
The fans often keep their finds in a holder - a binder with sleeves. This is a perfect solution to safely store the precious collection.
If we look at the collections that are released in conjunction with the concerts, showcases, fan meetings and other events we can always spot one or more KPop photo card sets that are available for the fans to purchase. These sets contain a complete selection of cards and often come in a fancy packaging - envelopes, cardboard boxes and tin cases. A total number of sheets we can find in such sets varies from 8 (for example available during Monsta X Beautiful In Seoul Concert) to even 60 (Seventeen Shining Diamond Concert). Sometimes they are available in different variants marked as Ver. A and B and even C and D (the sets from Like Seventeen "Boys Wish" Encore Concert for example are available in 4 different variants).
There is a number of different types of a photo cards. The most common type is a typical card with a photo on one side and the title of the event the item belongs to or a name of the group (member) or a member's signature on the back. Sometimes with the logo of the group or album.
Less often we can stumble upon a lenticular KPop photo cards which are available separately (added to the album) or in a set (for example a set from the Twice World Tour 2019 Twicelights). The lenticular printing gives the impression of a 3D image on a flat surface and adds an interesting effect of image flipping between two photos. The printed images have the ability to change or move depending on the viewing angle. They are sometimes referred to as a hologram photo cards (for example in EXO Planet #4 - The ElyXiOn [dot] collection where the hologram card is added as a bonus in a deco sticker set).
The third type we can find is a transparent photo card with some translucent or completely transparent elements. The perfect example is a set available during Loona's special event Cinema Theory: Up & Line consisting of 12 sheets which are not made of paper but of PVC and comes in a plastic package. These are more durable than the paper types.
The most popular size that probably every fan who bought at least one KPop album stumbled upon is 55 x 85 mm. It is often referred to as a standard size. As I said we can often find as a bonus added to albums but also in a sets released as part of a bigger collections of merchandise. It is worth noticing that some of the photo cards of a standard dimensions actually slightly differ in size. A good example is a set available during Zico's King Of The Zungle Concert Tour where the sources stated that its size is 54 x 85 mm (not 55 x 85 mm). What is more the set from The 1st Astro Aroha Festival Fan Meeting differs even more with the size of 54 x 86 mm.
Mini KPop photo cards are often included in a different collections but are not as the name suggests smaller than the regular type. The sizes of these varies in size: 54 x 86 mm (2017 BTS Festa - Home Party collection), 90 x 60 mm (BTS 2nd Muster: [ZIP CODE: 22920] collection), 70 x 100 mm (BTS 5th Muster: Magic Shop collection).
The other sizes we can easily find are 58 x 88 mm, 75 x 100 mm, 70 x 111 mm, 100 x 148 mm and even 150 x 210 mm.
At least one photo card is added to every album we have a pleasure to get. These will be most likely in a standard size of 55 x 85 mm and are added randomly. The hardcore fans like to collect the KPop photo cards released for a single album and own the whole set. The sets typically consist of one sheet for every member of a group and one group sheet. Of course this is not the rule - the companies of the South Korean artists like to please the fans. In the album Page Two of Twice we can find 4 photo cards - two individual member cards (Flower and Selfie version), one unit card (with the photo of three members) and one special lenticular card. There are 9 different Flower version photo cards, 9 Selfie version, 3 unit and 9 lenticular photo cards. So to collect all of them you have to gather a total number of 30 sheets which can be a very difficult and expensive task to accomplish.
But what's even more difficult is to collect a whole set of trading KPop photo cards which sometimes can be available from certain artists at different events like concerts. For example during the Segno concert of NU'EST you could purchase a pack of 7 randomly chosen sheets and try to complete the set of 61 different cards.
The artists based outside Asia - such as TMG (Tiny Meat Gang) - often include among the merchandise a simple booklets or postcards instead of photo cards.
