Currently, there are various apps to digitize negatives of your analogue photographic films. Yes, as you read it, currently, many people are digitizing, coloring and improving all those photographs that you thought would only remain in memory. The digital age is here to stay.
the current options they are for all tastes, varying its basic procedures, but achieving really interesting results. In this note I will leave you with a short list of what I consider to be the best apps to digitize negatives and generate an enviable photographic piece, which could not be easily done when it was taken.
The best apps to digitize negatives on Android
As I have told you on other occasions, some very interesting applications will surely be left out of this list. If so, you can leave a comment explaining which one you think is needed, so we will update the list. For now, this is my list of the best apps to digitize negatives.
Photo Negative Scanner: View
It has more than 1 million downloads as of the date of writing this note and more than 4 thousand reviews that rate Photo Negative Scanner with 4 stars. Developed by frapplabs, offers its users scan with phone camera negatives and convert them into digital images.
In an automated way, when executing the scan, the real colors will be seen, showing a clear image and quite well structured in terms of shape and definition. It also has a series of editing tools. the image directly on the mobile. To get it, you don't need to pay, you can download it directly from Google Play Store.
FilmBox by Photomyne
Relive the memories by digitizing the negatives with high quality, for this it will be of great help MovieBox. This app, with great automated features, allows you to scan the negatives of your analog films with the help of artificial intelligence.
It has a large number of updates to improve the product that you will get. Currently, it has more than a million downloads and 4.4 stars that guarantee the quality of this application.
KODAK Mobile Film Scanner
Kodak is one of the most important photographic companies of analog photography implements and now wants to recover ground with this app. The application can be used to scan negatives in color or black and white, for later edit your content and generate a crisp product.
Despite being from Kodak, the app has not had the best of popularity, it currently has 500 thousand downloads and the reviews it has give 2.8 stars. Hopefully in a future update they will improve the existing details and compete with others.
Previously, Kodak launched an application for 6 X 6 images, which had better popularity, almost 11 downloads, however, stopped updating in 2021 to focus on the version shown here.
Negative scanners
Developed by Apps Nas Studios and currently has more than 10 thousand downloads. The idea of this app is obtain digital images from analog negatives regardless of its date. To achieve its goal, it uses the mobile camera and obtained the image, it has filters and tools to improve the quality of the product.
It has a interface quite striking and easy to use, Ideal for all types of users. A notable advantage is that in addition to traditional color editing, it allows you to cut the scene.
MovieLab
This app developed by Develop and Fix, presents one of the simplest options for scanning negatives on analog film. It is interesting that to carry out the procedure, it is only necessary to have the negative and an external light source.
It has a pretty fast workflow and despite having a few months without an update, it offers what it takes to be on this list.
Lightbox Free
This is another app abandoned by its developers despite having more than 100 downloads. Developed by Whimsical Otter, offers a very intuitive and friendly interface, but something basic for my taste. Despite this, it adequately fulfills its function, scanning analogue films.
Additionally, it has several fairly simple filters, which will help you give the shots tonality, digitizing much more striking and colorful products. Despite being completely free, has a subscription version.
Methods to recover negatives without specialized applications
Applications always seek to make our lives much easier, however, it is not the only way to do the job of converting an analog film negative into a digital image. as you will understand, the process requires much more work and in many cases advanced knowledge in photo editing, but in many cases, the result will be worth it.
Here I will explain in a generic way and with the example of some possible tools how to perform the scan:
- It is vital to position the negative with a backlight source, preferably fixed and with a white background that distributes the light evenly. The computer screen can be an excellent option.
- Use scanning apps or just your mobile device's camera.
- Focus the lens of your mobile as best as possible, so you will achieve greater sharpness.
- Once you have the image, it's time to take it to another application or to the computer itself. Tools like Lightroom, Snap Seed, GIMP or own Photoshop.
- Once you have the image uploaded, you need to apply the invert colors tool. Before you do, remember to have a backup. We are experimenting the best method.
- Apply the effects that you consider necessary to define lighter colors, this without exaggerating or overexposing the product.
- Save to a file to share, such as JPG, GIF o PNG.
If you got to this point it's because you were mesmerized by the options I showed you. I hope it has been very useful or even helps you discover new ideas so that you obtain a digital image of excellent quality, based on a negative of an analog film.
Today, there are many photographers who have returned to the path of analog work, which gives a magic and mysticism to the shots. However, for printing reasons or simply to digitally share their work, they seek to take their work to the 3.0 environment, where they even retouch their images.