Feb 21, 2018 | By Benedict
Alexander Gee, a photographer and Thingiverse user from New Zealand, has designed a 3D printable 35 mm film digitizer that works with a Sony E-mount camera to capture film negatives in full detail. The tool is essentially a 1:1 “enlarger.”
Film photography in 2018 seems to occupy several different worlds. On the one hand, there are the mountains of negatives taken by amateurs—family gatherings from the 1990s, for example, tucked away in lonely drawers and cupboards and just waiting to be salvaged by anybody who still has the time to look at a physical photograph.
But there are also a large number of professional photographers who, while using digital cameras for many projects, still find themselves drawn towards the unmistakeable grain and beauty of film photography. It was, of course, this love of film-style photography that spawned the success of Instagram, with its myriad “old-style” filters.
Finally, there are those—mostly young people who never had the chance to use film cameras in their heyday—who have simply discovered how cool and fun film photography can be. Those who have found joy in big, chunky analog cameras, as well as instant cameras like those made by Polaroid. (A company that now makes 3D printers, funnily enough.)
Film photography has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years
Wherever you fit into the world of film photography, there’s a good chance you have some negatives lying around somewhere that desperately want to be digitized, uploaded to Facebook, and shared with the world! And now, with just a 3D printer and a DSLR camera, you can do that.
Photographer Alexander Gee has uploaded a simple 3D printable film digitizer to Thingiverse that works with any 35 mm negatives, allowing you to salvage those potentially iconic snaps of years gone by.
“This is in essence a 1:1 enlarger,” Gee explains. “It uses a standard 50mm (M39 mount) enlarger lens of your choice to hold your film perfectly for digitizing it with a Sony E-mount camera. The design is semi-parametric so you can adjust the lengths of the tubes if you need to remix this for a different lens mount.
“The threaded tubes are designed with a buttress thread. This avoids issues when printing the threads as there are no overhangs. The threads are designed on the loose side. If you require them tighter just add some Teflon tape after printing to snug them up.”
Alexander Gee's free 3D printable film digitizer
(Image: Alexander Gee / Thingiverse)
Gee recommends 3D printing the film scanner in an opaque 3D printing material at 0.3 mm resolution and 25 per cent infill, and suggests gluing the swivel lock only to the mount section, allowing the unit to be rotated relative to the camera without adjusting focus.
“The film holder itself is designed to be spring loaded using 3 mm cap head screws and a compression spring between the nut and film holder,” Gee adds. “If you don't have a 3 mm bolt, use a small section of 3 mm filament.”
What are you waiting for? Get Gee’s brilliant tool here and get digitizing those analog photographs.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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