Scanners & Digitisation Devices

Photographic film scanner and digitisation device reviews – Once you have taken your film photo, in this modern world, it is often the case that you might want to digitise your photos to show them off on the internet. Below you will find a few reviews of products that aid in this process. If you would like to know a little more about the theory and various practices, you can find more information in this section of the website about workflow.

As with all the content on this website, if you find something of interest, you can find more similar products by clicking on the tags you will find at the bottom of the reviews.

Agfa Duoscan HID – Bringing a Cheap 24 Year Old High-End Scanner Back to Life – It’s Mind Blowing

By / / Scanners & Digitisation Devices / 9 Comments

It all started when we needed to scan some slides. With my Screen Cezanne 5000 scanner I would get an amazing quality, but it would be exhausting to do. I have an old Epson scanner that could do it, but it’s also not a very comfortable task. So I had an eye on a Agfa Duoscan Hid scanner. These scanners scan film without the need of a glass. That makes things much easier. They are also great flatbed scanners. With that I take more care about my valuable Screen scanner. The lamps of it are not longer available, when they break its over. But as always it was more difficult to get this scanner up an running than I thought. It needed lots of cleaning and my first idea about a fitting computer was also not my best one.

Peggy's Cove harbor scene

For Quick Film Scans, Try an Olympus C-8080WZ!

By / / Gear Theory, Scanners & Digitisation Devices / 14 Comments

An old friend recently asked if I could digitize some 35mm slides of a coastal Maine motel her family once owned. She’d researched the commercial cost of scanning, and before biting that bullet, wanted to see what I could do.

I immediately pulled my Olympus C-8080 WZ (Wide Zoom) bridge camera off the shelf. It takes superb “Super Macros” and my friend only wanted to email the scans to relatives. The camera’s 8-megapixel files would be more than enough for that, and I ran some quick tests. It proved excellent for quickly and easily digitizing film… and my friend loved the results!

Finished Image

Using a Mobile Phone And a Free App To Scan Negatives – By George Griffin

By / / Scanners & Digitisation Devices, Workflow / 12 Comments

When I first got back into analogue photography back in 2015, the biggest problem for me was how do I get these analogue images into a digital format to post on either a blog, Flickr or Instagram. Yes, I could get the lab I was sending to, to scan the images but this was costly and also there may only be half-a-dozen images that are worth scanning plus I was developing my own B & W and so that needed to be scanned at home.

Plustek OpticFilm 135i Review Part II – Panoramic Film Holder and Investigating ‘Panorama Mode’ – By Bob Janes

By / / Scanners & Digitisation Devices / 3 Comments

Earlier in 2021 I put up a review of the Plustek OpticFilm 135i film scanner. Just recently I’ve been investigating the Panoramic film holder and ‘Panorama mode’ (which you can still use with any of the other holders). Panorama mode is the basis that the very good but slightly unconventional Quickscan Plus bundled software works on. Panorama mode requires a slightly different workflow, but it is one that can be used by third party software as well.

Opticfilm 135i

Plustek OpticFilm 135i 35mm Film Scanner Review – By Bob Janes

By / / Scanners & Digitisation Devices / 32 Comments

I recently found myself in the market for a film scanner. Minolta film scanners have served me well over the years. My current standard is a Dual Scan III, but it does get quite heavy use and is showing signs of age.

Those Scan Duals are good, but too many people know that. Prices have gone through the roof. A basic scanner that used to sell for £40 on Ebay, starts off at £90 and the bids then go through the roof. Film holders for the Scan Elite models are like hens teeth and those who own them know it.

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