Our device in its first version focuses primarily on digitizing 35mm films. Over the past thirty years, during which I have been engaged in digitizing negatives, I recall various pitfalls that I had to deal with when using conventional film scanners. One of the basic differences is that most of the available scanners do not have the ability to digitize uncut negatives. Most of these scanners use frames into which the negatives are inserted, usually after six or fewer frames. The scanning process itself on film scanners is relatively slow, as the technology of these devices is often more than twenty years old. It is not bad, but it often does not meet today's demands for color accuracy and, above all, processing speed.
In order to digitize uncut film negatives at the highest speed, I had to purchase several scanners that were once part of photo minilabs. However, these scanners are very difficult to find and extremely expensive today. In my quest to achieve the highest quality, I also purchased a ScanMate 11000 drum scanner. It is a really interesting technical device, but it only works on very old operating systems, which requires the use of equally old computers. In addition to the complications with sticking negatives on a glass drum, another disadvantage was the scanning time – it took more than forty-five minutes to scan one frame at the highest resolution.
The difference between scanning a negative on a regular scanner and rephotographing it using our prototype Digie 35 is fundamental. The design of Digie 35 is based on the principle of rephotographing negatives. This device uses a modern mini-computer Raspberry Pi, which controls the illumination of the negative, automatic film advance, exposure by the camera, and saving the exposed images to predetermined folders on an external drive. Digie 35 can digitize more than ten full-length motion pictures per hour for an experienced user, which represents over 360 frames.
This speed is extraordinary, and even the most powerful scanners of the past do not reach this speed. Although some can compete in speed, they cannot maintain the same image quality. A great advantage of our device is the possibility of easy camera upgrades. With constant technological progress, it is expected that both sensors and cameras will become better year by year. While the camera can be easily replaced, the basic unit of the device, which ensures the advancement of the film, its capture and storage, remains the same.
-- Martin Wágner