Automated Slide Digitizer

Background

My dad piqued my interest when he asked me to keep an eye out for slide carousels at vintage shops. He wanted to view the film slides he had tucked away and hadn't seen for decades. Because I was already scanning film negatives at home, I offered to instead digitize the collection, bringing his memories into the digital age.

Upon seeing his images, my dad immediately started telling stories I had never heard before; about meandering through the Brazilian countryside at eighteen years old, getting to his host's home in the middle of the night after getting lost, crossing a river up to his neck, running behind a horseback rider for forty-five minutes, and eventually climbing over the wall of the house. Hearing these stories made me realize that there's a limited window of opportunity to collect and retell these memories.

The System

Custom-built automated slide digitizer using a modified Kodak projector, 60MP camera, and ESP32 controller. The projector's lamp was replaced with a high-CRI LED panel, and the original lens was removed to allow direct camera-to-slide capture. An ESP32 microcontroller automates the slide advance mechanism, triggering the camera shutter for each frame.

The system digitizes eighty slides at a time with no manual intervention. Each slide is cleaned of dust, illuminated with calibrated lighting, and captured at full sensor resolution. The result is dramatically higher fidelity than viewing through the original projector or commercial scanning services.

Slide Restoration

Sometimes after decades of wear and tear, color restoration and scratch/dust removal are necessary to breathe life into a collection. Depending on the film stock and how it was originally exposed and processed, digital color balancing can dramatically improve the tint of shadows and highlights.

Converting Negatives

Film negatives present a unique challenge in digitization, as they contain inverted colors and require careful processing to reveal the true image. The scanning process not only converts negatives into positive images but also preserves the rich detail and tonal range that make film photography special.

High Fidelity Results

The scanning process brings out the richness of film slides or negatives. High accuracy CRI lights and standardized white balance settings ensure the best possible colors. The detail revealed may surprise you compared to viewing small prints or via a whirring old projector.