Redo

 I got this Vello 35mm & 120 Film Digitizer for Smartphones from B&H.  It is a lot faster than the old flatbed scanner I used for a long time, and I think it produces scans that are just as good as I got from the flatbed.

I used this outfit recently when I wanted to rescan and rework some old pinhole images.  I thought some previous scans made by just hand holding the iPhone 14 were not bad, but the Vello's film holders and the device's vertical and horizontal adjustability makes the process easier and more precise.

 

I used GIMP for photo editing of these pictures.  It has most of the same tools as Photoshop and it is free to downlaod.  There are apps which allow image adjustments on the iPhone, but I am more comfortable just importing the negatives to the photo editor and doing the inversion to positive and other adjustments there.

A Bright Future

 I look always look forward to this yearly exhibition at the Albuquerque Museum.  It is a delight to see what excellent photographic work is being done by these high school students, and this 2026 show may be the best yet.

 The compositions were uniformly sophisticated and the execution to the final prints was near faultless.  I especially liked this imaginative panoramic collage by Ava Greenwood, Cibola HS, Grade 11.

 The exhibition was divided into "Digital" and "Non Digital".

 

I was not surprised when I overheard a visitor ask "What is Non-Digital?".   Was this referring to digital as opposed to film-based analog photography?  Does the Non-Digital term include the reproduction of the image using traditional or alternative printing methods such as cyanotypes?

My only complaint about the Focus On Youth project is that there is little in the way of explanation of the instructional and technical processes that contribute to the success of this excellent annual show.  It would be nice to see that kind of additional information included in a thorough online presentation. 

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UPDATE

The monthly Third Thurday event will feature the Focus on Youth exhibition. 

Cellphone Scanning

The real craftsmen among my film shooting friends have been digitizing their images using digital cameras for long time.  I have been using an Epson 2450 flatbed scanner for about twenty years to make images I can share online.  

Having recently acquired a newish iMac computer I was faced with having to upgrade some software to continue using my old flatbed.  It seemed like putting money into keeping my old scanning technology going was not the wisest course.

Spending hundreds on a digital camera was also not very appealing, so I decided to see what I might be able to do with my iPhone 14 as a scanner replacement.  The only additional piece of equipment  I decided to get was a cheap LED light pad. 

To use the setup I put negative strips into the negative carriers I had been using with the old Epson scanner.  I covered the exposed light pad surface to avoid light on the phone camera lens.  In making the exposure I just handheld the phone and zoomed in from about five inches to fill camera screen with the image.  Here for comparison are the images from the Epson  flatbed and the same images from the cellphone:

Yashica-Mat     Flatbed

 

Yashica-Mat     iPhone 14

Leica IIIa     Flatbed 

Leica IIIa     iPhone 14

I'm pleased with the outcome of my little experiment.  It seems to me that the quality of the iPhone scans is equal to what I can get from the old flatbed, and the time required to make the cellphone scans is an order of magnitude better.

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UPDATE 10/24/26

I acquired a Vello scanning device in May which has a couple film holders and a support which holds the phone securely.  I'm happy with the quality of the scans I get from this outfit.  I'm also spending very little time in doing the scans -- just minutes to scan a full roll of film.  That lets me devote more time an energy to the photo editing process.