LAV Scanner

A modified Bauer P8 vintage projector converted into a precision film scanner for archival-quality 16mm digitization. The project addresses the film preservation crisis by achieving professional scanning results at approximately one-tenth commercial equipment costs (~$8,000 vs. $100K-300K).

Technical components include stepper motor control, a Sony IMX camera with macro lens, LED illumination, sprocket sensing, and custom Python software. Performance metrics show 4K resolution per frame, 4 fps throughput, and ±0.1mm positioning accuracy.

The project has digitized 50+ reels totaling ~30 hours of historical material and includes partial open-source releases of mechanical CAD files, firmware, and capture scripts to enable replication by other institutions.

There is also a companion app that handles the aligning and quality checks. It runs a computer vision model that checks for frames and re aligns them. Note: We are looking for EU funding to make this project more "technically" portable so we can do archival work at scale and prevent films that may get lost otherwise. If you know anyone, please feel free to spread the word.