How to get photographic positives scanned as cine film

[Owen A. Davies]

I am wondering if anyone here has any knowledge of where I could send some 35mm photographic stills if I wanted to get them scanned as cinefilm. I shoot both a lot of photographic film as well as a lot of motion picture film, and have wanted to have my photos scanned in the DPX, HDR, Cineon format for some time now to be able to color grade them in the same workflow and with the same latitude as my motion picture work—particularly my Ektachrome positives. Obviously large scanners such as the LaserGraphics and ARRISCANNER are built to handle hundreds of feet of film, and not many studios or labs will accept bundles of 36 exposure photo reels for big machine scanning. Let me know if there is anyone in the U.S. that offer a cinefilm like scan for photo film, specifically with the DPX, 16-bit, HDR, cinefilm output format in mind. 

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Maybe the „super scan“ at the darkroom suites your needs?!

https://thedarkroom.com/scans/

If not: search for a service with a „drum scanner“.

Edited September 29, 2025 by Joerg Polzfusz

[Joerg Polzfusz]

E.g. https://lightsourcesf.com/drum-scanning/#gform_wrapper_5

(No, I haven’t used any of the services in the USA myself. The darkroom is normally recommended when it comes to scanning negatives in the USA.)

[Matt Figler]

You could try Frame Discreet on Toronto. 

[Aristeidis Tyropolis]

On our side of the pond, there's a company in Germany called Silbersalz - they offer flat 14K scans (in .jxl and jpeg format) on their Apollon scanner. The quality is truly astonishing and I have successfully been able to adopt it in both Lightroom and Resolve. I tested it with 500T Portra 800 and 250D, the Vision3 35mm cartridges they sell themselves.

[Daniel D. Teoli Jr.]

On 9/29/2025 at 2:08 PM, Joerg Polzfusz said:

E.g. https://lightsourcesf.com/drum-scanning/#gform_wrapper_5

(No, I haven’t used any of the services in the USA myself. The darkroom is normally recommended when it comes to scanning negatives in the USA.)

 

Nice looking lab. But you need $$ for them. 

...Please note we require a $250 minimum order for drum scanning.

Well, San Fran rent, so.

Don't know why they discontinued drum scanners. The flatbed scanner is crap for scanning negs and chromes. OK, drum scanners cost $, but lots of things of cost and some people have the $ to buy them. I think if they farmed its production out to China or Taiwan, they could produce a decent and lower priced drum scanner.

[Daniel D. Teoli Jr.]

On 9/29/2025 at 11:51 AM, Owen A. Davies said:

I am wondering if anyone here has any knowledge of where I could send some 35mm photographic stills if I wanted to get them scanned as cinefilm. I shoot both a lot of photographic film as well as a lot of motion picture film, and have wanted to have my photos scanned in the DPX, HDR, Cineon format for some time now to be able to color grade them in the same workflow and with the same latitude as my motion picture work—particularly my Ektachrome positives. Obviously large scanners such as the LaserGraphics and ARRISCANNER are built to handle hundreds of feet of film, and not many studios or labs will accept bundles of 36 exposure photo reels for big machine scanning. Let me know if there is anyone in the U.S. that offer a cinefilm like scan for photo film, specifically with the DPX, 16-bit, HDR, cinefilm output format in mind. 

 

If you get some scans, post some samples. 

[Robert Houllahan]

Silbersalz in Germany is offering 14K scans based on a Phase one 14K Sony sensor camera.

https://silbersalz35.com/

I am working on a all format 8mm - 70mm 14K scanner for Cinelab based on the same 151MP Sony IMX411 sensor but monochrome and sequential RGB. Should have it running sometime next year.

[Owen A. Davies]

12 hours ago, Robert Houllahan said:

Silbersalz in Germany is offering 14K scans based on a Phase one 14K Sony sensor camera.

https://silbersalz35.com/

I am working on a all format 8mm - 70mm 14K scanner for Cinelab based on the same 151MP Sony IMX411 sensor but monochrome and sequential RGB. Should have it running sometime next year.

I am not certain they scan color positive film. I have reached out to confirm, but let me know if you know the answer. 

[Robert Houllahan]

15 hours ago, Owen A. Davies said:

I am not certain they scan color positive film. I have reached out to confirm, but let me know if you know the answer. 

I have no idea but I would assume they do scan positive films.

 

[Owen A. Davies]

On 10/3/2025 at 5:31 PM, Robert Houllahan said:

I have no idea but I would assume they do scan positive films.

 

They just got back. They do not scan positive film, unfortunately.