The Opticfilm seven-thousand and eight-thousand scanners were on the shelves of bricks-and-mortar camera stores like Jacobs, Jessops and Calumet. Plustek are (or where) far more familiar in the UK. On ScanDig they really like the Reflecta scanners, with the AF & whole-roll handling RPS 10M being the poster-boy, but that is expensive. Good sources of scanner reviews are ScanDig and Imaging Resource. I say familiar with, but really, I mean that I’ve read some reviews of. The main brands I am familiar with are Plustek and Reflecta. All the while, nagging in my mind was the knowledge that even the newest of the old-school AF scanners are 17 years old. These are fine scanners, and some models are not quite in the ridiculous price bracket of the Scan Elite. I did look at some of the Canoscan and Coolscan options. A plug-and-play film scanner can produce you a usable result in minutes. While I’m an advocate of using a digital camera to photograph negatives, it can take time to set up properly.

Film holders for the Scan Elite models are like hens teeth and those who own them know it. A basic scanner that used to sell for £40 on Ebay, starts off at £90 and the bids then go through the roof. Those Scan Duals are good, but too many people know that. My current standard is a Dual Scan III, but it does get quite heavy use and is showing signs of age. Minolta film scanners have served me well over the years. I recently found myself in the market for a film scanner.

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