The CUImaging Axion scanner looks like it is a good value for the budget minded archive / film devotee.

[Daniel D. Teoli Jr.]

CUImaging | Film Scanners

 

 

$18,000

 

 

 

 

I was worried about the sound, but it looks like it does a great job extracting optical sound. The only concern is a 16mm warped film gate. I specialize in some of the shittiest films in the world when it comes to condition. The only archives that beat me are the ones where their films have liquified or nitrates have caught fire from spontaneous combustion!

 

 

I can't help it. I'm a not a collector, so I have to take the film as they come. It all depends on content with me. It is not that I like shitty condition films; but a lot of the content is unique, so there are no second choices for better source material. 

 

 

The gate that comes with it is for flat film.

 

 

It is very exciting what they have accomplished.  Nice support policy. Looks like you can talk with them and not have to pay $5,000 a year for phone privileges.

Lifetime Support

At CUImaging, we stand behind our products with lifetime support, no matter where you are or how long you’ve owned your equipment.

You can choose in-house service with the option of a loaner unit, or perform the repair yourself with our full support. U.S. customers can receive most replacement components as quickly as the next business day. Our service inventory is maintained indefinitely.

For software support, we strive to respond to all requests within 72 hours, with help available by email, phone, remote access, or in person if needed.

 

P.S...

Now how in the hell can these guys make this scanner for $18,000 and Filmfabriek charges $22,000 for their little 8mm scanner????

 

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Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive
Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography
 

[Tyler Purcell]

To be fair, CUImaging is a new company and they are hoping people catch onto their products. I guarantee you, the pricing will skyrocket once they realize the demand is way lower than people discuss. I have noticed this time and time again, especially when it comes to scanners. There is a lot of interest, lots of tire kickers, but people who are willing to push the "buy now", are limited. 

This is why everyone else charges a lot more money, because they know the demand is low and to stay in business you really need to raise the pricing because you'll never sell more units. People who would spend $18k on a scanner, are the same people who would spend $45k on a scanner unfortunately. The lower-end market is sub $5k and that's where you find the home movie guys. 

As this market gets more and more saturated, there won't be more opportunity for makers, just less unfortunately. I think what CUImaging is doing will absolutely open the doors to some people, especially smaller archives. However, it's still a two step system similar to Film Fabriek and I think a lot of people will just spend more money to get something that scans directly to finished files with stabilization. 

Edited January 4 by Tyler Purcell

[Daniel D. Teoli Jr.]

Thanks Tyler.

I don't know if things are getting more saturated. From what I can tell there seems to be less companies in the scanner manufacturing biz. Or are you talking about less demand because much of the audience interested in scanners have already bought one?

Edited January 5 by Daniel D. Teoli Jr.

[Tyler Purcell]

3 hours ago, Daniel D. Teoli Jr. said:

Or are you talking about less demand because much of the audience interested in scanners have already bought one?

Too many products, not enough buyers. 

[Robert Houllahan]

On 1/5/2026 at 7:36 PM, Tyler Purcell said:

Too many products, not enough buyers. 

They all bought Scan Stations, and by they I mean we.

[Geffen Avraham]

On 1/5/2026 at 1:49 AM, Tyler Purcell said:

People who would spend $18k on a scanner, are the same people who would spend $45k on a scanner unfortunately. The lower-end market is sub $5k and that's where you find the home movie guys. 

 

I could make a $5K 16mm scanner that could rival a ScanStation for raw quality, but it would be sprocketed and only for new film - not archival of warped stuff.

It would also be slow. I don't know if anyone would want it. I would use it for new film I shoot, but the home movie people are more into archiving old 8mm.

[Perry Paolantonio]

2 hours ago, Geffen Avraham said:

I could make a $5K 16mm scanner that could rival a ScanStation for raw quality, but it would be sprocketed and only for new film - not archival of warped stuff.

It would also be slow. I don't know if anyone would want it. I would use it for new film I shoot, but the home movie people are more into archiving old 8mm.

The camera alone in the scanstation is a lot more than $5k. 

[Geffen Avraham]

I would like use a Teledyne camera like this one, a 5.4k mono imager with 12-bit output, that costs only a few hundred dollars.

https://www.teledynevisionsolutions.com/en-150/products/blackfly-s-usb3/?model=BFS-U3-200S6M-C&vertical=machine vision&segment=iis

I'd also perhaps use Japanese or Chinese macro lenses instead of Schneiders.

Edited Friday at 03:13 PM by Geffen Avraham

[Tyler Purcell]

13 hours ago, Robert Houllahan said:

They all bought Scan Stations, and by they I mean we.

Yep, 100%. 

[Tyler Purcell]

5 hours ago, Geffen Avraham said:

I could make a $5K 16mm scanner that could rival a ScanStation for raw quality, but it would be sprocketed and only for new film - not archival of warped stuff.

It would also be slow. I don't know if anyone would want it. I would use it for new film I shoot, but the home movie people are more into archiving old 8mm.

Yea I mean the problem isn't the light source, camera and movement, the problem is the control and software. I have worked with several people making home scanners and it's truly not that tricky to do the hardware components. The problem comes down to the hardware which interfaces with the software, that's when things get really dicy. So if you're good at programming, then it's absolutely a possibility. 

I was going to ask, if you're going to try a Monochrome imager, you would need something to recombine the image in post. How would you do that? 

 

[Robert Houllahan]

8 hours ago, Tyler Purcell said:

I was going to ask, if you're going to try a Monochrome imager, you would need something to recombine the image in post. How would you do that? 

 

Just write each image capture into a DPX channel one at a time I think that is the simple part.

[Tyler Purcell]

3 hours ago, Robert Houllahan said:

Just write each image capture into a DPX channel one at a time I think that is the simple part.

Mechanics are the easy part, buying a Chinese motor controller is peanuts. The laser trigger for capture, also easy. In fact, all of these parts are off the shelf. 

Triple flashing the image, requires special software to setup AND most importantly preview. How would you even know where your color is, if you can't preview it? 

[Geffen Avraham]

Yes, the whole thing would require custom software. I can do most of what I need with OpenCV, OCIO and the Teledyne drivers. I don't need hard-real-time here: I don't mind if previewing takes a second to refresh.

The actual scanner hardware itself will of course run off a microcontroller with far more precise timing.

[Robert Houllahan]

Basic motor controller like a micro stepper teensy based without any laser or other nonsense perf detection you can calculate position of the frame by velocity and machine vision like the Scan Station. Easier if you have sprocket drive for sequential RGB capture. 

Lamp controller with R/O/G/B/IR and each time it fires it sends a pulse width to the LED and to the Camera Trigger for capture. 

Camera image capture drivers can be frame grabber (CoaxPress for high res) or IP based. -> Frame Capture -> Open CV perf machine vision for stabilization  / Scaling / Scopes etc-> LUT slots for LIn-LOG / Inversion / Bit Mapping i.e. 16b to 10b etc. -> Write DPX frame.

Build  GUI to tie each of the three modules together.

Scan Scan.

It is a big project but with the new code assist tools and some expert grad student hire should not be rocket science anymore. 

The big difference with a Scan Station is that LaserGraphics have built 100% reliable and extremely fast software that allows for a ton of work scanned at very high quality quickly.