The Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for the FilmLab negative scanning smartphone app that we recently wrote about has ended successfully, with more than 2000 backers funding the project almost 200%. After screening the reader feedback on our original article, FilmLab founder Abe Fettig has also decided to change the pricing model for his app. Instead of a subscription model FilmLab will now be available as a one-off purchase.
The app will be a free install with a limited number of free scans for testing. Once they have run out of free scans users can decide between buying additional scans or upgrading to the FilmLab Pro version which will offer unlimited scans and a range of additional power user features. FilmLab Pro will cost $4.99 for Kickstarter backers and $29.99 for everybody else.
In the video below Abe explains the new pricing model in more detail and also provides more information about the current state of the app and its image output. In addition he has written a blog post with side-by-side comparisons between FilmLab captures made with a smartphone camera, and professional film scanners.
The real issue with film scanning is software processing. No matter what you use to digitize your film. Obtaining lab-like colors without having hours of processing is the real challenge. And for FilmLab the side by side comparisons show typical blue cast from badly processed negatives.
He has just over 2000 backers (idiots). For those who complain about the time a film scanner takes, it really doesn't take much time. But hey, if you only care about how it looks on your phone, great! Sounds like Apple users will love this...point, click, walk off the cliff.
Yes for the folks with old negatives to be digitalized. No for the peeps who shoot film today. If you shoot film but lack patience I see no reason to not use a digital camera.
The kind of idiot who wants an instant contact sheet of 5 rolls of 120 negative film that would otherwise take hours? Posslibly other kinds of idiot too, but that's what I will mainly use it for. Well, clearly there is no shortage of idiots as he's doubled his target. Guess I'm an idiot. Oh well.
There is a great chance that, if you have negatives, then you also have positives in the forms of prints. And if you do not have the corresponding prints, it means that the negatives did not worth it...So why not just copy the prints with your smartphone camera app ? IMHO, no need to use this app unless it allows to scan slides... Life is short and my wallet too.
By the way, I am ready to bet that scanning a roll of negatives with a flat-bed scanner in automatic mode is faster than using this app and a smartphone. With my scanner I can scan 24 negatives in one pass that automatically produces 24 JPG images with automatic dust removal using infrared light. And even if the result is not instaneous, I can do something else when the scanner is working. All I have to do is load/unload the negative film strips.
How much it cost to have the epson, computer and then the time to carry those along?
This allows quickly to get the old negatives digitalized while visiting family members and they tell the stories of the photos as they see them to appear on phone/tablet screen.
@Tommi K1, Generally, people do not watch negatives, but prints. So why scan negatives when you can scan prints ? Do not tell me that with this app you can quickly scan a strip of 4 or 5 pictures unless you want to get thumbnails or icons... And if you have some rolls for a long time that were never printed, then just forget them, they surely do not worth to be viewed...
Totally stupid IMO. First, $30 dollars for a two bit app? Seriously. Every scanner I have ever owned has come with an attachment for scanning negatives and slides, as well as the software to process both. Even cheap document scanners are going to do a much better job than using a tablet for lighting an a smartphone to take low res images, low res compared to a real scanner. And a scanner won't have all the weird distortions due to taking the images at an angle and/or having spots on the tablet screen casting shadows. Chances are that if you have negatives, you already have a scanner, so why settle for an overpriced and greatly inferior set up?
Most people I know who has negatives, don't have scanner! Scanners weren't even invented when their photos were taken!
Just don't be ignorant and think that a scanner is the best solution.... It is by technical IQ measurements but not by the output for use and need.
Most world best photographers are happy for smartphone cameras and they as well are viewed by smartphone screens etc. So relax.... Pixel peeping is a disease and should be cured!
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