VALOI Easy35 v2 Evaluate: House Film Scanning

Digitizing movie at residence has at all times been a fiddly, annoying, time-consuming course of, so discovering a system that makes it easier has been a breath of recent air.

The VALOI easy35 v2 is a system that simplifies the method of digitizing slides and negatives at residence utilizing your current digital digital camera.

It’s a battery-powered lightbox with a movie provider and ships with a number of threaded tubes and adapters that be certain that, no matter lens you’re utilizing, you’ll be capable to obtain the right distance. I used to be already pondering a purchase order once I reached out to VALOI to ask if I might evaluate the easy35, however they’ve kindly allowed me to maintain it.

My Existing Setup

My journey again into movie began nearly 5 years in the past, and it shortly grew to become clear that the scans I used to be returning from the lab merely had been lower than scratch: JPEGs had been oversharpened and left me with little flexibility within the edit. As I continued to place rolls by means of my rising assortment of Olympus movie cameras, my alternative was both to start out paying for better-quality scans or construct myself a rig.

My janky effort labored: a wood chopping board, a piece of metallic tube, a flange, a clamp, the ball head harvested from my tripod, an affordable light panel, and the Essential Film Holder. It was removed from elegant, but it surely labored, even supposing, missing a macro lens for my Sony, I used to be utilizing my nifty fifty paired with a few extension tubes.

Setting up was annoying, particularly if I used to be refitting the ball head after an outing with the tripod. Aligning the whole lot was additionally removed from exact, deploying the traditional mirror method to get the lens and the aircraft of the movie lined up. The Essential Film Holder is an honest piece of equipment, however feeding the movie into the gate was usually a little bit of a battle; if the movie is just too curved from having been rolled, it’s a combat to get it to slip absolutely into place. Once the whole lot was in place, it went easily, however that preliminary setup at all times felt like an ordeal.

Elegance All Around

I noticed the VALOI easy35 system when it launched on Indiegogo again in early 2023. I used to be struck by its magnificence, and it all of the sudden appeared ridiculous that such a gadget didn’t exist already; positive, there are some Nikon-specific efforts that lack illumination and the JJC FDA-S1 that requires loading a provider with a strip of six pictures at a time, however the easy35 was totally different. It was common, all-in-one, and allowed you to feed a roll of 36 exposures by means of with minimal effort.

Earlier this yr, VALOI launched the second technology of the easy35. This promised improved gentle uniformity and, by swapping out bolts and a hex key for spring-loaded ball bearings, a superior system for altering between movie holders. It ditched the adjustable coloration temperature in favor of a set 6000 Ok lamp, removed the nylon-to-aluminum connection, and added a bypass to the lamp in order that it could possibly run straight off exterior energy.

What’s within the Box

VALOI’s packaging is moderately sensible and refreshingly void of any plastic packaging. To coincide with the brand new rig, I handled myself to my first-ever macro lens — an outdated EF-mount Tamron 90mm through an EF-to-E adapter that I had kicking round. (Eventually I needed to tape the contacts on the Tamron as I couldn’t get the lens to cease down reliably past f/5.6.)

I used one of many many provided adapter rings and mixed two of the aluminum tubes to get the right distance. Tubes connect to the field through an aluminum collar that permits you to sq. off your body earlier than locking it in place through a knurled knob.

As customary, the easy35 ships with a 35mm movie provider that squeezes properly into place. VALOI additionally despatched me a 35mm sprocket holder that I’ve not performed with but, and kindly requested if I’d additionally prefer to obtain the easy35 v2 Slide Holder. More on this later.

There’s a sensible, crimson woven USB-C cable for charging, and VALOI guarantees battery lifetime of greater than 4 hours, which traces up with my expertise.

VALOI additionally despatched me the easy35 v2 Duster, which magnetically attaches itself to the facet of the field and gently brushes the negatives with antistatic bristles as you feed your movie.

I used to be impressed by the construct high quality; the tubes are anodized aluminum with a swanky matte end, whereas the field and carriers are injection-molded ABS plastic. There had been a few very small beauty imperfections within the texture of the plastic (I’d say typical of this manufacturing course of), however each edge was excellent.

Digitizing Negatives

Once constructed, you’ve two choices for utilizing your rig. You can hold it flat on the desk, which is a contact awkward in case you really feel the fixed have to test focus on condition that your face is at one finish of the rig whereas your fingers are on the different. (Still considerably higher than my improvised cutting-board effort, nevertheless.) The different possibility is to stack it vertically. This would have been my most popular possibility, however the focusing ring on my Tamron lens slowly creeps as quickly as the burden of the digital camera is stacked above it.

Feeding movie is a breeze. I’ve put six rolls by means of it, and all went easily. The duster attachment makes that preliminary insertion barely harder, nevertheless.

Digitizing Slides

This is the place, for me, the VALOI system goes from nice to implausible. With the slide provider fitted, feeding slides is a breeze. Slot one in, take the photograph. Insert the subsequent slide, and the earlier slide pops out the opposite facet. I’ve inherited field after field of slides from the Nineteen Seventies that I’m slowly digitizing, and all of the sudden it’s now not such a frightening course of. With the Essential Film Holder (which does an awesome job), it meant spending a number of minutes rebuilding the holder to swap out the 35mm provider. With the VALOI, I can swap between movie sorts in a matter of seconds.

Suddenly, each the setup and the method are dramatically easier, and I can now blast by means of a field of slides very quickly in any respect.

What I Liked

• Premium construct
• Eliminates faff
• All-in-one
• Fits any lens
• This up to date model appears to supply stable enhancements

What I Didn’t Like

• It’s not an affordable rig, but it surely positively compares effectively to different programs when you consider all the equipment concerned

The Verdict

I can’t suggest this product sufficient. Messing round with copy stands (improvised or in any other case) and lightweight panels is a ache within the bottom, and the VALOI easy35 v2 efficiently eliminates a number of ache factors. At $270, it’s positively not low cost, particularly if you wish to tack on a few equipment. However, you get a high-quality system that massively reduces the faff and nearly makes digitizing movie a pleasing course of.