Film archive: Scanner revives photo negatives

Vienna – The analogue film enthusiasts at Lomography have announced the Lomography Smartphone Film Scanner, a device that will enable smartphones to make digital copies of 35mm film images.

Users connect a smartphone, turn on the back light, thread film through a spool and take a picture. A Lomoscanner app digitally flips negatives into positives, capturing the imperfections and distortions of the analogue development process, not grafting them on with digital services such as Instagram.

To fund the project, Lomography created a Kickstarter page with a $50,000 (€37,570, £31,250) goal. Pledges have already exceeded $100,000 (€75,140, £62,500) with 18 days to go, indicating strong consumer interest in a product that initially seems like an anachronism.

The device also appeals to consumers interested in creating digital records of their pre-digital lives, as boxes of old negatives might otherwise sit untouched gathering dust.

Consumer interest in analogue photography mirrors the return of tactile objects in music sales, as seen in our Digi-Tactile microtrend.