Finally a solution for those of us who like scanning photos which has the sprocket holes areas exposed! The DigitaLIZA from Lomography. The solution came just in time … as the new fun Spinner 360 churns out super long frames with exposed sprocket holes that make scanning and stitching the frames a really painful process (especially for people like me who has not much patience sitting in front of the computer doing post processing).
I was expecting a delay in the shipment of mine because Lomo Asia’s online store stated that the status of my order was something like ‘waiting for shipment’. That’s why I struggled to scan the roll (from Spinner) using the 120 mask last night … but the DigitaLIZA appeared on my desk this morning. Grrr!
Here are the contents of the DigitaLIZA set …
from top to bottom … the film mask, the upper magnetic film plate and the metal plate.
What you actually do is to place the metal plate at the bottom of the film mask … then open up the film mask and carefully place the strip of film in it. Once the strip of film is in place, put the upper magnetic film plate on top of it and then close the film mask. Hmm. Sounds confusing eh? Hahaha! I got a little confused (blame my old brain) in the begining but it all looked pretty easy after a short while. Once you have done all those … just remove the metal plate (from the bottom) and the upper magnetic film plate. The upper magnetic film plate and the metal plate seem to be used to keep the film strip firmly (and strait) in place. No more going crazy trying to keep curled up film strips on the 120 mask! Yay!
Take the film mask and place it carefully on the scanner and then scan the strip of film like you will normally do.
Someone asked me how I scanned the photos with sprockets and yet not mess up the exposures (by the scanning software). I am using Silverfast … so I ain’t sure about other software but I guess they are pretty much the same. What I normally do is to turn on the ‘auto exposure’ option in Silverfast … then select the center portion of the frame (ie. without the sprockets). The software will then automatically give you a good exposure (provided you got the exposure right when you shot the frame of course!). Switch off the ‘auto exposure’ option and then enlarge the frame selection to include the sprocket holes. Now that will prevent the software from being ‘tricked’ into inluding those black sprocket holes as part of the auto exposure processing.
Back to the DigitaLIZA. One thing I was wondering before it arrived … was how it could hold the film strip without covering a little on the sides (near sprockets) of the film. Taking a close look at the DigitaLIZA … it seems that a little of the sides do get ‘covered up’. Here a comparison using the strip I tried scanning …
You will realise that a bit of the top and bottom are not appearing (when scanning using the DigitaLIZA). Well I guess that’s a little sacrifice you’ve to take … in exchange for a super simpler way to get things done. Honestly … I personally prefer the more ‘raw’ looking edges (at the sides near sprockets) from scanning using the 120 mask. Still the convenience of using the DigitaLIZA is an easier way to get things done. Don’t get me wrong … I ain’t paid a cent by Lomography to say this. Hahaha!
As I’m not planning to include some broken glass and plastic bits into my scanned results, I decided not to follow the instructions found in the photo below …
So is the DigitaLIZA a good buy? I definitely think it is (if you have the need to scan film strips with sprocket holes)! Do make sure your scanner is a backlit one though … for the DigitaLIZA only works for such scanners.
congrats on the new toy!
turn turn…..
@nelly : This ain’t no toy … but rather … a solution. Hahaha!
ok ok…no more headache…can turn turn more and burn more film get nice nice peektures! 😛
Wow…this device looks helpful….I think I will need one too but a scanner have to come 1st…..
@Jer : You sure do need the scanner and this thingie. 😀
Cool stuff! Exactly what I need to scan my 360 pictures! But before that, need to get my hands on a 2nd hand flatbed scanner… Still waiting for ebay to close the deal…
I thought this is a great product too!
oh nice!, but you lose a little of the number 🙂 guess thats ok. I can’t wait to get mine
@kaxdd : Oh all the best in your bid.
@cyanwater : Spot on!
@Mijonju : Yeah. Guess losing a little of number is better than losing a lot of hair. LOL
So I know it says on the website that it works with most scanners that have a transparency top. I have a Epson V500. Think it should work with that? I guess I’m just worried that the skinny section of the transparency unit may not fit the digitaliza underneath it.
@tylercorc : V500? It definitely will work! Hahaha! I am using that scanner too. 😀
ohh finally some thing to work with for my horizon. 😀
Good news! Well time to buy it soon then!
@shunzi : Why do you need this for the Horizon? Do you scan the sprockets (which ain’t exposed) for the rolls from the Horizon? Just curious.
@tylercorc : Cool!
quite happy that the product is named after my real name.
@sally : Hey that’s unfair! I’m gonna ask them to name their next product … errr …. AnalogueNdroo … ermm … AnalDroo. Hey wait! That sounds so wrong. Nevermind. 😀
How do you line up the Digitaliza on your v500 so that it’s parallel and perfectly straight?
@Pieter : It is just a matter of manually aligning it. Hahaha! Not 100% straight (unless you use a ruler). 😀
Ok 🙂 Thanks for the reply.
@Pieter : You are most welcome. Haha. If you have a better way to align it straight, do let me know. It is not really easy trying to get it perfectly straight.
Will the 120 digitaliza work with the v500 from epson?
@Cliff Davis : Ermm … it should work fine. I’ve yet to own one of those but I’m sure if the 35mm one works on the V500, there should be no problem with the 120 one.
I have bought a Spinner 360 and shot my first rol with it. Now i have the digitaliza and an Epson V500 but mij epson scan program gives back an error. It won’t scan. It says “remove the transparancy mask or shut the top lid” if i use my standard film masks which came with the scanner it works just fine but then i don’t have the sprocketholes.
Please help someone???
@Matijn : How did u place the digitaliza on the V500? Look under the cover and u will see a long glass area (not sure what it is called). When placing the digitaliza, make sure it is right under that glass beneath the cover. I hit that problem before too.
@Matijn : One more thing to watch out for, is at the further end of the scanner, make sure you film strip is not sticking out of the Digitaliza. It seems that if something is covering the end of the glass area on the scanner, the software will give you some error.
hey there, i was thinking of getting the digitaliza but am not sure if my current scanner/printer is suitable or not as i dont know if there is any backlight unit and u mentioned that this digitaliza needs a scanner with a backlight unit or else it wont work. However, i went over to objectifs today and the guy told me that any ordinary scanner will work, thos type that scan papers and all. So now i’m not sure if i should get it? Please advise! 🙂 my printer/scanner is epson stylus cx5900 btw
@victoria : Only scanners with a backlight will work. Maybe those guys got confused. I’ve not touched that scanner before and thus can’t tell you if it will work. Look at the cover of the scanner (the part facing down). Is there a glass area? If I am not wrong, that is the backlight thingie. Best is call up Epson to ask. It will be quite a headache to buy the Digitaliza only to find that it doesn’t work on your scanner. Well the only way out if that happens … is to buy a new scanner.
Hi, great review. Which scanner do u use for digitliza ?
@Dashu : I m using an Epson V500
Hy!!
I have a digitaliza lomography and i have a new epson v500 but i can’t scanner =(
I put the digitiliza in the scanner, in the middle, but he doesn’t work, give me an error …
can you help me please?
@Alexandra : Did you put the Digitaliza too close to the front or back of the scanner? As you can see from one of the photo above, the Digitaliza is placed with some space between the front & back of the scanner glass surface. I encountered an error when I placed it too close to the front/back before too. Also … which software are you using? I have yet to try the Epson software. I was using Silverfast.
@ndroo : It was exactly what happened. It was to close to the front of the scanner.
So easy..lol! Thanks a lot! Cheers!
@Alexandra : Cool! Glad to hear that it works now. Have fun!
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