Before I begin this pixll-latr review, let me admit that I’m incredibly impatient. I’m not restless, and I’m not in an unreasonable hurry. These are not compatible with the shooting of film. If a task takes time, that’s fine. But I have no patience waiting for something that I don’t need to wait for. I don’t mind me slowing me down, but something else slowing me down will very quickly find itself in the bin.
With this in mind you will probably understand why the Plustek 8200 was my very first scanner. It only lasted one roll. They’re great, and they’re very good at scanning 35mm, but I don’t even nearly have the patience for one of those. If I remember correctly, scanning every image of a 36×36 roll took at least one hour. Nope.
The pixl-latr – a simple gadget that actually improves your negative scanning workflow
DSLR Scanning – do I even need gadgets?
In my early days of DSLR scanning I was led to believe, by all the gadgets available, that gadgets were essential and you couldn’t scan film without them. My Plustek became a Lomography Digitaliza. Two Digitalizas actually, one each for 135 and 120.
It’s the same thing again. Awkward. Cumbersome. Slow. Bin.
eBay? They’re bloody expensive.
Following my second venture into gadgets, I took a step back. All I really needed was an LED light panel, a negative and a light source. So for a few years I did just that – camera on a stand, LED light panel, and me holding negatives with gloved hands flat against the panel while the camera took an image.
Pixl-latr is quick and easy to scan 35mm film.
Scanning negatives using just my hands…
The process was not easy and it wasn’t ideal. Occasionally I’d get Newton’s rings, I also had a problem with trying to keep the film flat without getting my fingers in shot. Also, the light panel bent slightly when I applied pressure to it. This caused my focus to shift a little. Then there was the problem of light getting in between the film and the frame, creating areas with lower contrast at the edges and corners.
However, I didn’t know of any product that would serve me better than doing it myself. There are lots of gadgets out there designed to improve or assist your film workflow, and frankly, a lot of them are just bullsh*t. Some of them don’t work at all. Most of them definitely don’t make things easier.
Workflow gadgets were something I avoided. Still do.
Hamish arrives with his pixl latr.
Really? For what purpose is pixllatr?
Hamish explained the concept to me. I told him I didn’t need it. I told him to give it a try. That’s what I did.
It was a surprise to me. I was surprised at how simple it is to use, cost-effective, precise, portable, affordable, easy to put together, and store. These are the exact words that I would use to describe any scanning device that could be used in my film/to-digital process.
The pixl-latr comes with a variety of easy-to-fit film guides and masks, allowing you to scan any 35mm, 120 or 4×5.
The pixl-latr scans 24 x 35mm films in less than 3 minutes. I’m pretty confident that I could do it in 2 minutes if I tried. Now that’s the sort of pace I’m looking for. I won’t be scanning all my films at that speed, of course. But using the pixl-latr I have managed 4 x 35mm rolls, 4 x 120 rolls, and 6 x 4×5 sheets in an evening with enough time left before my wife starts nagging me to go to bed to import into Lightroom, convert with Negative Lab Pro, clean up the dust and export JPEGs. That makes me happy.
Fine… FINE! I’ll use the damn pixl-latr
What I really like about the pixl-latr is that it doesn’t try to do too much for me. The only thing I require is something that can hold my negative at the same distance as the lens of the camera and allow me to easily move the film to the next frame. I don’t need some fancy gadget that’s going to inaccurately try to remove my dust for me. I don’t need a digital touch screen, and I don’t need it to tell me my weight or my heart rate. Keep your negatives. That’s it. The pixl-latr is able to do this, but more important, it does so well.
Scanning 3×4 glass plate negatives using the Pixel-latr, with the Simon Forster glass plate insert (sold separately)
World Championships for Negative Scanning Anyone?
Now, my goal is to be fast enough in shuffling film through pixl-latr so that the camera can interval shoot 1 frame every 3 seconds. Once the shutter has pressed once, I’ll get 36 exposure rolls done in 1min 48s.
This may just be me obsessing about the wrong things. It’s not everyone’s goal to scan film at world record pace. I’m just saying that, with the pixl-latr, you can. Of course, you can also use it to take four hours to scan a single roll, if that’s what gets you off, you freak.
But I think that’s my point… the pixl-latr is a simple enough concept and design that however you like to scan your negatives, it’s going to make you better at it. You have the option to choose what is easiest and the rest are up to you. It’s finally a device I can use.
Pixl-latr is now available for purchase. You can also read about the accessory products and learn more on this pixll-latr site (on sale during Black Friday weekend). 😉)
My name is Nick, I have a YouTube channel – @the120ist – talking about everything film photography related… but with a special emphasis on medium format (hence the name). If you shoot medium format film, or are interested in making that step into another format, head on over to YouTube and take a look at me making a pig’s ear of all sorts of medium format film photography. It’s possible to learn something. Probably not, let’s be honest… but someone somewhere has to be worse than me at this.
Find my YouTube channel by clicking here
