My new LEGO film scanner

[laskadog]

I found that by holding it down in three places, 35mm film was pretty flat. I shoot it at about f11, so hopefully any minor curvature doesn't show. In any case, although LEGOs are fairly straight I'm sure that the lens isn't exactly perpendicular to the film plane.

krötenblender is right, there are surely more designs out there to learn from. I tried to use basic blocks for ease of construction and to keep it as square as possible. The version 2 of my rig will definitely have a couple of improvements. On weakness of my design is that scanning frames on the edge of the strip don't hold as well.

 

[zuiko85]

That's brilliant. And adjustable.

Built my neg copy setup out of plywood and use a M42 mount Vivitar 55mm f2.8 macro lens with an adapter for my E-410. Seems f8 is about optimal. To hold the neg strip I glued up stiff card stock with a slick surface hinged on the bottom and clipped on top. Unclip, move strip, reclip. Bit slow, but less chance of scratching the negs.

 

[raid]

These are smart ideas put in action. Thanks.

 

[shadowfox]

This thread really gets me thinking.
I'm not into LEGO's, so pardon this stupid question.

On a real scanner, for 35mm rolls, there are gears that "bite" into the film sprocket holes. Two of such gears, one for the top row, one for the bottom, could be constructed to keep the film taut and to control the lateral movement (which frame is to be "scanned" next).

Using this method, it does not matter if the frame is on the edge, it would still have enough sprocket holes for the gears to hold on to.

Does LEGO have gear construction that is that flexible?

 

[krötenblender]

Does LEGO have gear construction that is that flexible?

Lego has the "Lego Technik" (don't know, what they call it in the US) set of bricks with many gears, chains and other stuff. Sadly, the gears don't fit into film holes. There are also older parts with gears long time before Lego Technik, I think from the 70ties, but they are even bigger.

I thought about the small rubberized wheels, which can be connected to gears to construct a gearbox with a guide rail where the film is transported with rubber wheels, but I haven't collected the parts for this idea, yet.

Currently the "film-transport" is done manually, and the film is lightly pressed between two rubber foam clips. Not perfect, but the film seems to be flat enough. I think, the best would be to somehow build a film-holder from that ANR glass, I have bought. But, well, missing parts, missing time...

 

[tsiklonaut]

Awesome!

Next step: a Lego pinhole camera?! 😀

 

[krötenblender]

Awesome!

Next step: a Lego pinhole camera?! 😀

You can find several of them on the net… I'm waiting for a working rangefinder. 😀