If you are planning on scanning a lot of old photos this scanner will do a good job, even though the 4490 costs a little bit extra, it is a better scanner and I would go for it myself. There are two main reasons for this. I think the ICE technology works fantastically when scanning negatives in and really is invaluable. The second reasons is that the V350 cannot scan photos at as high a resolution, which ultimately leaves you with lower quality digital photos.

The advantage of the scanner not being able to scan at such a high resolution is that it does make the scanner cheaper, but it also means you can scan your photos in quicker. This scanner takes around half the time to scan a row of 35mm film negatives than the 4490 does.

Scanning your 35mm film negatives with Epson’s Perfection V350 is really simple as you feed them in via it’s auto film loader.

Epson have used ICE technology with the Perfection 4490. This technology improves the quality of the photos it scans, as it removes some of the common defects associated with older photo negatives. ICE technology will automatically remove grubby fingerprints along with any dust and dirt or scratches that are present on your negatives. Unfortunately, ICE technology won’t make photos of your 80s dress sense any better.

The Epson Perfection 4490 will scan photo negatives in at 2400 pdi in just 72 seconds, which isn’t long when you consider the high resolution it scans the photos in at, along with running the ICE technology to remove blemishes and that it scans a strip of photos in, rather than just one at a time.

As the Perfection 4490 is a flat bed scanner you can also use it to scan in other documents, such as books or important letters. This may make the Perfection 4490 more suitable for you than just a film scanner as you will still be able to benefit from it once you have digitised your photo collection.

Epson supply some useful photo editing and scanning software with the scanner, including Presto! PageManager, ArcSoft PhotoStudio and ScanSoft OmniPage SE. The Epson Perfection 4490 is Mac compatable, as well as working on all Windows operating systems from Windows 98. The scanned images will transfer quickly to your computer via a USB connection.

One of the things I really like about the Perfection is that you can use the buttons to automatically set it to scan, copy, send via email and even convert what you are scanning into a PDF file. Being able to automatically convert files (especially letters or scanned magazine articles) into PDF is really handy as the PDF format is a nice way to be able to read these sorts of files on a computer, rather than just receiving an image file.

Epson supply everything you need to start using the scanner, from all the cables as well as the film and slide holders so that you can scan your photo negatives. Even if you have all your negative photos developed, you will want to use the 35mm film scanner, rather than scanning the developed photo image. This is because you will get a much better quality digital photo when scanning the negative, rather than a developed photo.

The film and slide scanner work in a similar way to with a static film scanner other than it can scan all the pictures in one go. The advantage of this is primarily that you will save time. Film scanners can only scan one photo in at a time, so this makes the CanoScan six times better.

Canon’s CanoScan 4400F comes with ArcSoft PhotoStudio, OmniPage SE and Presto! Page Manager software which allow you to edit the photos you have scanned in. All the software is pretty easy to follow and works quite well.

Compared to some similar film scanners the CanoScan 4400F may seem a little slow at converting your 35mm film or slide pictures into digital photos. It scans the photos to 2400dpi and the colours and exposure of the pictures are really good, so it is worth the few minutes it takes.

As this is a flat bed scanner which supports film scanning you have the added advantage of being able to scan in any photos which you have lost the negatives for. You may have a handful of old photographs, but no negatives for them. Though the results will not be as good as when you scan from the negative the CanoScan 4400F will still be able to turn your photos into very nice digital photos.

The CanoScan 4400F will work on both Windows and on Apple computers (MacOS X 10.2.8 +) and interacts with your computer via a high speed USB connection.

The following video has a useful tutorial for how to use the Canon CanoScan 4400F’s film scanner.

This is the Lumionx Film Scanner which can scan 35mm film strip and slides in around half a second! Not only do you get a better picture quality by scanning directly from the negative, rather than the photo, you will also save a fair bit of time as a traditional scanner could take over a minute to scan a picture in.

The Lumionx is a great way of turning your old family photos into lovely digital pictures which you can email around, add to your personal website or Facebook page. It is so easy to scan your old memories in with this scanner, you simply put your negatives into the plastic slides provided, plug the small unit into your computer via USB (no other power supply is required) and push the nice big scan button on the top of the unit.

Luminox Scanner	Availability	Best Price (inc Postage)	Retailer
Amazon	In Stock	£58.71

There is a little bit of software to install, but it doesn’t take more than a minute to do! This is a great gadget for anyone – you don’t need a computer science degree to use it either. It will work with Windows XP and Vista, unfortunately it is not Mac compatible.

If I was after my first negative scanner I would be more tempted by the Ion Film2SD model as this provides a better picture quality and doesn’t require a computer to scan the pictures onto. This means it can be used anywhere!

The VuPoint digital negative scanner is an affordable way of scanning your old film strips into your computer so you can treasure past moments way into the future. This scanner allows you to scan 35mm film negatives and slides into your computer, turning them into digital photos which you could email to friends, upload onto Facebook, download them onto a digital photo frame and lots more!

This scanner would only take up a tiny corner of your desk and allow you to free up draws of old photo negatives. The VuPoint is a great way of backing up your old photos, as films can easily become damaged and soiled.

In the past converting old photos into digital photos would be a lot of work. The most common way would be using a flat bed scanner, but this would always distort the photos and they’d never look that good. Using a negative scanner to scan the negatives, rather than the photo, helps produce a much higher quality picture.

VuPoint Scanner	Availability	Best Price (inc Postage)	Retailer
Maplin	In Stock	£54.99
Amazon	In Stock	£73.98
Gadget Shop	In Stock	£95.94
Find me a Gift	In Stock	£72.98

The VuPoint digital scanner is a really affordable way of converting your old memories and storing them on your PC (not Mac compatible). It scans photos through its 5 mega pixel camera at 1800DPI (this can be increased to 3600DPI!). The VuPoint scans directly onto your computer using its one button control. It comes with basic editing software, so you can crop, mirror and make basic adjustments to photos!

There are different scanners like this on the market, but I like this one because it doesn’t take up too much room and is highly affordable. It does a good job at scanning the photos in, so you’ll end up with nice, crisp photos. This is a great scanner as it is very easy to use! You don’t need to be a tech head to use this product, you just plug in the USB cable to your computer (it gets it power from the computer, so you won’t be tripping over wires, or struggling to find a spare plug socket). There are a few bits of software to install, but this really is just a case of putting the CD in and clicking next a couple of times.

Once you’ve installed the software you put your negatives in the plastic slides provided, and you push them into the scanner, scanning each negative as you go along. You get a slide for 35mm film and 35mm slides but if you are planning on scanning in a lot of photos I would recommend buying some spare slides so you can do it a little quicker.

The Veho Negative Scanner is a fantastic little USB negative scanner. It is a pretty compact unit and wouldn’t take up much room in any study or on any computer desk. You won’t be falling over power cables or struggling to find a free plug as the Veho doesn’t require an extra power supply, as it is powered directly from the USB cable.

The Veho has a 5 mega pixel scanner so the photos will look really good on your computer and the quality won’t fade if you decide to print them out! The occasional photo might need the odd touch up or you may need to crop, rotate or mirror a photo and you can do this via the included, Arcsoft PhotoImpression editing software which does a good job with these basic tasks.

Veho Scanner	Availability	Best Price (inc Postage)	Retailer
Amazon	In Stock	£54.99
Firebox	In Stock	£83.90

The Veho negative scanner does a really good job of turning your old negatives into wonderful digital photos. It’s really simple to use and doesn’t take more than a few minutes to set up and start using! If you are planning on scanning photos taken by people who don’t have computers it may make sense to look at the Ion Fim2SD scanner as you then won’t need a computer to scan the images in (saves a lot of leg work!). The main downside about the Veho negative scanner is that it only works on PCs.

Negative Scanners are a really convenient way of turning all your old family photos, photos from weddings, christenings and maybe some embarrassing childhood or work Christmas-do photos into digital pictures. Most of these photos are probably stuck in the attic, or left unappreciated in an old draw. The Ion Film and Slide Scanner allows you to give these photos a purpose and benefit from them again!

This scanner allows you to scan 35mm film negatives and slides by inserting them into the rigid plastic slides. The Ion has a 5 mega pixel, auto-focusing scanner with back light exposure, so you end up with really high quality pictures (I’m afraid you’re thumb will still be covering the corners – it’s not that impressive !)

Ion Film and Slide Scanner	Availability	Best Price (inc Postage)	Retailer
Amazon	In Stock	£77.43
Maplin	In Stock	£79.99

The Ion is the perfect gadget for anyone with draws full of old photo negatives as it allows you to make full use of them! You can now email all your old photos to friends and family so they can remember events from year gone by. In the past you would have to use a flat-bed scanner to scan the photos, but this would result in poor quality photos (as you’d be scanning the photo, not the negative)…and worst of all, it would take forever!

The Ion film and slide scanner only takes a few seconds to scan each picture, so you’ll be able to whiz through all your photos in a rainy afternoon. The unit doesn’t take up much room, so it is perfect to put on a shelf, or leave on your computer desk once you’ve used it.

The Ion Film and Slide Scanner works with Windows XP and Vista, but is not compatible with other operating systems. It comes with all the appropriate software, so you can easily make basic adjustments to the photos when you’ve scanned them in.

This is the Ion Film2SD Negative Scanner and it is one of my favourite scanners on the market and one of the only ones that doesn’t require a computer as you can scan onto SD cards. This doesn’t sound like much, but it means you can scan relatives photos who don’t have a computer, and it saves carting negatives all over the place!

This fantastic gadget allows you to easily convert your old 35mm film or slide negatives into fantastic digital photos a 5 mega pixel scanner, and store them on a SD card. It only takes a second or two to scan your photos in, so you’ll be able to get through a big batch of negatives in ease.

Ion Film 2 SD Scanner	Availability	Best Price (inc Postage)	Retailer
Maplin	In Stock	£99.99
Amazon	In Stock	£107.50
Firebox	In Stock	£113.90
I Want one of Those	In Stock	£123.95

It’s really easy to scan your negatives, you simply put them in the negatives slide, put them into the Ion Film 2 SD scanner, use the easy buttons to scan the photo and then you can check the photo on the fantastic, LCD screen. A 1 GB SD card comes free with the pack though the devise will take up to 8 GB – that’s enough to copy all your Gran’s old photos with room spare.

As it uses a built in SD card you don’t even need a computer. You can use this on the fly and put the photos into a digital picture frame, or you can transfer them onto your PC or MAC via its handy USB cable. This is one of the few negative scanners that doesn’t require a computer and when plugged into a computer, will work with Macs – this is great for you Apple fans.

With other units you would still have the task of deciding which way up photos go (portrait or landscape), having to faff around on the computer and there would probably be a few duds. As the Ion has a built in LCD screen you can check the photos as you go – making sure you have scanned them correctly. As you’ve got the screen you can also flip, mirror and rotate images with buttons on the unit, which are really responsive and easy to use, as you go along.

The Ion Negative Scanner would make a great gift for any occasion and is one of the best scanners on the market.

Conclusion

Ion’s Film2SD Negative Scanner is:

• Very Affordable
• Uses a high quality 5 mega pixel scanner
• Doesn’t require a computer
• PC & Mac Compatible
• Comes with a FREE 1 SD card
• Fantastic built in LCD screen to preview photos