Episode 10 Better Scanning with the Digitaliza Scanning Masks From Lomography

Join me on Episode 10 as I share my impressions of the Digitaliza scanning Masks from Lomography. If you would like to connect with me my email address and social media info are below. Thanks so much for your support.
Instagram: @islandbyfilm
Website: www.westinphoto.com
Email: [e-mail]
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[@wichersham]

Wow, I didn't know this holder. Film flatness is a challenge with Epson scanner to say the least. Thank you!

[@islandbyfilm]

wichersham your so welcome. Thanks for watching :).

[@rossawilson01]

I've been using these for a while now, the only thing you have to look out for is when you're using a blower to remove dust: Sometimes the air blower strength on the neg is enough to cause the film to pull out from the mask a little and bulge out, it's not that noticeable unless you're paying attention and means the neg won't be as flat as it could be. So be gentle with the air and look out for the film shifting.

[@MrKen-wy5dk]

I just got my 2 35mm lomography digitalizas and am working my through the learning curve. Your video was a great help. Thank you.

[@islandbyfilm]

Thanks so much glad you liked the video. Scanning has never been my favorite part of the workflow but these definitely made things a bit easier 😄

[@MikeChesworthPhotography]

I have been thinking of buying a set of these but was put off by the price. I can see with you using them, they are definitely worth the price. I'm really tempted now. Nice Demo. 👍

[@islandbyfilm]

Thank you so much for watching my video

[@JimSollows]

I use the digitaliza for both 35mm and 120 film but I don’t scan. I hated the scanning process. It wasn't uncommon for me to spend 10 minutes just to scan one frame!! A friend of mine is a curator at the Royal British Columbia Provincial Museum in Victoria, and I was asking how they do it. He laughed when I told him I was scanning! He said they haven't done that in 10 years. He explained the camera approach and helped me with the setup. I scanned a roll on the Epson V600 and it took well over an hour. We then setup the camera and "scanned" the same entire roll in under 10 minutes which included setup time. It was so fast and easy that I was skeptical .. until we did a side by side comparison of the images! The digitized images were immediately seen to be better quality. They had better resolution and contrast. I digitize my 120 at full sensor size but if I want to really maximize image quality I will do 4 overlapping images and stitch in Photoshop to give about a 100 MP image. Needless to say my scanner has been a paperweight ever since and has since gone off to the landfill.

[@martinhensonphotography]

Would have liked to see sample scans and the improvement the holders make, anyway thanks for the video

[@islandbyfilm]

That's a good point Martin. Thanks for watching the video :).

[@martinhensonphotography]

The thing is, I here so many people who say thy can get sharpe scans from the Epson, I honestly have tried so hard to get that result and failed every time, I have made slight improvements but never sharpe to the grain with fine detail, that's why I would love to see a scan without any sharpening to show me it can be done, great vid, thanks for taking the time to make it

[@Jennifer_Prentice]

I know this video is 3 years old and maybe the older Epsom scanners did not have the marks but mine has two indicator marks on the flat bed of the scanner that line up perfectly with the top light so you can use your own mask or just lay the film directly on top of the glass if you wanted ..

[@utube321piotr]

This video is an infomercial. I do not see any claimed benefit in flattening the film by this devise. The Epson film holder will accomplish identical effect. Only factor I see is the actual distance between film plane and scanner glass plane. Shimming the film holder may result in better sharpness of the scan but that requires some trial and error. On my V600 placing film negatives directly on the scanner glass resulted in poor sharpness, while slightly shimming the Epson film holder made the scans sharper than w/o.

[@xville8642]

when putting the film in these, does it go with emulsion up or down?

[@jonathanclarke5763]

So the film was already flat before this video was made? I would love to see a video of you drying fresh developed film then using this product.

[@islandbyfilm]

Jonathan Clarke Thanks Johnathan for watching this video. I always let me film dry for at least an hour and a half. The digitilaza works very well with flat film but cupped film is very challenging to scan with this tool.

[@jonathanclarke5763]

@@islandbyfilm Its cool. Its not the holy grail of film holders i was hoping for. Thanks for clearing that up.

[@islandbyfilm]

Jonathan Clarke your so welcome. I use it about 50% of the time now when I am scanning

[@jonathanclarke5763]

@@islandbyfilm heha, the quest for the Holy Grail goes on. Have a good one man.

[@stefan_becker]

I tried these too and they work great with my Epson V700 if I lift them 2 millimeters up.

[@islandbyfilm]

That’s awesome. Thanks for checking out my video and offering this additional tip. 👌🏻

[@firtythive]

How do you lift them? sticky pads on the bottom?

[@stefan_becker]

@@firtythive Just pieces of rubber that I ordered online. You can get (at least in Germany) rubber foil with different thickness. I took 2mm and cut our square pieces of maybe 1cm x 1cm. But I think it doesn't really matter as long as the height is exactly the same on all four sides and as long as the used material doesn't scratch the glass of the scanner.

[@MprivetM]

Can you show a comparison of scanned frames. One with Epson holder one with this. How big of a sharpness difference we are talking about. ;)

[@islandbyfilm]

Marek Kacprzak after some long term use I have gone back to the Epson holder for 35mm with some small modifications but I still regularly use the 120 version for all of my medium format scans.

[@DEDZU786]

Unfortunately you do not show the critical part of the process, placing the mask on the V600 ...

[@DarylSawatzky]

This episode ends too early. I want to know how to get the Epson software to do a prescan when you have the 35mm mask in place. It won't prescan with a Digitaliza in place.

[@iamsarahzanon]

Thanks for this! Do the film borders scan with the 120 mask?

[@fleetwoodriver]

I like the idea of these but do they allow excess light when scanning?

[@samuelsoteloavila]

Can anybody tell me the dimensions of the actual Digitaliza 120 holder (not the scanning area)? is it possible to load/use two at once with an Epson v800/v850?

[@81springbrook96]

would you recommend using this Digitaliza or like just a clear acrylic to hold the film flat if i'm scanning with DSLR + LED light table

[@islandbyfilm]

81 Springbrook I think it is a great option for sure. I also have an enlarger holder I use. It all depends on how curly or cupped the film is.

[@rcmanoj]

Thanks for this video. For 120, do we get borders with this holder ?

[@islandbyfilm]

You are so welcome. Thank you for watching. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a downside with these holders. You do lose a bit of the border when scanning. Otherwise, they are fantastic.

[@marceaucouve6427]

Hello! I got one of these lomography 120 film holders... How long do they need to stay under press? Because mine still curve...

[@islandbyfilm]

Generally I find that in order to get truly flat scans I will keep my film in sheets for up to a week. Some films dry much flatter than others.

[@rolog3583]

This might be a silly question but is the 120 film holder fits the older epson perfection 3200 flatbed scanner?

[@islandbyfilm]

Hey there. Thanks for watching my video. I would think that it should work but I unfortunately haven’t tried it myself.

[@charlesp5419]

I have a 35mm digitaliza but my scanner (epson v550) doesnt't want to scan he says there is an error... have you an idea why ? (Sry for my english it's not my language)

[@islandbyfilm]

Charles DeMontD'Orge hey there. Thanks for your question. You need to make sure that the holder has no open areas toward the bottom of the Holder. If it does the scanner thinks nothing is on the glass and will give you an error. Hopefully that helps you fix the issue.

[@charlesp5419]

@@islandbyfilm ok thank you very much !

[@bladamirputin5999]

can you include the edge in the scan? like Kodak name on the edge?

[@islandbyfilm]

nico manansala yes you can. That’s one on the great features of this product.

[@0nenightsworth]

@@islandbyfilm 35mm and 120mm scans both show the edge of the negative? Thanks!

[@0nenightsworth]

@@islandbyfilm It looks from the videos it cuts off the edges of the film?

[@islandbyfilm]

Cameron Boyle that is just how I have chosen to crop my images. You can however show the sprocket holes if you wish.

[@Raychristofer]

Hello Cameron, I use this digitaliza also and the medium format 120 holder doesnt allow scanning of the edges as thats where the clamp covers unfortunately, the 120 holder also doesnt hold the film as flat as id like but the the 35mm holder does expose the words and sprockets great. I reviewed it on my channel also.

[@johngskewes]

Hi - I have to strongly disagree with this review. I have a digitaliza sitting a drawer with other useless objects. My daughter also has one - same thing. The reason being, unless the film is already DEAD FLAT, the digitaliza is useless, it barely grips the film and the magnet thing is snake oil. It does nothing to flatten the film. As a test, hold the film by the edges. Is it flat? No. You need something to press it flat - like bars that cross the space between exposures. In my case I just moved on, bought two other masks, and use the one I like the best. In my daughter's case, she is waiting to get the money to buy an anti-newton glass insert. I don't mean to be troll - the digitaliza, in my humble opinion is one of the worst pieces of photographic equipment currently for sale, for any amount - for the simple reason that IT DOES NOT HOLD THE FILM FLAT.

[@islandbyfilm]

John Skewes Hey John thanks for your comment and thanks for taking some time to watch my video. When it comes to film that is cupping the digitaliza struggles a lot. I do however still feel that it is an upgrade of the original Epson scanning masks. What is it that you use?

[@islandbyfilm]

Either way scanning is a pain in the you know what. :)

[@johngskewes]

@@islandbyfilm Hi - I digitize negatives using my X-T3. I bought the Plustek film strip holder and it works great. Having a flat negative is essential to getting a quality scan. I also bought the Pacific Image holder (at the same time I bought the Plustek) and do not like it. It might be good on a flatbed, but using a camera, there is too much reflection from the rails. Personally, now that I have a system and know the pitfalls, scanning is okay - part of the hybrid workflow of the modern film shooter.

[@islandbyfilm]

Just wondering John if you edit your scans with negative lab pro or just in Lightroom. I’m using my iPad Pro for absolutely everything but there doesn’t see to be a good solution for converting colour negatives in IOS.

[@johngskewes]

@@islandbyfilm I have been shooting a lot of BW and developing in Cinestill DF96. I am not satisfied with my local lab for color, so will be bringing that in house. But to answer the question. I import into LR, then export to PS to do the reversal and initial color grading.The process is simple and becasue my Adobe subscription includes PS - I figured I might as well learn. The process is basically the same as what is automated using NLP (sample the rebate - the non-image portion of the negative, then using a subtraction layer, eliminate it - then white balance. Though I do recall trying out a negative on the iPad Pro and it seemed to work surprisingly well.

[@johanfjellstrom1913]

Hi I appreciate that you make videos for people like me, but I often wonder why most of this and many other videos are so long? In this case, most of the video is about something else. Surely you will get more viewers if the video is more to the point. I am an old journalist/ photographer and I learned that short is sweet and how you get more readers. When you talk about the ”dull side” of the negative, do you mean the emulsion side?

[@xipishi]

IQ tax

[@nelxonmiranda]

Wut prowcess?