While it is possible to convert film negatives to digital image files using a DSLR, doing so can be a rather fiddly process. The Valoi easy35 is designed to make the task much simpler, as it gets mounted directly onto a camera's macro lens.
Ordinarily, if photographers wish to convert analog negatives to digital, they either send them to a lab, buy a flatbed scanner, or take photos of them with their DSLR.
In the latter process, the negatives are typically placed on a light box, which the hard-mounted camera looks down onto. Getting the negs and the camera precisely aligned may take some doing, though, plus there's a chance that other light sources in the room may be reflected on the surface of the negatives.
That's where the easy35 comes in.
Invented by Finnish entrepreneur Arild Edvard Båsmo, it consists of a box that contains a diffused LED backlight and a negative-holding film gate, which is connected a third-party macro lens via a series of stacked aluminum tubes. Needless to say, the lens is mounted on the user's DSLR – or other type of interchangeable-lens digital camera.
When utilizing the device for the first time, users join up the number of tubes needed to provide the proper focal distance for the specific lens being used. After that, it's just a matter of switching on the box's backlight, twisting the box until its film gate display is horizontally level within the camera's viewfinder, then sliding negatives through that gate and snapping photos of them.
According to Båsmo, negatives are held completely flat and parallel to the camera's image sensor, there's no vignetting, reflections aren't a problem, and the entire frame of each image is covered.
As its name implies, the easy35 is designed for use with 35-mm negatives. That said, plans call for an adapter to be offered further down the road, which will allow for the scanning of 35-mm slides. The LEDs were chosen with this functionality in mind, as they can be set to a warm color temperature for slides (which are made to be projected via a tungsten bulb) or a cold temperature for negatives.
Should you be interested, the Valoi easy35 is currently the subject of an Indiegogo campaign. Assuming it reaches production, a pledge of US$149 will get you one. The planned retail price is $214.
It's demonstrated in the following video.