It’s Easy to Make This DIY Lightbox for Scanning Negatives With Your Phone

Are you ready to scan that box of old negatives but think you need to buy an expensive lightbox before you can begin? Trust me, you don’t need it.

I scanned about sixty-five negatives that were 100+ years old for about $16… but you might be able to do it for free!

In this post, I’ll show you how to make a DIY lightbox for scanning negatives “on the cheap” using items you probably already have in your home.

Light It Up

In order to scan your negatives, you’ll need to illuminate them with a light source so your smartphone can see and photograph them. You probably already have one or two small devices in your home that can do the job.

Using an iPad or Tablet

I used my iPad as a light source for scanning negatives. However, for your project, you could use any type of tablet, large-screen smartphone, or even a convertible, “2-in-1” laptop computer that folds the lid back like a tablet.¹This is not to say that you couldn’t use a non-convertible laptop, a desktop computer monitor, or even a bright lamp as your light source, but you won’t be able to set up your scanning station in the way that I’m demonstrating in this post. You do what works for you, though!

If you don’t have anything in your home that can be used as a light source, you may need to purchase one. Here’s an example of an inexpensive model by Photomyne.

There’s An App For That

For the best illumination when scanning negatives, you will need a blank, white screen. And thankfully, there’s an app for that!

Before I started scanning negatives, I searched the Apple App Store for a lightbox app. Using your iPad for tracing images is very popular (who knew?), so there were several lightbox apps from which to choose. I selected a free app called Lightbox Trace by Kolja Kahler. This app hasn’t been updated in over 5 years, but it still works fine for scanning negatives.

Another free option for iPhones is Artist Lightbox by Hayden Watson. If you don’t mind paying for a lightbox app, there are a few others you could try, but none that I have personally tested.

For Android phones, visit the Google Play Store for either Lightbox by Christian Basler or Tracer! Lightbox Tracing App by Angel Koh. Since no one in my house uses an Android phone, I can’t vouch for either of these apps, but they both seem to have good reviews.

Adjust the Brightness

Your light source needs to be as bright as possible. Before you begin scanning negatives, go into your tablet’s settings and crank the brightness up all the way. Remember, the brighter your light source, the more details your scanning app will pick up.

Note: Some lightbox apps have a built-in menu for adjusting brightness. The Lightbox Trace app used to have a menu, but that seems to have gone away now.

Turn Off Auto-Lock

You don’t want your tablet’s screen to turn itself off while you are scanning negatives, so you also need to flip your tablet’s Auto-Lock setting to Never (or the highest value available on your device).

Auto-Lock controls the amount of time that elapses before your tablet turns its screen off, which interrupts your scanning flow by making you touch or swipe the screen in order to bring the display back. This happened to me several times before I figured out how to make it stop. Don’t be like me.

Reduce Screen Flicker

The downside of using a digital device as a light source is screen flicker. We usually can’t see the flicker with the naked eye, but your smartphone’s camera will surely notice it.

Give Your Negatives Some Space

Without getting into a technical discussion about refresh rates, shutter speeds, ISO, or anything like that, here’s a simple way to combat the screen flicker issue: don’t lay your negatives directly on your light source. Lifting them about 2-3 inches off the screen helps prevent screen flicker from bleeding through when you are scanning negatives.

If you have a steady hand – and depending on what sort of negatives you are scanning – you can certainly try holding the image away from the screen with your hand. I couldn’t do that because I was scanning very old negatives without holes or borders on the edges, and I didn’t want my fingers to obscure the images.

Add a Piece of Glass

Not only did my negatives have no borders, but they were already a bit blurry (possibly due to age or the quality of photography equipment when they were made). Add to that the fact that my hands aren’t very steady. So, in order to avoid additional blurring, I pulled a piece of glass out of an old 8″ x 10″ picture frame, cleaned it up, and carefully placed it over the top of my shoebox.

At first, the glass caused the negative to be too high up from the tablet to get enough light. To fix this, I added a few issues of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly to raise the tablet closer to the glass.

Side note: I used the Q because it fits inside the shoebox and was narrow enough to adjust the height in increments. But you could certainly use any books, magazines, or other items that fit into your box. I read an article about a guy who used tuna cans in his DIY lightbox, so feel free to get creative!

Ready, Steady…

If you have very steady hands, or if you have a tripod that allows you to position your smartphone camera facing downwards (like for objects on a table), feel free to skip this next part.

No Tripod? Get a Gooseneck!

As I mentioned earlier, I do not have steady hands. I actually own several tripods, but none of them would let me position my camera facing downward without bungee cords or some other crazy rigging that I didn’t want to do.

After doing a bit of research, I wound up buying a gooseneck tablet/phone holder from Amazon. It has a clamp at the bottom which allows it to be connected to the edge of a table or desk, and the stiff “gooseneck” lets you bend it to face any direction without sagging or drooping.

Unfortunately, in my eagerness to get my negatives scanned, I didn’t pay close attention to what I was buying. I wound up purchasing the version for tablets instead of the one for smartphones, so the “holder” part at the top was too large for my iPhone. Rather than send it back or buy another one, my low-tech fix was to strap my phone onto the holder with rubber bands, making sure the phone’s camera had enough space over the edge to avoid getting the phone holder in the image. It was a delicate balancing act, but it worked fine for my scanning project.²What can I say? I’m the child of an engineer!

Get Close (But Not Too Close)

Most apps for scanning negatives recommend placing your phone’s camera at least 3-4 inches from the negatives. But the actual amount of space needed will really depend on the size of your negative images.

For example, my negatives were about 4″ x 5″. I had to position the gooseneck phone holder higher than recommended in order to get the entire negative image on my smartphone’s screen.

Smaller negatives will not need as much space as larger negatives but don’t place the camera too close. You may need to experiment with your setup in order to find what works best for your project.

Glaring Errors

At the risk of being Captain Obvious, here’s an important reminder: negatives are shiny. Even the very old ones.

And shiny things can be difficult to photograph.

Avoiding Glare and Reflections

I wish I could give you a simple fix for this, but I haven’t found one yet. You will need to experiment with the exact placement of your lightbox and phone’s camera in order to avoid picking up a glare in your images from other light sources in the room.

Another thing to watch for is the reflection of nearby objects. For example, my smartphone picked up the reflection of its own camera, leaving ugly circles in several of my images. I had to go back and photograph them again with the camera in a different position.

Flatten the Curves

Due to age and improper storage conditions, several of my negatives had curled edges. A piece of glass from a 4″ x 6″ picture frame placed over these negatives helped them to lay flat. Of course, this caused additional glare and reflections and made them more difficult to photograph, but at least I was able to scan the entire image.

Picture (Im)Perfect

If you are unable to avoid glare and reflections in your images, or if your negatives are old and have obvious imperfections, then you may need to do some restoration work on your scanned images using photo editing software.

While this post is not meant to be a review of these products, I can give a few software and app recommendations.

Desktop Editing Software

I use the full version of Adobe Photoshop on my desktop computer for the majority of my photo editing needs. But, I’m not gonna lie: Photoshop isn’t cheap, and it has a steep learning curve.

If you prefer something simpler and less expensive, take a look at Photoshop Elements (a pared-down version of Photoshop that you can often find on sale at Costco), VIVID PIX Restore, or the free open-source GIMP software.

Another great option is Canva. Not only is Canva loaded with tons of social media templates, but there is a fairly robust set of photo editing tools, as well. And you can use many of Canva’s tools without a subscription.

Apps for Editing on a Mobile Device

To edit your images right from your smartphone, I recommend the Adobe Photoshop Express Photo Editor (Android) and Adobe Lightroom (Android) apps. These apps are free, but some features require an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription to unlock.

You may also want to try Google’s free Snapseed app (iOS and Android) or the Canva app (iOS and Android).

Wrap Up

While they may be great to have, you don’t need an expensive lightbox for scanning negatives with your phone. With a few items you probably already have in your home, you can build your own DIY lightbox!

Have you built a DIY lightbox? Tell us how you did it in the comments!

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Footnotes

• 1
  This is not to say that you couldn’t use a non-convertible laptop, a desktop computer monitor, or even a bright lamp as your light source, but you won’t be able to set up your scanning station in the way that I’m demonstrating in this post. You do what works for you, though!
• 2
  What can I say? I’m the child of an engineer!

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