Kodak Negative Scanner - Part 1

 Forward (by Me)

A few years ago most of our family did the DNA Kit thing with Ancestry,com. When the results came back there was lots of fun and laughter. Well I'm back now (last month) doing the full thing, The Mackenzie Tree is well established and growing nicely. Inevitably this leads to searching for family photos, no issues there everything is stored in one particular spot. I also found another solarity shoebox (OXFORD SHOES) at the bottom of the wall unit in my study - what's that?

My dad's shoebox crammed full with packets of negatives (no photos) from 70 plus years ago - Crikey

They must be Kodak negatives, he always had a Box Brownie hanging from his neck at family functions and outings. The single negatives are very odd and I'm trying to determine the format - 70 x 110. They of course won't fit any regular scanner like the DIGITNOW! that I have.

So... how do I scan them and this leads us to a new project - Negative Scanner Box.

Envelope of Kodak 116 negatives (70mm x 120mm).

This is what the negatives look like and as mentioned will not fit any of the usual compact scanners. A flatbed scanner will of course do the job but I don't want to pay $550 for a Epson. Hmm... that looks like me.

The attempted scanning on the Canon inkjet printer was a complete failure even with makeshift back lighting. This 2nd attempt is promising to the point where I will push forward with making a scanner box. Here the Lenovo tablet is running Lightbox and one issue is immediately apparent - negative curl. The Lightbox app (or any other) drives the screen hard to display bright white light which generates heat. The moment you place a negative on the screen it will curl! The pro solution is to use a piece of Anti-Newton glass to flatten the negative but they are very espensive!

I have some clear acrylic so will cut a piece and try that - should suffice.

Installed the Kodak Mobile Film Scanner on my Samsung J7 Pro.

KODAK Mobile Film Scanner scanning a Kodak negative from 70 years ago!

That's a handsome young lad.

Happy with that a bit of focus but that's me with trembling hands lol

The house looks good those piers are nice.

Back soon...