Scanning Film at Home Made Simple: Fstoppers Reviews the Valoi Easy35

Digitizing film at home has always been a fiddly, annoying, time-consuming process, so discovering a system that makes it simpler has been a breath of fresh air.

The VALOI easy35 v2 is a system that simplifies the process of digitizing slides and negatives at home using your existing digital camera.

It’s a battery-powered lightbox with a film carrier and ships with a selection of threaded tubes and adapters that ensure that, whatever lens you’re using, you’ll be able to achieve the perfect distance. I was already pondering a purchase when I reached out to VALOI to ask if I could review the easy35, but they have kindly allowed me to keep it.

My Existing Setup

My journey back into film started almost five years ago, and it quickly became clear that the scans I was getting back from the lab simply were not up to scratch: JPEGs were oversharpened and left me with little flexibility in the edit. As I continued to put rolls through my growing collection of Olympus film cameras, my choice was either to start paying for better-quality scans or build myself a rig.

My janky effort worked: a wooden cutting board, a section of metal tube, a flange, a clamp, the ball head harvested from my tripod, a cheap light panel, and the Essential Film Holder. It was far from elegant, but it worked, despite the fact that, lacking a macro lens for my Sony, I was using my nifty fifty paired with a couple of extension tubes.

Setting up was annoying, especially if I was refitting the ball head after an outing with the tripod. Aligning everything was also far from precise, deploying the classic mirror technique to get the lens and the plane of the film lined up. The Essential Film Holder is a decent piece of kit, but feeding the film into the gate was often a bit of a battle; if the film is too curved from having been rolled, it’s a fight to get it to slide fully into position. Once everything was in place, it went smoothly, but that initial setup always felt like an ordeal.

Elegance All Around

I spotted the VALOI easy35 system when it launched on Indiegogo back in early 2023. I was struck by its elegance, and it suddenly seemed ridiculous that such a gadget didn’t already exist; sure, there are some Nikon-specific efforts that lack illumination and the JJC FDA-S1 that requires loading a carrier with a strip of six images at a time, but the easy35 was different. It was universal, all-in-one, and allowed you to feed a roll of 36 exposures through with minimal effort.

Earlier this year, VALOI released the second generation of the easy35. This promised improved light uniformity and, by swapping out bolts and a hex key for spring-loaded ball bearings, a superior system for changing between film holders. It ditched the adjustable color temperature in favor of a fixed 6000 K lamp, got rid of the nylon-to-aluminum connection, and added a bypass to the lamp so that it can run directly off external power.

What’s in the Box

VALOI’s packaging is rather smart and refreshingly void of any plastic packaging. To coincide with the new rig, I treated myself to my first-ever macro lens — an old EF-mount Tamron 90mm via an EF-to-E adapter that I had kicking around. (Eventually I had to tape the contacts on the Tamron as I couldn’t get the lens to stop down reliably beyond f/5.6.)

I used one of the many supplied adapter rings and combined two of the aluminum tubes to get the perfect distance. Tubes attach to the box via an aluminum collar that lets you square off your frame before locking it in place via a knurled knob.

As standard, the easy35 ships with a 35mm film carrier that squeezes nicely into place. VALOI also sent me a 35mm sprocket holder that I’ve not played with yet, and kindly asked if I’d also like to receive the easy35 v2 Slide Holder. More on this later.

There’s a smart, red woven USB-C cable for charging, and VALOI promises battery life of more than four hours, which lines up with my experience.

VALOI also sent me the easy35 v2 Duster, which magnetically attaches itself to the side of the box and gently brushes the negatives with antistatic bristles as you feed your film.

I was impressed by the build quality; the tubes are anodized aluminum with a swanky matte finish, while the box and carriers are injection-molded ABS plastic. There were a couple of very small cosmetic imperfections in the texture of the plastic (I’d say typical of this manufacturing process), but every edge was perfect.

Digitizing Negatives

Once constructed, you have two options for using your rig. You can keep it flat on the desk, which is a touch awkward if you feel the constant need to check focus given that your face is at one end of the rig while your fingers are at the other. (Still significantly better than my improvised cutting-board effort, however.) The other option is to stack it vertically. This would have been my preferred option, but the focusing ring on my Tamron lens slowly creeps as soon as the weight of the camera is stacked above it.

Feeding film is a breeze. I’ve put six rolls through it, and all went smoothly. The duster attachment makes that initial insertion slightly more difficult, however.

Digitizing Slides

This is where, for me, the VALOI system goes from great to fantastic. With the slide carrier fitted, feeding slides is a breeze. Slot one in, take the photo. Insert the next slide, and the previous slide pops out the other side. I’ve inherited box after box of slides from the 1970s that I’m slowly digitizing, and suddenly it’s no longer such a daunting process. With the Essential Film Holder (which does a great job), it meant spending several minutes rebuilding the holder to swap out the 35mm carrier. With the VALOI, I can swap between film types in a matter of seconds.

Suddenly, both the setup and the process are dramatically simpler, and I can now blast through a box of slides in no time at all.

What I Liked

• Premium build
• Eliminates faff
• All-in-one
• Fits any lens
• This updated version seems to offer solid improvements

What I Didn't Like

• It's not a cheap rig, but it definitely compares well to other systems once you factor in all of the kit involved

The Verdict

I can’t recommend this product enough. Messing around with copy stands (improvised or otherwise) and light panels is a pain in the backside, and the VALOI easy35 v2 successfully eliminates multiple pain points. At $270, it’s definitely not cheap, especially if you want to tack on a couple of accessories. However, you get a high-quality system that massively reduces the faff and almost makes digitizing film a pleasant process.