My Valoi35 film scanning setup just arrived. As promised here are my first impressions. The whole kit is excellent in design, materials, build, and workflow. This will improve my film shooting experience and results many fold, and lower my costs substantially. From the time I opened the box, to the time I had my first frame scanned was about 15 minutes. Dead easy to setup and use. I should be able to scan a 36 image roll of film in less than 10 minutes including setup and tear down time. The best thing is the scan quality I am getting is so far superior to the low quality jpegs I have been paying too much money for. I now get beautifully scanned, 60 mpx RAW DNG files. I am using my SL3 and 50mm APO-SL lens with a extender on it. So $35 for the new lens parts. The Valoi35 light source is about perfect. Bright enough to allow ISO 64 and so even across the frame that there is no visible vignetting from the scanning. The detail in the image, the malleability of the file are all top rate. At this point, I can highly recommend the product for anyone who shoots film. This is one of the rare photographic accessory tools that is worth owning.
This is my first scan and conversion. Works great!
This is the entire footprint of the scanning setup. Fits anywhere
I have been using the Valoi for a couple of years now, and it has always provided excellent scanning results. It looks like you have a newer version, as it appears a bit different from mine.
1bwana1 wrote:
My Valoi35 film scanning setup just arrived. As promised here are my first impressions. The whole kit is excellent in design, materials, build, and workflow. This will improve my film shooting experience and results many fold, and lower my costs substantially. From the time I opened the box, to the time I had my first frame scanned was about 15 minutes. Dead easy to setup and use. I should be able to scan a 36 image roll of film in less than 10 minutes including setup and tear down time. The best thing is the scan quality I am getting is so far superior to the low quality jpegs I have been paying too much money for. I now get beautifully scanned, 60 mpx RAW DNG files. I am using my SL3 and 50mm APO-SL lens with a extender on it. So $35 for the new lens parts. The Valoi35 light source is about perfect. Bright enough to allow ISO 64 and so even across the frame that there is no visible vignetting from the scanning. The detail in the image, the malleability of the file are all top rate. At this point, I can highly recommend the product for anyone who shoots film. This is one of the rare photographic accessory tools that is worth owning....Show more →
This is very useful. Having looked at one or two options for self-scanning, I had pretty much concluded that the Valoi35 is a good option to try first, so I’m interested to read about your positive impressions.
May I ask a couple of questions? Firstly, what components did you need to buy (in addition to the unit itself)? And secondly, what software do you either need to or choose to use (aside from e.g. Lightroom or Capture One for normal post-processing)?
Fred Miranda wrote:
I have been using the Valoi for a couple of years now, and it has always provided excellent scanning results. It looks like you have a newer version, as it appears a bit different from mine.
The say that it is made of better materials, more accurate, and stable since it is now injection molded rather than 3D Printed. Quality does seem excellent.
Andrew CD wrote:
This is very useful. Having looked at one or two options for self-scanning, I had pretty much concluded that the Valoi35 is a good option to try first, so I’m interested to read about your positive impressions.
May I ask a couple of questions? Firstly, what components did you need to buy (in addition to the unit itself)? And secondly, what software do you either need to or choose to use (aside from e.g. Lightroom or Capture One for normal post-processing)?
Thanks in advance …. Andrew
The only accessory I purchased was the dust brush, but you can do perfect scanning with just what is included.
For B&W you can easily do everything in either LightRoom or Capture One just by reversing the tone curve. Be aware that this reverses some of the sliders. But doing things keeps the file in DNG format which is what I want for editing.
For color it is a bit more complicated and probably best to use a tool such as the excellent Negative Lab Pro plug in. A discount coupon come with the Valoi35.
1bwana1 wrote:
The only accessory I purchased was the dust brush, but you can do perfect scanning with just what is included.
For B&W you can easily do everything in either LightRoom or Capture One just by reversing the tone curve. Be aware that this reverses some of the sliders. But doing things keeps the file in DNG format which is what I want for editing.
For color it is a bit more complicated and probably best to use a tool such as the excellent Negative Lab Pro plug in. A discount coupon come with the Valoi35.
The big advantage for using Negative Lab Pro with color negatives is it's designed to get rid of the orange cast without a lot of user manipulation.
1bwana1 wrote:
The only accessory I purchased was the dust brush, but you can do perfect scanning with just what is included..
For those considering this, I recommend getting the the dust brush attachment. It will save time removing dust in post. I don't get many when using it.
I bought the new version II a couple of months ago with the dust brush attachment, haven’t received it yet. Plan on using the A7RVI with the 100 macro with it
1bwana1 wrote:
The only accessory I purchased was the dust brush, but you can do perfect scanning with just what is included.
For B&W you can easily do everything in either LightRoom or Capture One just by reversing the tone curve. Be aware that this reverses some of the sliders. But doing things keeps the file in DNG format which is what I want for editing.
For color it is a bit more complicated and probably best to use a tool such as the excellent Negative Lab Pro plug in. A discount coupon come with the Valoi35.
1bwana1 wrote:
The say that it is made of better materials, more accurate, and stable since it is now injection molded rather than 3D Printed. Quality does seem excellent.
And the light source is improved, plus you can more easily see if you left the unit on. I have version one and I’m very happy with it. Won’t upgrade, because I’m mostly scanning stuff that’s at least 20 years old and the light source is fine with me.
I got mine two weeks ago. Getting better results than with the first version, mainly more even illumination across the frame. All the shots in the below posts were scanned by me using the new V2 version.
Mine arrived two days ago but I haven't used it yet as I had to order a 60mm-62mm adapter ring (a size that isn't included in the original package) to use it with my SL2 and Macro-Elmarit-R 60/2.8. I also ordered the mounted slide holder as I have thousands dating back to the 50's - many of which i wish to archive.
My initial impression is quite favorable. The design and build quality are impressive.
Both items are scheduled to arrive today. I'll report back.
I am impressed with the quality of build and ease of use of the Valoi. I did my first slide scans this morning. Here are a couple of samples. Each has had minor color adjustment, clean-up and a minimal crop.
geekcop wrote:
I got mine two weeks ago. Getting better results than with the first version, mainly more even illumination across the frame. All the shots in the below posts were scanned by me using the new V2 version.
mr.mbp wrote:
The one I got from you gives great results. Would love to see what the results you get with the new rolls.
So far the only difference in results is I skip the step in Lightroom of taking a blank frame and using flat field correction. The new one is obviously a different design that is more sturdy. Both work well.
I had and loved the Valoi 35 system. However, I was also looking to scan medium format film. Valoi came out with a separate system which was much more expensive. So, I turned to the Holo Advance by Black Scale Labs. It is siimilar to the Valoi but will scan both 35mm and medium format film. It uses a Cinestil light panel which I like better than the Valoi light source. The assembly and operation is very similar to Valoi.
rji2goleez wrote:
I had and loved the Valoi 35 system. However, I was also looking to scan medium format film. Valoi came out with a separate system which was much more expensive. So, I turned to the Holo Advance by Black Scale Labs. It is siimilar to the Valoi but will scan both 35mm and medium format film. It uses a Cinestil light panel which I like better than the Valoi light source. The assembly and operation is very similar to Valoi.
rji2goleez wrote:
I had and loved the Valoi 35 system. However, I was also looking to scan medium format film. Valoi came out with a separate system which was much more expensive. So, I turned to the Holo Advance by Black Scale Labs. It is siimilar to the Valoi but will scan both 35mm and medium format film. It uses a Cinestil light panel which I like better than the Valoi light source. The assembly and operation is very similar to Valoi.
rji2goleez wrote:
I should clarify. I have only used the original. I have not used V2
Honestly, if one can get the original V1 version for a lower price, go for it. I have zero complaints about it, and it's been completely reliable in my use. I don't see any real reason for me to upgrade.
