Valoi 360 Aims to Make Scanning Film Cheaper and Easier

The Valoi 360 is a system of modular tools that aims to make it much easier and cheaper to digitize 35mm or 120 film negatives using a digital camera. It’s made to be faster and more effective than a flatbed scanner.

The project was started by photographer Arild Edvard Båsmo who partnered with mechanical engineer Wicher van Lambalgen to mass-produce a design Båsmo created to combat the generally expensive and slow methods of film scanning that are commercially available.

The system consists of three main components: Two film holders – one for 35mm and one for 120 – and the Film Advancer. 

The film holders can be used on their own and are supplied with rubber dome feet, while the Film Advancer is an upgrade that will help you scan more quickly and with more precision.

Advancing with a thumb-knob has several benefits: By rotating the knob to forward film instead of pulling directly at the film, there is less chance of knocking the device out of place. 

It also makes forwarding to the next frame much quicker. Finally, the roller assures that you don’t accidentally touch your film direclty.

It’s a very simple design that appears to do exactly what it promises. 

The reason the two started a Kickstarter is that in order to maintain a low cost, they had to switch from a machined design to an injection-molded one. If you’ve ever worked in manufacturing, you’re well aware that while injection molding allows for mass production much faster and cheaper, the initial mold is extremely expensive. 

Specifically, the holders use an s-curve shaped track to mechanically flatten the film to better allow it to be scanned, and Valoi founders say that design specifically is expensive to create molds for. Båsmo says that this design was chosen because it makes the film lay flatter than any other solution he’s found on the market and is therefore worth the extra effort to bring to life.

Film: Fujifilm C200, 35mm, taken on a Nikon FA. Scanned with VALOI 35mm Holder and Sony a6300 digital camera.

Here is the same image, but cropped to show detail.

The options start as low as $22 for a single holder but can get as expensive as $212 if you want the Film Advancer and multiple holder sizes. Still, the Valoi team argues this is less expensive than other options on the market.

The production value of the video above harkens back to the early days of the crowdfunding platform and to what Kickstarter was originally intended for. Big companies with larger budgets that use Kickstarter mostly as a hype platform can become exhausting, but what Båsmo and van Lambalgen feels very down to earth and earnest. On the flip side, it’s not clear if either of the founders has enough experience in manufacturing to deliver a finished project even if they hit their goal: neither has completed a Kickstarter project before.

Valoi

JARON SCHNEIDER

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Oskar Barnack’s Leica Sells for $15M, is Now World’s Priciest Camera

The 40th Leitz Photographica Auction has concluded with the sale of the most expensive camera ever. Oskar Barnak’s Leica 0-Series No. 105 sold for nearly five times the highest estimation: over $15 million.

This particular camera is unique because it cames from a batch of approximately 23 0-Series prototypes which were manufactured before the Leitz Camera — later to become Leica — went into series production in the mid-1920s and made the 35mm format the new standard for professional photographers.

“Only approximately 23 of 0-Series Leicas were produced in 1923 to test the market, two years before the commercial introduction of the Leica A. Only around a dozen survived to the present day,” the Leitz Photographica Auction says. “Among these extremely rare cameras, one is of particular historical importance.”

Leica 0-Series, No. 105 “Oscar Barnack” | Photo by David Crewe

While already rare, this camera becomes even more valuable when it is considered it was the personal camera of Oskar Barnack, the inventor of the Ur-Leica, which was the first commercially successful 35mm camera. Barnack’s name can be found on the viewfinder of the camera.

“The inventor used the camera until 1930, when he gave it to his son, Conrad, and began using a Leica I Model C with interchangeable lenses. It stayed in the family ownership until 1960, when it was sold to a passionate U.S. collector,” the auction house continues.

“The lot includes an original leather lens cap on a string, later aluminium cap, engraved with initials ‘O.B.’ and heavily-modified Nettel camera that Barnack used for his photographic research studies, as well as numerous documents and letters concerning the Barnack’s camera. The Leica 0-Series no.105 we have a pleasure to offer for sale is not only the most distinguished Leica existing but also one of the major historical milestones from the history of photography.”

The Leica 0-Series No. 105 was expected to draw considerable attention and a high value — the auction house estimated a price of €2,000,000 ($2,194,640) to €3,000,000 ($3,291,960) with a starting bid of €1,000,000 euros ($1,097,320) — but the reality shattered expectations when it sold for 14,400,000 euros, or $15,035,832.

The bid demolishes the previous record-holder for the most expensive camera ever sold, which also happened to be a Leica 0-Series (No. 122). That camera sold at auction in March of 2018 for about $2.96 million.

Jaron Schneider

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