Flatbed Scanner

Build your own 489-megapixel DIY medium format camera for under $150

Jun 22, 2023 by John Aldred 2 Comments

While uncommon, DIY medium-format digital cameras aren’t really a new thing. They’ve been around for years, with photographers hacking apart flatbed scanners for parts. Then they rebuild them inside something that vaguely looks like a camera, complete with a slide mechanism for the linear scanning sensor. That’s how this camera from Yunus Zenichowski works, too, but it looks a lot more finished than most.

Yunus has taken a lot of time and consideration into the design of his scanning camera to get things just right. And they’re still not perfect. Yes, it shoots massive 489 megapixels, but he says that it’s by no means a final design and that it would be difficult for anybody to replicate at the moment. A final version is on the way, but he has released the files for the camera in its current state.

How to build a DIY 4×5 large format digital scanning back from a portable flatbed scanner

Mar 13, 2020 by John Aldred 2 Comments

Large format film still holds a huge draw for a lot of photographers. It has a look that the relatively tiny digital sensors today (yes, even the medium format ones) just aren’t capable of. But shoot large format on film can be a laborious task. For many, the end result is worth it, but if you want slightly more immediate results, digital scanning backs are the solution.

The problem is, digital scanning backs for 4×5 cameras can be very expensive (and they’re not exactly common). In this video, Sean at Fotodiox shows us how we can turn a simple small portable flatbed scanner into a digital scanning back for a large format camera.

These ethereal portraits were created using a flatbed scanner

Jun 21, 2019 by Dunja Djudjic 3 Comments

I believe that quite a few of us have played with flatbed scanners and “took photos” with it. But Maitha Demithan took this to a whole new level. The Dubai-based artist creates dreamy portraits with a large format scanner. In her work, she has scanned people as well as animals to create beautiful, ethereal images.

How to use a scanner to create photography without a camera

Jul 13, 2017 by John Aldred 7 Comments

The Koldunov Brothers are always coming up with strange ideas. Mostly they’re to replace photographic accessories with, let’s say, less conventional items. This time, it’s something a little different. They’re not just replacing camera accessories. They’re replacing the camera. With a flatbed scanner.

It’s actually not a bad idea for experimenting with. A flatbed scanner is essentially just a giant, slow, rolling shutter camera. Sure, it has an extremely close focus and a very limited depth of field. The lighting options are also quite limited, too. But it can produce some very neat results.