Can I scan film negatives with my phone?

There are film negatives scanning apps for your smart phone that make big claims about how they offer “high-quality scanning” of your family photos. They even promise to turn your film negatives and photos into a “vibrant memory” with the “fastest and easiest” way to scan your archive.

I’ve been scanning photos for more than 30 years, so I was skeptical that a mobile app and smartphone could capture good results. But if the claims were true, I wondered if these apps might help us get better results and work faster.

So I downloaded the most popular photo scanning app for mobile phones, used the latest Apple iPhone, and more than $1,000 in photo equipment including a large copy stand, professional photography lights, and specialized film holders. I spent a lot of time calibrating the setup to get the best possible results from this app.

I scanned a variety of color film negatives from the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s using a mobile app and also with the archival camera scanning rig we use for client projects. I’ll let the results speak for themselves.

Mobile app scans on the left, professional camera scans on the right

I think anybody would agree that our professional scans are vastly better than the mobile app scans. Honestly, I find the phone scans to be unusable, and I’m left wondering how this company can make such claims. If these are the results I got with expensive equipment, lots of patience, and 30 years of scanning experience, then how much worse will they be for the average photo enthusiast?

We believe that preserving your Family Photo Archive is an important project that gives you peace of mind today and a rich legacy for future generations. As you can see in these samples, taking shortcuts with a film negatives scanning app doesn’t make sense. Instead, we suggest doing it once and doing it right the first time. You can learn more about the process we use for archival scanning on our Photo Scanning Service page or contact us if you have questions.