By Robin Owens 13 days ago, Scanners
The best negative scanners to buy this year.
All film photographers dream of being able to simplify the process of creating digital versions of their work, and that is exactly the reason why film and slide scanners exist.
A scanner for film negatives works in the same manner as a photo scanner and lets you avoid all the trouble of developing your photographs and scanning the received prints. Instead, you can use it to scan the film immediately, while saving digital versions of the negatives on your PC or laptop.
Scanners that can be used for film photography come at all possible price points. The overview below goes over film scanners from $250 to over $500, to help you find the best negative scanner for your needs and budget.
Maximum Resolution: 22 Mega pixels | File format Picture: JPEG | Scan Speed: 1-3Secs | Item Weight: 1.54 pounds
⊕ Small
⊕ Quality design
⊖ High price
Multiple factors make this possibly the best negative scanner on the market, but the first thing you’ll notice is how simple it is to use. Simply push “Scan” and your film and slides will be instantly digitized, allowing you to save them as photographs on your PC forever.
Qpix lets you preview and enhance images straight on the device, without having to rely on third-party software. After the scanned photo is shown on the display, you can employ Flip or Reverse to set the correct orientation, change the brightness and colors, and save it without even needing a PC.
Maximum Resolution: 20 Mega pixels | File format Picture: JPEG | Scan Speed: 5 Secs | Item Weight: 1 pounds
⊕ Updated large 4.3-inch color display
⊕ Can be used without a PC or any software
⊖ Incapable of converting physical prints
The Titan is an interesting neg scanner that offers a unique design and fantastic user-friendliness. This model has a large display and an SD-card slot, which allows you to convert, enhance, and transfer your photos with minimum effort.
The Wolverine Titan is equipped with a Fast-Loading Slide Adapter that lets you conveniently pass slides through the scanner, press the needed buttons, and digitize them in just 3 seconds. The scanned photos have 20 megapixels, which is a fantastic level of quality considering how little you have to do to get them.
Maximum Resolution: 22 Mega pixels | File format Picture: JPEG | Scan Speed: 3 Secs | Item Weight: 8.8 ounces
⊕ Broad functionality
⊕ Handy collapsible build
⊕ Convenient controls
⊖ High cost
The RODMFS50 is a high-quality 35mm film scanner that is made of lightweight cardboard and can be easily folded into a compact, easily transportable device.
This scanner comes with a LED backlight that is perfect for highlighting 35mm negatives and slides, while its native KODAK Mobile Film Scanner software gives you full control over every aspect of how the scanned photo will look, as you preview and edit it on your phone.
Maximum Resolution: 22 Mega pixels| File format Picture: JPEG | Scan Speed: 2 Secs | Item Weight: 9.6 ounces
⊕ Mac and Windows compatible
⊕ Trendy design
⊖ Rather heavy
This film scanner is another entry on the list that can be used in standalone mode, as it lets you save your scanned negatives and slides on an SD card (which you have to purchase separately) once you’ve adjusted their brightness and color tones on the built-in 2.4-inch color display.
The JUM-FS14MP relies on software interpolation to raise the scan quality to 22MP and can be connected to your Mac, computer, laptop, phone, TV, or tablet for transferring and further enhancing the digitized results. Such a broad range of connectivity options makes this product the perfect choice for the elderly.
Maximum Resolution: 5 Mega pixels | File format Picture: JPEG | Scan Speed: 1-3Secs | Item Weight: 1.63 pounds
⊕ In-depth, one-touch editing
⊕ Handy film inserts
⊕ Comes with adapters and a cleaning brush
⊖ Not found
The RODCFS20 is widely considered the best negative scanner because of its efficient auto-feeding system that removes the necessity of having you constantly replace and adjust each slide by hand.
The package also comes with a pair of slide adapters that make the device compatible with plastic and cardboard frames. Thanks to this Kodak scanner, you no longer have to deal with costly SD cards, tiny LCD screens, and clunky buttons, as the scanning process is as simple and convenient as possible.
Maximum Resolution: 18 Mega pixels | File format Picture: JPEG | Scan Speed: 1-3Secs | Item Weight: 7.2 ounces
⊕ Collapsible, compact build
⊕ Perfect for breathing new life into old film
⊕ User-friendly and intuitive
⊖ Not found
If you’re looking for a portable slide and negative scanner that takes up minimum space, then this foldable model should be right up your alley. You can use Rybozen for digitizing 35mm slides and negatives without having to perform complex operations or pay for such a service in a store.
Add a slide or film to the tray, turn on the integrated backlight, hover the camera of your smartphone above the hole, and capture the photo. Keep in mind that the quality of the result is directly tied to the max resolution of your smartphone.
Maximum Resolution: 22 Mega pixels | File format Picture: JPEG | Scan Speed: 1-3Secs | Item Weight: 8.82oz
⊕ Minimalist look
⊕ Small body
⊕ Attractive price
⊖ Scanning is a bit slow
This yet another Kodak product that contends for the title of the best negative scanner. It’s the perfect tool for converting old-format photos into high-quality JPGs that can be edited, shared, and printed.
This compact scanner comes with a built-in 2.4-inch LCD screen, aminimalist UI, simple-load adapters for different types of negatives and slides, and single-button controls. Simply add the films one after another and observe, as Kodak Mini shows the scanned result and saves a max of 128MP worth of files.
Maximum Resolution: 14 Mega pixels | File format Picture: JPEG | Scan Speed: 1-3Secs | Item Weight: 1.03 pounds
⊕ Comes with all the necessary cables and extras
⊕ Small
⊕ Cool look
⊖ Quality could be better
This film negative scanner can be used with both Mac and Windows computers and laptops and is supplied with USB and HDMI cables, an AC adapter, multiple film holders, and a cleaning brush. While the inclusion of the brush might seem irrelevant, it’s very important for making sure the lightbox doesn't have any dust that can leave marks on the scanned photos.
Most of what’s included in the package is made of plastic, but that shouldn’t be an issue. You can use Scanza to digitize 35mm, 110, 126, and supposedly 8mm/Super 8 film and slides, which should be more than enough for most photographers.
| Image | Name | Features | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Qpix Digital
Our choice |
CHECK PRICE → | |
 |
Wolverine Titan
Compact |
CHECK PRICE → | |
 |
Kodak RODMFS50
High quality |
CHECK PRICE → |
When looking at the description of various scanners, you can see two terms: optical resolution and hardware resolution.
The difference between them is rather blurry, but it would be reasonable to assume that hardware resolution deals with an interpolation that allows increasing the resolution, so that it matches the one advertised by the manufacturer, while the optical resolution describes the actual, un-interpolated value that the sensors are capable of providing.
This is another aspect that you should keep in mind when picking the best negative scanner. The bigger the value of this characteristic, the better results you’ll enjoy, as the digitized photos will be more nuanced and have natural gradations.
The color depth of a scanner is described in bits and defines the sum of a photo’s 3 color channels, meaning 16bit per channel provides a total color depth of 48bit.
This aspect describes the optical density that the device can produce when scanning the thinnest areas of the film (shadows in negatives). The larger this figure, the more detail you’ll get to see even in highly shadowed parts of a photo.
A common flatbed scanner isn’t capable of creating film scans since it isn’t backlit. It’s possible to use a piece of cardboard for light redirection, but the results can be rather inconsistent.
Put an HDMI tablet, smartphone, or laptop on the table, place one of the glasses on the display, and have the camera on a tripod above it. The camera should be aiming at a straight downward angle so that it’s completely parallel to the glass that you will put the negatives on.
For a thousand years and probably even longer.
In contrast to a regular scanner, such a device scans the “negative” image and transforms it into a “positive” one. As a result, you can enjoy the digitized version of your film photos as if they were properly developed.
