It doesn't seem to exist yet. The specifications are not specifications, they are design goals. I don't see how they can get the color coverage they're claiming with RGB LEDs.
Seems about as credible as a lot of the crowdfunded stuff.
For example I wanted to look at the first picture in the horizontal gallery that scrolls horizontally when you scroll vertically. However, there is no way for me to view the whole image. Either it is cutoff at the bottom, or it starts horizontally scrolling. Switching from vertical to horizontal scrolling is awkward and I just want to skip the gallery.
scrolling on that page feels slow, sluggish, and if you switch to spacebar, you actually miss significant content since it only loads/becomes visible halfway into the page.
Like others have said, dust is a huge issue. Some film labs cut film into short strips. some film is just a single image (for example if previously cut to fit into slides).
The film is designed to form into a coil. So, if there's grit or any hard material you'll end up with scratches on the negative itself.
--is it only 35mm as well? I don't think I see any mention of formats it supports. So I can only assume it's just 35mm.--
EDIT: found the 120mm section in the FAQ.
As someone who has a mirrorless scanning setup for my film, and pondered getting a dedicated scanner... the price of this is quite steep given how inflexible of a tool it is.
A second hand DSLR setup is going to be roughly the same price or less. I'm also not sure what kind of workflow improvements it actually offers. If you want fancy and experimental, filmomat has arguably a more interesting but pricier offering.
But naysaying aside, I hope they manage to find a niche that allows them to survive as a company, and keep the analog photography revival alive.
I bought some time on a hasselblad medium format scanner (took fucking ages)
The results are good, as you'd expect. However can I tell the difference between that and me putting the negatives on a decent softbox and using a fancy camera to take a picture? yes, but not by much.
I think the main issue is film registration, that is getting the film to be flat and "co-planar" to the lens so the whole frame is sharp.
My negatives are slightly warped, so they really need a frame to make sure they are perfectly flat. But for instagram, they are close enough.
However scanning more than a few pictures is a massive pain in the arse. If I was scanning film regularly, then this is what I'd want, and its cheaper than the competition.
Assuming that its actually any good, I haven't seen any scans yet.
I almost missed the price. Wow you're right that's a lot! And the final retail price is 1599 euros. I have a good Plustek that cost me $300 or $400. Automated transport and unantiquated software sounds nice, but those features are not worth an extra $600-1,100 to me.
Am I missing something or is this supposed to be in another tier of image quality?
> A second hand DSLR setup is going to be roughly the same price or less.
And if you get one with Pixel Shift, you can get way higher resolutions than the 22MP they're offering (e.g. my cheapo Olympus gets 40MP JPEG or 64MP RAW from a 16MP sensor.)
Filmomat looks fun. Many money. Love the hipster flex with the Weber HG-1 in background of the demonstration video. I do own an Intrepid enlarger (sort of experimental?), and I used to live near Ars Imago in Zurich who sell a "lab in a box", similar to Filmomat's Light system. The independent dev scene is pretty great, though none of it is particularly cheap and is rarely open source, which is disappointing.
> I'm also not sure what kind of workflow improvements it actually offers.
The obvious one is auto-feeding and portability, but without using it who knows. It doesn't offer IR, but even Filmomat's system needs a modified camera. You get that with most flatbed and Plustek-style scanners. I have a V850 Pro which wasn't cheap either, but it'll do a full roll in one go and I can walk away. Even if I shot a roll a day it would be more than fast enough. It has occasional focus issues, and you need to be scrupulous about dusting, but it works well enough. I've never been a huge fan of the setup required for copy-stand scanning and it's tricky getting the negatives perfectly flat in/frame. The good carriers are also not cheap, look at Negative Supply for example.
Frankly it also looks great, like the Filmomat. I think some of the appeal is a chunk of modern looking hardware and also the hope that it's maintained? My Epson works well, but I ended up paying for VueScan because the OEM software is temperamental.
The biggest pains of film scanning are in the post process color balance and dust removal. Unless this can improve those parts of the workflow, it's only going to be a minor improvement. I like the continuous reel movement of this scanner vs a flatbed though, that can improve the physical workflow quite a bit.
PS to add more - I am unable to scroll, all I see is the picture with the dark background. If I use arrow keys instead of the touchpad, I can scroll a bit then after a second or so the page snaps back to the top. I have Firefox on MacOS.
(I know the HN rules say that we should focus on the contents rather than criticising the technical aspects of a website, but in this case the contents are not accessible).
> Yes. We’re collaborating with several film labs in Berlin to benchmark Knokke against Fuji Frontier and Noritsu scanners.
> Sample results will be published before the Kickstarter campaign, so you can make a fully informed decision.
I don't care how cool your scanner looks or how "modern" the workflow is - it's samples or nothing. Additionally, if they were really smart, they'd collaborate with a well known film photographer instead of using someone's walk-around point-and-shoot photos.
I'm glad this exists but at ~1k EUR I would be interested if it could scan 120 medium format negatives...but the fact that it does not is an absolute deal breaker for me. It seems like they are considering it. I hope they do figure that out sooner than later.
Epson stopped making their flatbeds that do film, reportedly because they can’t get the CCDs anymore. That may be a rumor.
The result is they go for 2x MSRP on eBay for models that are many years old. Because that’s all that exists.
Without that, you can buy the kind of scanner meant for a photo lab ($$$$$), DIY it with a DSLR ($$$ if you don’t have one), or pay your a lab a lot per roll and hope they do a good job.
I’m not saying it’s a giant market but it certainly seems to me like there’s enough of one that it could support a small product.
You can get brand new Plustek OpticFilm scanners for 35mm and smaller starting around $300, and there are plenty of other options above that. Plus the DIY.
I’m sure 35mm is easier to make and certainly a bigger market but it’s also a lot more crowded.
I expect their specs are far better than the $300 one I’ve mentioned, I don’t know enough to know. But medium format people are desperate for anything.
I scanned a lot of 35mm film, of various kinds, using a high-end flatbed scanner (EPSON V700 Photo). The biggest problem is not the optical quality, but mechanics: flatbeds can only scan strips. And if your film is very old and has been stored in a roll, you might not want to cut it, and even if you do, getting the strips to stay flat is nearly impossible.
I tried various fancy holders, but in the end decided that I'll likely have to make my own holder from aluminum or steel sheet metal. And even then you run into the problem of lengthwise curvature. For those that are unaware of the problem with this, these scanners have a very limited depth of field, in the range of 1mm or less. So if your film is bent, some of it will always be out of focus.
I can't see much on this fancy webpage, because they made it so fancy that some of the images do not load and those that do load are oh so mysteriously dark. But if their scanner can scan both heavily curved rolls and strips, I will be buying it.
As to optical quality, if you can get your film to stay flat, this is a solved problem, that Epson mentioned above can produce fantastic results (more pixels that you want, generally).
I'd never run film at claimed top speeds unless it was a disposable copy print, but seems exciting. Long way have we come from linear array cameras and telecine to these. Different light sources would be useful for dust and scratches mask. $1k price is also insane. For full mechanical assembly with casters etc it probably comes within five or ten, but still a bargain. I wrote here years ago where I had a side hustle scanning and processing ye olde reels with an absolute beast of a scanner (think room sized) that did 2k in real time with an SGI and Hippi fiber network. Tech almost interesting as films themselves. :)
Funny thing is, in general, low and midrange desktop scanners that public can generally buy, haven't changed much in 10-20 years since they started using led lights and IR dust removal (Canon Fare, Digital ICE or similar stuff). Some are even the same hardware just slightly rebadged or with a different USB connector. But they're the same price or more expensive.
And, at a different level, professional film scanners are EXPENSIVE. Lots of people are now scanning their film using a digital camera and led backlight (now that there is affordable good quality led lights) instead of a dedicated scanner. But that's not very fast and requires some extra manual work. If this scanner offers reasonable quality and a good workflow (that not very proprietary or closed), 1000-1500 dollars is a reasonable price, especially if you have lots of film coming in, or an old collection to scan.
I could imagine my dad buying one of this to scan his hundreds and hundreds of rolls from the 70s/80s and then selling it once he finish. It would be like 1-3 USD per rolled scanned :)
When it comes to the light source, it's a huge missed opportunity. The next wave of film scanning involves capturing Red, Green and Blue separately (separate narrow-band LEDs) to better isolate C-41 layers and counteract crossover on the image sensor. And yes, it should have an IR pass as well, for dust removal.
With that said, I'm happy to see new film products released in 2025/2026. Hopefully this is just the first at-bat.
I think the problem is that it sounds like you get worse results for slide film with RGB than you get with C41 and white light. So the tradeoff is only worth it if you shoot no slide and C41.
I still have an expensive Canon dedicated slide/film scanner from 20 years ago.
IIRC at some point their value started going up as they became rare.
Mine did something like 50MP scans of 35mm film/slides. The quality was more than enough.
But it was painfully slow.
This thing is not 100x faster, so I think it's still painfully slow. If it takes 5 minutes to do a roll of 24 that still means someone with hundreds of rolls needs to have a lot of time on their hands.
Not sure I can actually figure out software to get my old one to work FWIW, but I don't think I care to deal with it, I have a big enough mess dealing with the ~200k digital photos that are already on disk.
Any suggestions for a scanner meant for bulk scans of old family photos (think a few thousand images)? I bought, what I thought, was a reasonably solid scanner, the Pacific Image Powerfilm scanner but the software is so janky that it hangs every two strips and has to be restarted making the entire process super labor intensive. Also the entire "bulk feature" where it's meant to pull the strips one at a time iis not even close to working.
Granted my film scanner (epson v750) has gotten on in years the more prosumer-professional Epson scanners were good, software was still a bit janky but IIRC there is aftermarket scanner software for them.
It can do 36 exposures but you have to cut them into strips and place them in a carrier but it isn't terrible and if you store your negs in film protectors you are cutting them down anyway.
I am fairly sure the newest version (V850) is the same but be aware they aren't cheap, at least $1k+ USD but still cheaper than the next level up which are pro drum scanners and they are many orders of magnitude more expensive.
I applaud their intent to be repairable, but would really like to see a commitment to open sourcing the software under specific conditions (time, EoL, acquisition, closing down, etc).
> “Is Knokke open, repairable, and long-term supported?”
> “Absolutely. We're committed to building a scanner that lasts decades.
All schematics and repair manuals will be publicly available, replacement parts can be purchased directly, and the software will remain supported for as long as possible.”
Yes. Our control application, Korova, will be fully open source and maintained long term. It’s a native, lightweight application for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Seems weird. The fact it talks about rolls of film and reading DX codes suggests that it's able to scan undeveloped film. Maybe that's possible, but I've never heard of that before.
If it only scans developed film, then it's unlikely to still be in the cannister with DX codes, and I've never seen that film delivered to a customer in a roll - it's normally cut up into strips so they can be stored flat.
Developed film has a bar code type of encoding for DX info. The talk about the whole roll is the ability to scan the entire thing in one go vs having to load in multiple strips.
Disappointed to see that the first reactions on HN are so dismissive.
I'm both amazed and really pleased to see anyone attempting to launch a totally new scanner in 2025, and genuinely hoping the actual scans are really made at the resolution and color-depth claimed in the text: too many recent scanners are simply upscaled, lower bit-depth devices marketed with exaggerated specs.
I also have a Nikon Coolscan 9000, so I'm not immediately in the market for this. But I don't expect the Coolscan to last forever, and the Firewire connections on the machine are already abandoned by Apple, who chose not to support the cables in their latest Operating System - so eventually I won't be able to connect it to a new computer.
The open source aspect seems worthy of attention if nothing else. Even if this is a middle-of-the-road scanner - the community being able to customize, improve and support it would be incredible. Especially considering your scanner is considered one of the best despite being over 20 years old.
For the "this is crazy expensive" crowd: this competes with the Pakon F135 - an ancient lab scanner that involves booting up Windows XP, finding old drivers on a CD, etc
No, this competes with a lightsource, some stand and a macro lens+DSLR/M. It's a good price if don't have the later ones. But chances are high that you do if you are into photography.
Seems like too much time was spent on the concept and website and not that much on the product. I can't help myself but always think those projects are too marketed and engineered to be honest. Film scan should be simple and straight to the point, we don't need this Apple aesthetics and ultra marketing.
"Designed by photographers, for photographers." Nice. Would love to see your pictures then.
Without any samples it’s hard for a $999 kickstarter project, considering a Epson V750 scanner costs much less than that but already provides great quality and supports more formats
I for example develop my (black and white) films myself and leave them to hang dry uncut, then proceed to store them in a box. When I have the time, I "scan" them using a MILC on a tripod, a 3d printed holder and a LED backlight panel. Afterwards I cut the strips up and file them properly for long term archival. Many of us do it this way.
I thought you use a camera on stand is the common way now. Did one in Edinburgh and ordered one back home waiting for delivery. After decade of epson it is not comparable for speed and option …
for just contact sheet fast … you can just move and push the blue tooth button … for one particular treasure slow … you can do pixel shift and focus stacking …
I’ve been using an inexpensive Epson V600, I think I paid under $300 and it came with a license for the scanning software which was another $50-$100 value. I also got $25 anti newton ring inserts. The process is SLOW but the quality I think is excellent unless you need to print XL and show your work at MOMA.
Scanning 135 format at home is pretty much a solved problem right? The home made solution to this costs $0 if you own any DSLR and some other basic photography gear.
I think the product would be more compelling and worth it or even a good deal at the price they are offering if it offered drum scan-quality for larger formats.
The workflow for this scanner would allow you to thread an uncut roll of 35mm film through it. You'd have to spend more than $0 to get that kind of speed on a DSLR rig.
This is cool. I spent ~$1k on a Pakon F135+ a number of years ago, and the workflow was indeed extremely frustrating and the results not that great. If I were still shooting a lot of film I’d definitely pick this up. But we need to see sample images!
Can I ask why it will produce terrible color rendering? In addition to commercial scanners that used narrowband trichromatic (RGB) light sources, hobbyists are creating their own RGB light sources to digitize color negative film claiming superior results and putting forward arguments why this is better:
(NB: Most film I shoot is slide film, which I’ve been told doesn’t benefit from RGB light sources because it’s intended viewing was projected with a broad-spectrum white light [likely a warmer than daylight (but color temperature isn’t much of a concern for digitizing slides)] so I haven’t dug into this much.)
Hmm, does seem pretty expensive but sounds interesting. I've got an old Canon FS4000 for 35mm, which works ok for me. I'm curious what people recommend for 4x5 film.
I don't think you want a drum scanner, look up a video of the process for wet mounting negatives... It's super time consuming, cumbersome and messy. Something like an Imacon looks like the best middle-ground, shame they don't make them anymore...
I've been camera scanning 4x5 and I'm happy with the results. Take two offset photos and stitch them in post. Mind you, I scan with pixel shift for higher res.
In case anyone is wondering, the current meta in home 35mm film scanning is divided:
Option 1 is to get an Epson Perfection series flatbed scanner. V800 or V850. This approach is highly automated and you get automatic dust correction with color film. But, leading software packages don't support Linux, and the quality for 35mm negatives is just okay. Performance on medium and large format is SOTA.
Option 2 is to assemble a scanning rig with a DSLR and a light table. This approach is fiddly and requires a lot of space, but with some tuning, the 35mm scan quality can beat flatbeds.
There are some other, more obscure approaches, like vintage Minolta and Nikon scanners, but unless you have a PC with a parallel port laying around, you're gonna have a hell of a time getting those working.
None of these options are good, and if this thing can really perform, I'd happily drop $500+ on it.
Side note: Those little toy scanners like the Kodak branded ones on Amazon are atrocious. Avoid them. If you need to scan some family photos and you don't want to break the bank, go to your local photography store. They could really use your business.
DSLR is the most flexible way, cost wise. You’ll likely have a DSLR already if you’re a film photographer, and You can get a decent scanning setup for under $200. Being able to edit RAW files is also more flexible. It’s a lot more fiddly though so not ideal for high volume work.
Maybe a mirrorless, a Macro lens, and the Valoi adapter. This is what I use now after having painfully used a Flatbed Epson for years. This set up is fast and sharp. Best of both worlds.
Presumably the negatives, but not the pictures, as this is intended to scan only negatives. You'd probably have better luck with a cheap flatbed scanner that comes with adapters for slides and negatives. (I've used both dedicated film scanners and flatbed scanners to scan thousands of rolls of film and prints taken over a span of 50 years.)
No. 4x6 negatives are large format and requires a different type of scanner (flat bed). If you look at the photos the 35mm roll slides into the device so you can’t fit a larger format sheet into the feed.
Film doesn't really make sense anymore outside the realm of luxury-budget art. And if so, why 35mm? Why not medium format / Hasselblads, or large format? Why not actually go for the format sizes where there's a reasonable argument that film can produce a better end result compared to DSLRs?
35mm wins by a mile on price per shot. And for web scans (where most photos end up), it's got more than enough resolution.
35mm film and 120 film are a similar cost per roll, but with 35mm you get 36 exposures vs 8-16 exposures on 120 film (6x12 and 6x4, with square 6x6 in the middle at 12 exposures). And if you shoot half-frame, the cost/shot really goes in the 35mm direction.
That said, I have a handful of of 35mm cameras (all fixed lens vintage rangefinder) and a post-war Zeiss Super Ikonta IV (6x6 120 format). The Olympus 35DC is my favorite of the bunch - it's automatic except focus - really sharp and fast lens - just a pleasure to use. And a Polaroid Go 2 because it's just dumb fun (way overpriced for the quality, and sensible people buy Instax cameras instead, but the Polaroid form-factor was just too much for me to pass up).
I shoot film because it makes me slow down and think a bit. With my mirrorless cameras, I'm too prone to spray and pray and sorting through hundreds of shots can kill the fun for me. That, and the film look is nostalgic for me - sometimes I just want rough snapshots - feels more like a memory vs the crystal clear high res digital output.
> Why not medium format / Hasselblads, or large format?
That has also been superseded in the digital realm. I can use a top DSLR from the last decade to blow film medium format cameras away under most conditions, especially in low light. If I just use a digital medium format camera, it invalidates almost any rationale for film medium format (there is a minor, minor argument to be made about depth of field when the lens is wide open).
Large format can squeeze slightly more resolution out of an image, but the ability to actually use that extra resolution is rarely satisfied. Again, a MF digital subs in for almost every conceivable use case.
The reality is that people do this because it is fun, or a challenge, or for a feeling. Basically, its interesting. The technical excellence of the 'end result' is secondary.
There's tons of things that people do that don't make sense from a purely pragmatic point of view, and that's what makes the world so much more fun to live in.
35mm is super cheap to get into if you just want to experiment. Old 35mm cameras and even home darkroom equipment are gathering dust in tens of thousands of households, cheap on FBM or thrift shops.
It's expensive compared to digital for snapshots, but if you enjoy working in the darkroom as a hobby, you can probably get everything you need for free or cheap.
I don't see any infrared sensor. This makes it drastically worse than the competitors on the market, as it's an essential sensor for dust and scratch removal.
Did they not research the competition?
I can buy a brand-new 7200 (virtual) DPI machine with infrared, proper color metering, wide software support, and multi-exposure system for $400, less than half the price of this offering.
It also supports slides and single frames, whereas this has a min. of 3 in a strip.
Yes. From the article: "It's [sic] final retail price is set at 1599€"
I was actually excited from the title but upon reading further I got really disappointed. It's basically wishful thinking right now, not sure if it's even going to be released. Not sure why this is posted here.
every optical system attracts dust - dslrs / mirrorless cameras with removable lenses have extensive hardware and software systems to handle dust detection and removal from the sensor.
I gave up trying to read the article when animations started happening when I scrolled. It's annoying and I have better things to do than waste time waiting for your animations to stutter and finish moving around when I'm trying to scan the article. Good luck with whatever you're trying to do.
JFC, for that price I can get a NiB Epson Perfection v850 Pro, and have something that can scan film almost as effectively and is a full-blown generalist scanner, to boot. The best consumer scanner ever released, IIRC.
I doubt whether this product will usher in a new era of film scanning for many photographers. For starters, as it's only aimed at 35mm negatives it's unsuitable for my needs.
As with many photographers, my collection consists of B&W and colour prints of various sizes and formats, 35mm B&W and colour negatives in both rolls and cut strips, 35mm slide/reversal material both in rolls and as mounted slides. Film stock covers many brands including Agfa, Ansco, Fuji, Kodak—including its Eastman movie emulsions—and others. Kodak holds special place, with Kodacolor, Ektachrome (including infrared versions) and Kodachrome. At a guess, I've have about 30,000 Kodachrome slides alone. And that's not all, I've also larger format photos, prints, B&W and colour negatives and reversal stock.
Most of this material has still not been scanned because of the challenges involved, for instance those in the know will be aware of the difficulty of scanning Kodachrome slides because of residual silver that's still in the processed emulsion. Then there are scanning difficulties, mounting various formats (slides, rolls of negatives, etc.) and technical difficulties such as focus adjustment, avoiding Newton's rings, etc. Simply, I've not been able to get the tech necessary to do what I consider an adequate job.
Restricting my comments to just 35mm I can confidently say there is NO 35mm film scanner on the market today that can do full justice to a large range of film types—except perhaps exotic and expensive drum scanners which are unavailable to the vast majority of photographers including many professionals. (Drum scanners are only found in high-end professional and technical environments, they cost upwards of tens of thousands of dollars and are a damn pain to use.)
Fact is there is NO film scanner on the market today that can faithfully reproduce in digital form the full dynamic range and resolution† of old fashioned chemical film emulsions. I say 'old fashioned' because modern digital photography, HDR etc., is capable of much wider dynamic range, resolution and colour gamut than film emulsions, so it's not a technology limitation (converting the limited dynamics of old film ought to be easy but no manufacturer makes equipment that does). It's really shameful that no manufacturer has stepped in to fill this technical gap when clearly the technology is available to do so.
Below, I've kept to the basics, an in-depth comment would be much more detailed:
• Argument goes that no one would pay for a film scanner with those specifications—as its manufacture would require precision/exotic tech, and anyway it's doubtful anyone would notice the difference with currently available scanners. I question both those assumptions as I'll explain.
• Leaving drum scanners and a few very expensive ones aside, in the past the best 35mm scanners on the market were the Nikon COOLSCAN range but Nikon discontinued them some years back and nothing has equalled or replaced them since. They were not perfect but they had the best optics and overall provided the best resolution and dynamic range available of any scanner. The COOLSCAN's most significant limitation was its incredibly slow scanning speed (nothing much has changed here with the possible exception of this soke engineering device, film scanners have always had snail-like speeds for seemingly inexplicable reasons).
• Nowadays, for most photographers the best compromise between quality and usability are Plustek scanners, whilst they have neither as good a resolution nor the dynamic range of the Nikon COOLSCANs they are about the best available. I'd add neither are Plustek's mechanics for scanning films as good as the COOLSCANs (that said, in this regard the Nikons weren't much better than just adequate).
• So is there really a noticeable difference between a Plustek and a COOLSCAN? Yes there is, COOLSCANs have noticeably greater dynamic range in dark shadowy areas, and despite the Plustek having comparable resolution specifications with the Nikons the COOLSCANs produced visually sharper scans.
• Why are all film scanners so pathetically slow? A good question I cannot fully answer. Perhaps 20 or so years ago there may have been some excuse but even back then I'd argue they should have been much faster. For argument's sake even if the electronics had slewing limitations and had difficulty in processing images—which wasn't the case—then scanners could have been made much faster by simply increasing the number of rows of sensors—for example, increasing the rows from one to 10 and stepping 10 pixels at a time would increase scanning speed by 10. This is so obvious that it's mindboggling that it hasn't been incorporated into scanners previously. (Note, the other obvious option of photographing an image as does a camera has serious quality limitations.)
There's much more to say about speeding up scanners which I cannot cover here except to say have you noticed that scanners still use USB-2 and not USB3-3? Why?
• There are other significant issues that haven't been addressed adequately in many scanners such as colour calibration. For instance, every type of colour negative has a unique set of parameters often referred to as 'film terms'. In short, these parameters define how the destructive colour mask should be decoded (that's the orangy mask that's incorporated in all colour negatives). Many scanners only approximate or guess these parameters and expensive third party proprietary software such as SilverFast is needed to correct these limitations.
If I didn't know better I'd reckon the lack of a competitive range of high performance film scanners on the market was some form of conspiracy—electronics designers having an intrinsic distain for old fashioned analog film technology or such but clearly there's more to it than that. Whilst I can surmise reasons I'd only be guessing but for sure it has little to do with technical limitations.
Why the scanner crisis hasn't been a much hotter topic amongst serious photographers and professional reviewers has perplexed me. Perhaps if nothing else this scanner from soke engineering might fan the debate, it could perhaps force scanner manufacturers such as Plustek to upgrade their long-stagnant designs.
_
† Kodachrome has a resolution of 100 lines per mm which roughly equates to an image with 3600x2400 pixels (a frame being 36x24mm). Some films have even higher resolutions. Nyquist math says that the sampling rate should be doulde which means a scanner should be able to resolve to 7200 lines per frame but in practice no commonly available scanner comes anywhere near this figure. Diehards note, I'm aware this isn't a precise calculation but it'll do for argument's purpose.
gtm1260|3 months ago
anonymousiam|3 months ago
Seems about as credible as a lot of the crowdfunded stuff.
elcapitan|3 months ago
colonelspace|3 months ago
fusslo|3 months ago
For example I wanted to look at the first picture in the horizontal gallery that scrolls horizontally when you scroll vertically. However, there is no way for me to view the whole image. Either it is cutoff at the bottom, or it starts horizontally scrolling. Switching from vertical to horizontal scrolling is awkward and I just want to skip the gallery.
scrolling on that page feels slow, sluggish, and if you switch to spacebar, you actually miss significant content since it only loads/becomes visible halfway into the page.
Like others have said, dust is a huge issue. Some film labs cut film into short strips. some film is just a single image (for example if previously cut to fit into slides).
The film is designed to form into a coil. So, if there's grit or any hard material you'll end up with scratches on the negative itself.
--is it only 35mm as well? I don't think I see any mention of formats it supports. So I can only assume it's just 35mm.-- EDIT: found the 120mm section in the FAQ.
jpfromlondon|3 months ago
MBCook|3 months ago
If I wanted to wait 1/2 second for each part of the page to load I’d have stayed on dialup.
TomMasz|3 months ago
Looks cool, but I'll stick with my DSLR scanning setup.
VerifiedReports|3 months ago
sbszllr|3 months ago
A second hand DSLR setup is going to be roughly the same price or less. I'm also not sure what kind of workflow improvements it actually offers. If you want fancy and experimental, filmomat has arguably a more interesting but pricier offering.
But naysaying aside, I hope they manage to find a niche that allows them to survive as a company, and keep the analog photography revival alive.
KaiserPro|3 months ago
The results are good, as you'd expect. However can I tell the difference between that and me putting the negatives on a decent softbox and using a fancy camera to take a picture? yes, but not by much.
I think the main issue is film registration, that is getting the film to be flat and "co-planar" to the lens so the whole frame is sharp.
My negatives are slightly warped, so they really need a frame to make sure they are perfectly flat. But for instagram, they are close enough.
However scanning more than a few pictures is a massive pain in the arse. If I was scanning film regularly, then this is what I'd want, and its cheaper than the competition.
Assuming that its actually any good, I haven't seen any scans yet.
deinonychus|3 months ago
Am I missing something or is this supposed to be in another tier of image quality?
zimpenfish|3 months ago
And if you get one with Pixel Shift, you can get way higher resolutions than the 22MP they're offering (e.g. my cheapo Olympus gets 40MP JPEG or 64MP RAW from a 16MP sensor.)
joshvm|3 months ago
> I'm also not sure what kind of workflow improvements it actually offers.
The obvious one is auto-feeding and portability, but without using it who knows. It doesn't offer IR, but even Filmomat's system needs a modified camera. You get that with most flatbed and Plustek-style scanners. I have a V850 Pro which wasn't cheap either, but it'll do a full roll in one go and I can walk away. Even if I shot a roll a day it would be more than fast enough. It has occasional focus issues, and you need to be scrupulous about dusting, but it works well enough. I've never been a huge fan of the setup required for copy-stand scanning and it's tricky getting the negatives perfectly flat in/frame. The good carriers are also not cheap, look at Negative Supply for example.
Frankly it also looks great, like the Filmomat. I think some of the appeal is a chunk of modern looking hardware and also the hope that it's maintained? My Epson works well, but I ended up paying for VueScan because the OEM software is temperamental.
inamberclad|3 months ago
mastazi|3 months ago
https://web.archive.org/web/20251111210606/https://www.soke....
PS to add more - I am unable to scroll, all I see is the picture with the dark background. If I use arrow keys instead of the touchpad, I can scroll a bit then after a second or so the page snaps back to the top. I have Firefox on MacOS.
(I know the HN rules say that we should focus on the contents rather than criticising the technical aspects of a website, but in this case the contents are not accessible).
mastazi|3 months ago
jdelman|3 months ago
I don't care how cool your scanner looks or how "modern" the workflow is - it's samples or nothing. Additionally, if they were really smart, they'd collaborate with a well known film photographer instead of using someone's walk-around point-and-shoot photos.
fuziontech|3 months ago
MBCook|3 months ago
Epson stopped making their flatbeds that do film, reportedly because they can’t get the CCDs anymore. That may be a rumor.
The result is they go for 2x MSRP on eBay for models that are many years old. Because that’s all that exists.
Without that, you can buy the kind of scanner meant for a photo lab ($$$$$), DIY it with a DSLR ($$$ if you don’t have one), or pay your a lab a lot per roll and hope they do a good job.
I’m not saying it’s a giant market but it certainly seems to me like there’s enough of one that it could support a small product.
You can get brand new Plustek OpticFilm scanners for 35mm and smaller starting around $300, and there are plenty of other options above that. Plus the DIY.
I’m sure 35mm is easier to make and certainly a bigger market but it’s also a lot more crowded.
I expect their specs are far better than the $300 one I’ve mentioned, I don’t know enough to know. But medium format people are desperate for anything.
jwr|3 months ago
I tried various fancy holders, but in the end decided that I'll likely have to make my own holder from aluminum or steel sheet metal. And even then you run into the problem of lengthwise curvature. For those that are unaware of the problem with this, these scanners have a very limited depth of field, in the range of 1mm or less. So if your film is bent, some of it will always be out of focus.
I can't see much on this fancy webpage, because they made it so fancy that some of the images do not load and those that do load are oh so mysteriously dark. But if their scanner can scan both heavily curved rolls and strips, I will be buying it.
As to optical quality, if you can get your film to stay flat, this is a solved problem, that Epson mentioned above can produce fantastic results (more pixels that you want, generally).
atomicthumbs|3 months ago
khazhoux|3 months ago
Keyframe|3 months ago
mongol|3 months ago
(I have submitted it earlier but no traction)
ctkhn|3 months ago
unknown|3 months ago
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rckt|3 months ago
It’s weird for me that with the advancing technology people keep coming up with higher price with an excuse of approach, design, whatever.
This seems like an overpriced piece of tech for niche connoisseurs. And I don’t like it.
tecleandor|3 months ago
Funny thing is, in general, low and midrange desktop scanners that public can generally buy, haven't changed much in 10-20 years since they started using led lights and IR dust removal (Canon Fare, Digital ICE or similar stuff). Some are even the same hardware just slightly rebadged or with a different USB connector. But they're the same price or more expensive.
And, at a different level, professional film scanners are EXPENSIVE. Lots of people are now scanning their film using a digital camera and led backlight (now that there is affordable good quality led lights) instead of a dedicated scanner. But that's not very fast and requires some extra manual work. If this scanner offers reasonable quality and a good workflow (that not very proprietary or closed), 1000-1500 dollars is a reasonable price, especially if you have lots of film coming in, or an old collection to scan.
I could imagine my dad buying one of this to scan his hundreds and hundreds of rolls from the 70s/80s and then selling it once he finish. It would be like 1-3 USD per rolled scanned :)
turnsout|3 months ago
With that said, I'm happy to see new film products released in 2025/2026. Hopefully this is just the first at-bat.
spott|3 months ago
I think the problem is that it sounds like you get worse results for slide film with RGB than you get with C41 and white light. So the tradeoff is only worth it if you shoot no slide and C41.
ImPleadThe5th|3 months ago
tiagod|3 months ago
ben7799|3 months ago
IIRC at some point their value started going up as they became rare.
Mine did something like 50MP scans of 35mm film/slides. The quality was more than enough.
But it was painfully slow.
This thing is not 100x faster, so I think it's still painfully slow. If it takes 5 minutes to do a roll of 24 that still means someone with hundreds of rolls needs to have a lot of time on their hands.
Not sure I can actually figure out software to get my old one to work FWIW, but I don't think I care to deal with it, I have a big enough mess dealing with the ~200k digital photos that are already on disk.
sam_lowry_|3 months ago
pontus|3 months ago
Any suggestions for a scanner meant for bulk scans of old family photos (think a few thousand images)? I bought, what I thought, was a reasonably solid scanner, the Pacific Image Powerfilm scanner but the software is so janky that it hangs every two strips and has to be restarted making the entire process super labor intensive. Also the entire "bulk feature" where it's meant to pull the strips one at a time iis not even close to working.
scrps|3 months ago
It can do 36 exposures but you have to cut them into strips and place them in a carrier but it isn't terrible and if you store your negs in film protectors you are cutting them down anyway.
I am fairly sure the newest version (V850) is the same but be aware they aren't cheap, at least $1k+ USD but still cheaper than the next level up which are pro drum scanners and they are many orders of magnitude more expensive.
mrexroad|3 months ago
> “Is Knokke open, repairable, and long-term supported?”
> “Absolutely. We're committed to building a scanner that lasts decades. All schematics and repair manuals will be publicly available, replacement parts can be purchased directly, and the software will remain supported for as long as possible.”
cs02rm0|3 months ago
Is the software open source?
Yes. Our control application, Korova, will be fully open source and maintained long term. It’s a native, lightweight application for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
ralferoo|3 months ago
If it only scans developed film, then it's unlikely to still be in the cannister with DX codes, and I've never seen that film delivered to a customer in a roll - it's normally cut up into strips so they can be stored flat.
etangent|3 months ago
metal_am|3 months ago
h1fra|3 months ago
stringsandchars|3 months ago
I'm both amazed and really pleased to see anyone attempting to launch a totally new scanner in 2025, and genuinely hoping the actual scans are really made at the resolution and color-depth claimed in the text: too many recent scanners are simply upscaled, lower bit-depth devices marketed with exaggerated specs.
I also have a Nikon Coolscan 9000, so I'm not immediately in the market for this. But I don't expect the Coolscan to last forever, and the Firewire connections on the machine are already abandoned by Apple, who chose not to support the cables in their latest Operating System - so eventually I won't be able to connect it to a new computer.
aeturnum|3 months ago
rozenmd|3 months ago
This sounds excellent to me, personally.
gsich|3 months ago
yesimahuman|3 months ago
kopirgan|3 months ago
Guess this can't improve on that lol. But by the look of it, negatives that's already cut into small strips of 4-6 frame each wont be easy to load?
I think software is the key. While the bundled one was ok to do basic stuff, figuring out stuff was complex. In the end I just used default.
10729287|3 months ago
"Designed by photographers, for photographers." Nice. Would love to see your pictures then.
a012|3 months ago
> Would love to see your pictures then.
Without any samples it’s hard for a $999 kickstarter project, considering a Epson V750 scanner costs much less than that but already provides great quality and supports more formats
ceving|3 months ago
pentakkusu|3 months ago
ngcc_hk|3 months ago
for just contact sheet fast … you can just move and push the blue tooth button … for one particular treasure slow … you can do pixel shift and focus stacking …
tedggh|3 months ago
skhr0680|3 months ago
I think the product would be more compelling and worth it or even a good deal at the price they are offering if it offered drum scan-quality for larger formats.
jdelman|3 months ago
VerifiedReports|3 months ago
Otherwise you can use a slide-copier attachment on a DSLR, taking multiple exposures if necessary to achieve whatever dynamic range you want.
I don't get it.
ImPleadThe5th|3 months ago
I'm sure this will be on every photography youtuber's channel shortly, can't wait to see it in action.
lysace|3 months ago
yesimahuman|3 months ago
actionfromafar|3 months ago
klohto|3 months ago
I would love a new scanner for 21st century but there just no way anyone serious is trading CCD (or PMT if you got the cash) for CMOS.
But I applaud the initiative and will definitely buy it to try but not to keep.
felixfurtak|3 months ago
Brian-Puccio|3 months ago
https://jackw01.github.io/scanlight/
(NB: Most film I shoot is slide film, which I’ve been told doesn’t benefit from RGB light sources because it’s intended viewing was projected with a broad-spectrum white light [likely a warmer than daylight (but color temperature isn’t much of a concern for digitizing slides)] so I haven’t dug into this much.)
anfractuosity|3 months ago
Is there such a thing as a cheap drum scanner.
stephen_g|3 months ago
sbszllr|3 months ago
zippergz|3 months ago
MBCook|3 months ago
ryukoposting|3 months ago
Option 1 is to get an Epson Perfection series flatbed scanner. V800 or V850. This approach is highly automated and you get automatic dust correction with color film. But, leading software packages don't support Linux, and the quality for 35mm negatives is just okay. Performance on medium and large format is SOTA.
Option 2 is to assemble a scanning rig with a DSLR and a light table. This approach is fiddly and requires a lot of space, but with some tuning, the 35mm scan quality can beat flatbeds.
There are some other, more obscure approaches, like vintage Minolta and Nikon scanners, but unless you have a PC with a parallel port laying around, you're gonna have a hell of a time getting those working.
None of these options are good, and if this thing can really perform, I'd happily drop $500+ on it.
Side note: Those little toy scanners like the Kodak branded ones on Amazon are atrocious. Avoid them. If you need to scan some family photos and you don't want to break the bank, go to your local photography store. They could really use your business.
ares623|3 months ago
eviks|3 months ago
jumploops|3 months ago
Off-topic: does anyone know the best tool for scanning old stills in 2025?
10729287|3 months ago
caycep|3 months ago
____tom____|3 months ago
curiouscat321|3 months ago
kmoser|3 months ago
throwup238|3 months ago
unknown|3 months ago
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solatic|3 months ago
alistairSH|3 months ago
35mm film and 120 film are a similar cost per roll, but with 35mm you get 36 exposures vs 8-16 exposures on 120 film (6x12 and 6x4, with square 6x6 in the middle at 12 exposures). And if you shoot half-frame, the cost/shot really goes in the 35mm direction.
That said, I have a handful of of 35mm cameras (all fixed lens vintage rangefinder) and a post-war Zeiss Super Ikonta IV (6x6 120 format). The Olympus 35DC is my favorite of the bunch - it's automatic except focus - really sharp and fast lens - just a pleasure to use. And a Polaroid Go 2 because it's just dumb fun (way overpriced for the quality, and sensible people buy Instax cameras instead, but the Polaroid form-factor was just too much for me to pass up).
I shoot film because it makes me slow down and think a bit. With my mirrorless cameras, I'm too prone to spray and pray and sorting through hundreds of shots can kill the fun for me. That, and the film look is nostalgic for me - sometimes I just want rough snapshots - feels more like a memory vs the crystal clear high res digital output.
dghlsakjg|3 months ago
That has also been superseded in the digital realm. I can use a top DSLR from the last decade to blow film medium format cameras away under most conditions, especially in low light. If I just use a digital medium format camera, it invalidates almost any rationale for film medium format (there is a minor, minor argument to be made about depth of field when the lens is wide open).
Large format can squeeze slightly more resolution out of an image, but the ability to actually use that extra resolution is rarely satisfied. Again, a MF digital subs in for almost every conceivable use case.
The reality is that people do this because it is fun, or a challenge, or for a feeling. Basically, its interesting. The technical excellence of the 'end result' is secondary.
There's tons of things that people do that don't make sense from a purely pragmatic point of view, and that's what makes the world so much more fun to live in.
SoftTalker|3 months ago
It's expensive compared to digital for snapshots, but if you enjoy working in the darkroom as a hobby, you can probably get everything you need for free or cheap.
wantlotsofcurry|3 months ago
grishka|3 months ago
ZeWaka|3 months ago
Did they not research the competition?
I can buy a brand-new 7200 (virtual) DPI machine with infrared, proper color metering, wide software support, and multi-exposure system for $400, less than half the price of this offering.
It also supports slides and single frames, whereas this has a min. of 3 in a strip.
dan_can_code|3 months ago
Blahagun|3 months ago
gregjw|3 months ago
aaaja|3 months ago
brcmthrowaway|3 months ago
zimpenfish|3 months ago
m463|3 months ago
coreyp_1|3 months ago
rekabis|3 months ago
hilbert42|3 months ago
As with many photographers, my collection consists of B&W and colour prints of various sizes and formats, 35mm B&W and colour negatives in both rolls and cut strips, 35mm slide/reversal material both in rolls and as mounted slides. Film stock covers many brands including Agfa, Ansco, Fuji, Kodak—including its Eastman movie emulsions—and others. Kodak holds special place, with Kodacolor, Ektachrome (including infrared versions) and Kodachrome. At a guess, I've have about 30,000 Kodachrome slides alone. And that's not all, I've also larger format photos, prints, B&W and colour negatives and reversal stock.
Most of this material has still not been scanned because of the challenges involved, for instance those in the know will be aware of the difficulty of scanning Kodachrome slides because of residual silver that's still in the processed emulsion. Then there are scanning difficulties, mounting various formats (slides, rolls of negatives, etc.) and technical difficulties such as focus adjustment, avoiding Newton's rings, etc. Simply, I've not been able to get the tech necessary to do what I consider an adequate job.
Restricting my comments to just 35mm I can confidently say there is NO 35mm film scanner on the market today that can do full justice to a large range of film types—except perhaps exotic and expensive drum scanners which are unavailable to the vast majority of photographers including many professionals. (Drum scanners are only found in high-end professional and technical environments, they cost upwards of tens of thousands of dollars and are a damn pain to use.)
Fact is there is NO film scanner on the market today that can faithfully reproduce in digital form the full dynamic range and resolution† of old fashioned chemical film emulsions. I say 'old fashioned' because modern digital photography, HDR etc., is capable of much wider dynamic range, resolution and colour gamut than film emulsions, so it's not a technology limitation (converting the limited dynamics of old film ought to be easy but no manufacturer makes equipment that does). It's really shameful that no manufacturer has stepped in to fill this technical gap when clearly the technology is available to do so.
Below, I've kept to the basics, an in-depth comment would be much more detailed:
• Argument goes that no one would pay for a film scanner with those specifications—as its manufacture would require precision/exotic tech, and anyway it's doubtful anyone would notice the difference with currently available scanners. I question both those assumptions as I'll explain.
• Leaving drum scanners and a few very expensive ones aside, in the past the best 35mm scanners on the market were the Nikon COOLSCAN range but Nikon discontinued them some years back and nothing has equalled or replaced them since. They were not perfect but they had the best optics and overall provided the best resolution and dynamic range available of any scanner. The COOLSCAN's most significant limitation was its incredibly slow scanning speed (nothing much has changed here with the possible exception of this soke engineering device, film scanners have always had snail-like speeds for seemingly inexplicable reasons).
• Nowadays, for most photographers the best compromise between quality and usability are Plustek scanners, whilst they have neither as good a resolution nor the dynamic range of the Nikon COOLSCANs they are about the best available. I'd add neither are Plustek's mechanics for scanning films as good as the COOLSCANs (that said, in this regard the Nikons weren't much better than just adequate).
• So is there really a noticeable difference between a Plustek and a COOLSCAN? Yes there is, COOLSCANs have noticeably greater dynamic range in dark shadowy areas, and despite the Plustek having comparable resolution specifications with the Nikons the COOLSCANs produced visually sharper scans.
• Why are all film scanners so pathetically slow? A good question I cannot fully answer. Perhaps 20 or so years ago there may have been some excuse but even back then I'd argue they should have been much faster. For argument's sake even if the electronics had slewing limitations and had difficulty in processing images—which wasn't the case—then scanners could have been made much faster by simply increasing the number of rows of sensors—for example, increasing the rows from one to 10 and stepping 10 pixels at a time would increase scanning speed by 10. This is so obvious that it's mindboggling that it hasn't been incorporated into scanners previously. (Note, the other obvious option of photographing an image as does a camera has serious quality limitations.)
There's much more to say about speeding up scanners which I cannot cover here except to say have you noticed that scanners still use USB-2 and not USB3-3? Why?
• There are other significant issues that haven't been addressed adequately in many scanners such as colour calibration. For instance, every type of colour negative has a unique set of parameters often referred to as 'film terms'. In short, these parameters define how the destructive colour mask should be decoded (that's the orangy mask that's incorporated in all colour negatives). Many scanners only approximate or guess these parameters and expensive third party proprietary software such as SilverFast is needed to correct these limitations.
If I didn't know better I'd reckon the lack of a competitive range of high performance film scanners on the market was some form of conspiracy—electronics designers having an intrinsic distain for old fashioned analog film technology or such but clearly there's more to it than that. Whilst I can surmise reasons I'd only be guessing but for sure it has little to do with technical limitations.
Why the scanner crisis hasn't been a much hotter topic amongst serious photographers and professional reviewers has perplexed me. Perhaps if nothing else this scanner from soke engineering might fan the debate, it could perhaps force scanner manufacturers such as Plustek to upgrade their long-stagnant designs.
_
† Kodachrome has a resolution of 100 lines per mm which roughly equates to an image with 3600x2400 pixels (a frame being 36x24mm). Some films have even higher resolutions. Nyquist math says that the sampling rate should be doulde which means a scanner should be able to resolve to 7200 lines per frame but in practice no commonly available scanner comes anywhere near this figure. Diehards note, I'm aware this isn't a precise calculation but it'll do for argument's purpose.
theturtle|3 months ago
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no_no_no_no|3 months ago
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Marshferm|3 months ago
cs02rm0|3 months ago
p0w3n3d|3 months ago