Gadgets : June 13, 2018
by Gregg Ellman
(@greggellman)
Many of us have boxes of negatives waiting for the day when we either buy a scanner to digitize them or take them to a retail location for them to scan. Either way, that day doesn’t seem to be coming, yet.
I can tell you that as a photojournalist for 30 plus years, I have an endless number of negatives ready and waiting. Getting to the project has been on my list since the digital era began 20 years ago.
Most people are just looking for a way to get the images into a digital world, not to make billboards out of them. This week I found my solution with the Kodak Scanza digital film scanner.
The easy-to-use scanner comes with all the adapters and inserts to convert 126, 110, super 8 and 8 mm, 35 mm film negatives and slides to jpeg files.
A little about the scanner: it measures just 4.7-by-4.7-by-5-inches and has a fold out 3.5-inch LCD color display to clearly see the image you’re working on.
Each image is scanned into optimized 14-megapixel or interpolated 22-megapixel digital files, which go directly onto an SD card. When you’re done scanning, take the SD card and put it into your Mac or PC and work with your own photo editing software.
The scanner’s size and the direct scan to memory cards enable great portability so you can do your scanning without being connected to your computer.
The scanner front has buttons for power and a one-touch one-step scan and save button, which makes it so easy.
You can make some image adjustments in the scanner for RGB levels and brightness levels. I personally liked how fast the image scanned and then did my adjustments on my desktop iMac with Photoshop.
A film cleaning brush, HDMI cables for viewing images on a TV, AC power adapter and a USB power cable are included. They all connect to the scanner on the back, which is where your SD memory card is inserted.
Before you begin your scanning, hopefully you’ll be able to locate a small light table and a film loupe just like I did to help the project. Note; my intention was to only scan in a few images; about 11 hours later I was still at it. It’s that easy, fun and productive.
The Kodak Scanza is available from its North American brand licensee, C+A Global for $169.99.
https://www.kodakphotoplus.com
It’s a good time to mention an item I’ve written about in the past, Pine Mountain ExtremeStart Firestarters, which are ideal for a safe and simple way to get camp fires or fire pits started fast and safe.
The breakfast bar-sized packs are placed in the middle of where you want the fire started; light the outside pack and add some wood or charcoal.
Next thing you know your fire will be going great, without any dangerous fire starting fluids. But obviously, with fire proper cautions should always be taken
http://pinemountainfire.com $5.99 for a box with 12 starters
Cave Tools has had a tremendous response to the launch of their BBQ Smoking & Cooking Journal App. In the first week more than 550 iPhone and 400 Android users download the app, which is free right now.
The app has features to keep details on you’re cooking recipes and allow you to share the step by step directions you followed to prepare your perfect meat.
There’s also wood smoking and internal meat temperature guides, which provide all the reference information you need to prevent overcooking or oversmoking your food.
One feature that caught my attention right away on the clean and simple designed app was its ad-free and no annoying push notifications.
https://cavetools.com
