November 11, 2025
Scan-dal in the darkroom
A modern 35mm film scanner for home
Meet “Knokke,” the speedy home film scanner fans are roasting over dust and dollars
TLDR: Knokke is a new home 35mm film scanner promising fast, high‑resolution scans with cross‑platform software. Commenters are split: some praise the reel‑to‑frame workflow, but many balk at the price and the lack of infrared dust removal, arguing DIY camera setups still win on cost and flexibility.
Film nerds, start your engines: Knokke just dropped a home 35mm film scanner that promises full-roll scans in under five minutes, super-sharp 4064 DPI (that’s dots per inch, aka resolution), and rich 48-bit color. It runs on a cross‑platform app called Korova (Windows, macOS, Linux), and touts big dynamic range for tricky negatives. Sounds dreamy… until the comments lit up.
The loudest chorus? Price and practicality. One camp says they’ll stick to old faithful—Nikon flatbeds and DIY mirrorless rigs—because Knokke’s “steep” cost and “inflexible” nature don’t beat a second‑hand DSLR setup. Another clan is side‑eyeing the missing infrared (IR) dust removal, a feature many scanners use to automatically zap specks—meaning you’ll still be cloning dust bunnies in post. The workflow fans do love the continuous reel movement that skips to any frame—no more flatbed fiddling—and the fact you don’t need a “vintage PC” to run it.
Cue drama over speed: one seasoned commenter warned they’d never run precious film at “claimed top speeds,” calling for gentler transport and even different light sources to help mask scratches. Meanwhile, jokes flew: “IR? As in ‘I Really need it,’” and a cheeky nod to Korova—yes, like the Clockwork Orange milk bar—had folks riffing on whether the software can “ultra‑violence” their dust.
Bottom line: Knokke is fast and fancy, but the community wants cheaper, smarter dust removal and less after‑scan pain before they crown it the new king of the darkroom.
Key Points
- •Knokke is a 35mm film scanner offering up to 4064 dpi resolution, 48‑bit color, and up to 120 dB dynamic range (about 14 stops) via a 16‑bit HDR log profile.
- •Hardware includes a backside‑illuminated CMOS sensor, a custom 4‑element high‑MTF lens, and an RGB LED backlight.
- •Scanning speed is under 5 minutes per roll at 4064 dpi and under 2 minutes per roll at 2032 dpi, with automated film transport (minimum strip length three images).
- •Korova, a native C++ app for Linux, macOS, and Windows, provides per‑frame settings, repeatability, and the ability to skip directly to specific frames.
- •Supported formats include RAW, TIFF, DNG (linear), JPEG, PNG, BMP, and HDR, with typical RAW/TIFF/DNG linear files around 127 MB; DXN decoder embeds DX code metadata.