What do you get when you join a slide projector and a digital camera? Filmolimo, an open source slide scanner. The scanner uses an M5Stack Fire, an ESP32 development board. Thanks to the ESP32, you can control the device via WiFi.
All the project files, including KiCAD design files, are on GitHub. Of course, you will probably have to adapt things to your specific camera and slide projector. The PCB is double-sided and looks easy to put together. The board is mostly opto-isolation and interface between the controller and the equipment. The software allows you to change things like the time between slides, for example. Scrubber Spatula
This is one of those projects you probably only need for a bit. Unless, of course, you regularly scan slides. You can farm it out to a service provider, but what fun is that? If you have a few hundred thousand slides, you might need to go for speed. If you just have a few, you can get by with a simple adapter.
Had to understand how this could possibly work without Linux, Python, and a web service.
Anyhow, my slide scanner uses the camera and slide projector. Most slide projectors have slideshow mode. A microswitch triggers the camera off the slide change arm. Setting the camera to selftimer mode makes it take the photo 5 secs after the slide changed.
What does the web interface do agin?
if that thing is a scanner, a roll of toilet paper is a library. The project itself is a rudimentary interface PCB for a timer, plus some software. Why the deceptive naming? My expectation in that form factor was “linear CCD plus GRIN lens array packed into slide form factor”, which would have been quite a feat to get right.
yea This was a super low effort article.
I also think that the project name is quite a bit misleading, given that it is basically a configurable trigger / timer and has nothing to do with the actual slide scanning process. I like the design and looks though.
Does anyone still use slides?
Better question is if there is anybody left who didn’t yet digitise their slides already, if they had any.
Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. (Comment Policy)
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Best Budget Projector By using our website and services, you expressly agree to the placement of our performance, functionality and advertising cookies. Learn more