Photographic film digitisation system providers pixl-latr and VALOI have downed arms to come together and create the pixl-latr x VALOI adapter, a simple, cheap, and highly effective adapter for mounting a VALOI film holder onto pixl-latr. Simplicity itself.

At £44.99 / US$62, pixl-latr is one of the most inexpensive and versatile photographic film digitisation systems available today. Out of the box, the pixl-latr covers 35mm, 120 and 4×5 large format film (even more with its open gate platform).

On the other hand, VALOI’s film holders, with their ingenious curved film feed system, offer a somewhat faster way to digitise larger amounts of 35mm and 120 roll film with less fuss — all while still holding the film flat. They also have an upcoming range of custom holders, which will be covering some niche formats.

The pixl-latr x VALOI adapter, then, helps combines the two platforms, giving you the pixl-latr platform/light diffuser on the one side, with VALOI’s unique film holder on the other. Together, they represent a more versatile platform that takes the best of each and but still maintains that accessible price point: the pixl-latr x VALOI adapter costs only £12.49/US$18.

DSLR, Mirrorless and Smartphone scanning

Interest in film and traditional photography continues to grow, yet traditional scanning options seem to continue to move on relatively glacial timescales. In fact, there has been no change in the options available for high-speed, full-roll film scanning options from any of the usual suspects of film scanner manufacturers for more than a decade.

It goes without saying that today’s market is only a fraction of what it was in film photography’s heyday and that’s where companies like VALOI, pixl-latr, Negative Supply, and Cameradactyl have arrived to fill the niche: high quality products, both with and without automation that serve the needs of film photographers today.

With modern digital photography easily surpassing the objective resolution of many film formats today, it is possible to use a DSLR, mirrorless, compact camera, or even a smartphone to achieve results that match or even exceed, the results they were previously getting, even from high-end labs. It’s not the first time this topic has been covered on EMULSIVE and won’t be the last.

Calling pixl-latr and VALOI “competitors” above, while technically correct, doesn’t tell all the story. I’ll let VALOI’s Arild Båsmo and pixl-latr’s Hamish Gill tell you themselves:

“VALOI started with the help of many people, and amongst them, Hamish from pixl-latr was perhaps the loudest voice encouraging us to take it to Kickstarter.”

~ Arild Båsmo

“…our first collaboration is this new adapter that brings two modular scanning systems together. This strikes at the very core of what I believe VALOI is about – modularity and user-centric design, and I think pixl-latr is a perfect match for our Holders.”

~ Hamish Gill

It’s a shared sentiment, as Hamish goes on to say:

“Working in collaboration to bring our customers more options and better products feels pretty good to me! We hope this is just the beginning too, who knows what we can bring to the market when we continue working alongside each other.”

~ Hamish Gill

What more can I say than that? The pixl-latr x VALOI film holder is available right now and exclusively on the pixl-latr website for £12.49/US$18, where it can be bought alongside the 135 and 120 VALOI film holders at equally reasonable prices.

Can we have a motor-driven upgrade next?

~ EM

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