An Introduction to Scanning Your Own Films

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Film scanning sounds intimidating, but it's quite easy to do. You might even find it enjoyable as you go over your scans and take charge of the final output. While sending your rolls off to a film lab for scanning seems a more convenient option, you are left with no choice but accept what the film lab has given you. But if you do the film scanning yourself, you'll get the results that you want.

The Pros of Film Scanning

  1. Be in control of your shots: Like previously mentioned, you get full control of your shots until you're satisfied with the final photographic results.
  2. Cost-effective: Instead of shelling out money to let the photo lab do the work, do it yourself and you'll save money (that you can spend on more film).
  3. Scan all formats: Special Lomographic formats such as sprocket hole photos and endless panoramas are usually refused by photo labs, but with the help of scanning masks and a flatbed scanner you'll be able to do this.
Credits: lomography, larahacefotos & galatea

Film Scanning Tools

First, invest in a good scanner. There are plenty of these in the market, so which one should you choose? For scanning all kinds of film formats, we recommend backlit flatbed scanners. Take note of two things:

  1. The scanner resolution should be at least 3000 dpi.
  2. Get the scanner with at least a rating of 3 for dynamic range.
From L-R: DigitaLIZA 120 Scanning Mask, DigitaLIZA 35mm Scanning Mask, Lomography Smartphone Scanner

Don't know where t find the right tools? No worries, Lomography has got you covered:

  • DigitaLIZA 120 Scanning Mask: This medium format mask is for scanning endless panoramas and overlapping exposures.
  • DigitaLIZA 35 mm Scanning Mask: This mask is for scanning 35 mm photos with sprocket holes, endless panorama, and overlapping exposures.
  • Lomography Smartphone Scanner: Ideal for travelling photographers, this scans all kinds of 35 mm negatives using your smartphone. This is perfect if you want to scan your negatives on-the-go.
Credits: maximum_b, kleeblatt, thegroundabove, mizzfonky & lomography

You can also watch this video for more information about scanning Lomography films. For further reading:

Visit the Online Shop and check out our film scanning equipment. For more details on scanning, head on to the Lomography Guide to Film Scanning microsite.

2017-03-11 #tutorials #scanning #digitaliza #film-scanner #film-scanning #digitaliza-35mm

Mentioned Product

DigitaLIZA 35 mm Scanning Mask

Hold your negatives in place through the innovative magnetic mechanism and easily scan special formats such as sprocket holes, endless panoramas and overlapping exposures.

View in Shop

2 Comments

  1. cb1
    cb1 ·

    I want to see those scanning masks in use. They peeked my interest.

  2. jm60
    jm60 ·

    My first design making a specialized hood for scanning obsolete films does work, but finding time to post it has been a little tough due to life interfering with any schedule. The first design has numerous ways it can be improved, and adapted for other formats, etc, but most important- it does work "as-is".

    The real limitation has just been the flatbed scanner itself. If you are on a budget, and see these Canon and HP Scanners with high resolution- Save your money and buy something else; because you will only see at best 1200 DPI out of the box with them. Even the more expensive 9000 series will give you out of the box performance of only 1200 DPI- that is it, and you have to search through special menues to achieve even 1200 DPI, so their effective maximum resolution through their typical menu is a mere 600 DPI as that is their maximum resolution otherwise with the software bundle. They are expecting you to spend more money on expensive photo editing software in order to achieve those higher levels of resolution. (HP is the same way.)

    Now, there is an open source simplified and more stable scanning assistant- I Use "Naps", which is a Sourceforge offering (and there a few others as well). "Naps" works, but all it can see as available resolutions are 1200 DPI maximum on the 2 Canon scanners I have on that system. Yet, there have been a couple of discontinued scanners from Canon that HAVE presented higher resolutions straight from the box with the bundled software, such as their 5600 Series (of which I salvaged one to find it has a bad processor). I have the scanners on an "airgapped" computer (no Internet connection; intentionally.) So the bundled software has to perform, and from my experience- with the Canoscan 200 series and the 9000II series with bundled software- both fail.

    So buyer beware when buying a flatbed scanner- Just because they claim "4800 DPI","9600 DPI", or "14400 DPI", "optical"- you are only going to see 1200 DPI, and best you see they live up to their claim before you buy it. So when you ask questions on resolution- ask for real experience "out of the box" meaning using only the software that is bundled with the scanner. If you buy a scanner, and you do not see in reality the resolutions claimed- do not wait- ship it back, and complain. Do not wait, and ALWAYS keep all of the packaging. And when the vendors ask for a review- give them one; because the bad reviews are just as important as the good reviews.

    There are going to be some exceptions with models that have been discontinued by HP and Canon and of course other manufacturers may actually do better out of the box for optical resolution, but it is my experience that out of the box performance for Current Canon and HP models on lower and mid range price points will not be close to the claims printed on the box or in the advertising. I hate to be seen as being negative towards these companies, but having been burned by 2 Canon scanners that fail to live up to promises, I see it as important to inform people and warn them off of products that sound too good to be true.

    And while Canon makes wonderful cameras and printers, it is just they fall very short on the scanners for no good reason. I wish this were different, but Canon never contacted me back in email queries on this matter, and I am not about to spend 600+ dollars(US) just for an extra piece of software to provide those higher resolutions- Out of the box performance MUST match what is printed on the box. And Hewlett Packard is not the company it once was- I shelved an HP Scanner and a Scanner/Printer combo because of poor resolution. The latter unit was a New Older Stock unit, model 2 years forgotten (and only 1 year old at the time of unboxing), that out of the box performance as 600DPI (in spite of the advanced menu which suggested it was scanning at 1200 DPI- 600 DPI was the resulting reality) HP Support failed to understand the simple questions, so had no ideas when it came to more complex questions, and then they signed me up to a bunch of their services I did NOT want.

    I stand by what I say, as it is from first hand experience, and want to warn people away from products that just fail to measure up so they can spend their hard earned money more effectively on things that do work, so they can have more fun.

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