FilmLab: Negative Film Scanner

A few weeks ago, I misread the instructions and thought I had been locked out before I had even started. Please, please ignore my cynical one star review if you come across it. This app is actually the one I have been hoping for for years. I have a collection of medium format negatives which are too large to fit in my film scanner which is 35mm. The only option for me would have been to purchase a medium format negative scanner, which are expensive and bulky; plus are difficult to source online these days. This app works almost perfectly, but just takes a bit of getting used to. At the moment I use a plain white laptop screen as a backdrop to taking the photos with an iphone11. This does cause some interference with the screen refresh rate, but moving the phone a little back from the screen does make a difference. It is just a case of trial and error. Also the exposure of the negative can affect the interference. Again, patience will bring rewards. I am going to purchase a negative light box, which I believe will improve the results, but until then 90% of the laptop screen results are quite acceptable. I can see the images at last, many of which are from the 1950s. Wonderful. Thanks to Abe and all at FilmLab for developing this app. I can’t thank you enough, and sorry for my earlier review rant.

This app worked quite well when I first downloaded it. I’ve just updated it and tried again: and all it displays is a grey screen and no image. I’ve even deleted the app and re-installed it with the same result.

For me it’s quite laggy and inconsistent. It does save and export in relatively alright quality. Very easy to use too. Just not great.

It’s much improved, and has better export options etc .

At first wasn’t really impressed, but tried it with a cheap light I bought - And results were pretty good

This app didn’t work every time I upload pictures its say error 😡

This was recommended buy several websites and i can’t find a reason why. I get better results with the Kodak version ( free) maybe if I had a clip on macro lens? But it doesn’t work how it should. I used a back light even off set above the light to reduce dotting from it but nothing worked. Gutted I paid for it.

This doesn’t work. Phone won’t focus well enough to get a clear image

I wouldn’t use it for real scans, you’ll never get good quality on a phone; but the live preview is nice for quickly checking out your negatives

If you are expecting to be able to upload and convert scanned negatives, it can’t. All it can do is convert images captured by the phone’s camera. Effectively worthless for processing old negatives.