JJC FDA-S1: Digitizing 135 film

Unfortunately, my Epson Perfection 4490 Photo can no longer scan film. So I decided to go back to digitizing film with a digital camera.

But instead of a handmade construction I use a ready-to-use set. 

This is the JJC FDA-S1 kit. It includes the JJC FDA-K1 adapter for mounting on a lens and the FDA-LED1 LCD light set.

I use the kit with the Pentax M 50/4 Macro lens + the 26mm extension tube. It is enough to scan 135 (36x24) frames. With a little reserve for cropping, the resulting images have a resolution of about 20MP (~152 p/mm, ~3860 ppi) when digitized with the Sony a7c (FF, 24MP).

The strip film holder (for 6 frames) is much stiffer than the holder of the Epson scanner.

But the holder has frame separators, it requires a strict distance between the film frames. If a film camera can't keep this strict distance, the film frames will be covered by the separators of the holder. This makes it difficult to digitize because you have to open the holder and shift a film strip for each frame. Maybe I will buy another copy of the holder (JJC FDA-SFH6) and cut out these frame separators.

Overall, I liked the kit, but if I want to shoot 120 film, I will have to find another digitizing kit.

See also related notes:

• Developing a color C-41 film as a B&W negative (2024-11-23)

Image albums:

• Scanning