Scanners > Film scanner (35 mm) Scanners > USB 2.0/Hi-Speed USB

Advantages: Inexpensive, very fast, high resolution good quality output
Disadvantages: Unreliable and low quality construction

...minutes per full-resolution scan, the Plustek takes a minute. In fact I spent more time fiddling with the slides putting them into the mount than actually scanning. The resulting scans, while slightly noisier than other lower-resolution scanners I have used are wonderfully high resolution. Colours are also perhaps more subdued than the Canon, but of course, a few adjustments in Photoshop or Gimp soon fixes that. The bad news however is that it turned ...
...noises and something inside jamming (not sure what, but turning off the power usually fixed it) that became more frequent as time went on, eventually resulting in it being unusable. I returned it and got my money back in full. Would I recommend this scanner? At this price I probably would if you only want to scan a few of your favourite negatives or slides, but not if you are a professional. I am a very heavy user archiving my full back catalogue ... Read review

Advantages: Superb quality images and amazing ICE dust removal
Disadvantages: Poor user interface & price (especially for the optional APS adaptor)

...finally decided to get the Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED. All the reviews I read suggested a good balance between cost and performance, and I can confirm this. The scanner cost $1065 or about £600 from a US company called Cameta Camera who were selling the scanner new on ebay. When it arrived, it was very easy to install and get working, and came with the adaptors to allow me to scan both standard 35mm film and also slides. In order to scan APS films ...
...but it's around half what Nikon are charging for a brand new one! Unbelievable!! Anyway, 12 months later, and I've now scanned a lot of negatives (no slides though), and the scanner has been perfect. There's no point my listing all the technical detail about this scanner, the main feature is that it produces very high resolution scans (up to 4000 dpi) which can then be saved in a variety of file formats e.g. JPEG or TIFF. Some of the file sizes ... Read review

Advantages: Quick and Easy to use
Disadvantages: None

...scans it through. The Nikon Coolscan IV ED offers an ultimate in professional film scanning technology. It is a desktop scanner which offers a super-fast throughput when scanning 35mm strip film or mounted 35mm slides at upto 2900 dpi optical resolution. That means it produces an image on the PC of in excess of 12 megapixels from a 35mm frame, which means you can create an image which can be printed onto an A3 page in full photo quality. Digital ...
...(Image Correction & Enhancement), Digital ROC (Reconstruction of Color), and Digital GEM (Grain Equalization & Management) this device ensures maximun image quality with minimal retouching required from a standard 35mm film. So you dont have to get them developed and can be shared online and through email and CD's. It comes complete with a manual that is well layed out and easy to read. It is easy to install, as it comes with an installation CD. ... Read review

Advantages: Very easy to use
Disadvantages: A bit slow

I bought this item a few years ago and was very impressed, easy to set up and use. Just plug it in load the software and off you go. The TWAIN adapter is easy to use, just click on preview, and then on the photos you want to have scan, you get the choice of rotating them, and playing about with the colours if you want to, and a choice of what sizes you want them scanned with. Canon, are very good and have produced many updates to the TWAIN, the ...
...manily used this with the APS adapter wchich has been effortless, just load the film in teh cartridge, slide the cartridge into the machine, press the scan button and wait for the photos to appear. I have only used the film adapter once, and did not find that the film lined up with theframes on the adapter. It also comes with adapters for slides, which my family have made good use off, again easy to use, load the slides, push the adapter in and ... Read review

Advantages: Sooooo many features
Disadvantages: None that I can think of

We use the CanoScan Lide 25 (which I'll refer to as Lide 25 from now on) at work and a handy little scanning tool it is indeed. It's very slim and lightweight and sits nicely on my desk, ready to jump into action whenever I need to scan a document or photo. You can copy directly from the platen (glass screen) to your printer or print or even email and it's very easy to set up. AN ABUNDANCE OF FEATURES The Lide 25 uses a USB connection so ...
...handy indeed - saving on energy is always a better option. Unlike other home scanners I've used in the past the Lide 25 scans to a fairly high resolution of up to 1200 x 2400 dpi so when scanning photos you get very good quality images. The software that comes with the scanned allows you to scan documents to PDF too and you choose whether you want them in colour or monochrome or select the image quality you want from 75, 100, 200, 250, 300 or 400 ... Read review