Buy A Negative Film Scanner Or Use Alternatives?
There are not many occasions nowadays where one needs to use a negative film scanner. If you do find yourself needing one, then you can just rely on the attachment that probably came with your run of the mill document scanner or all in one, multi-function printer that includes scanning and copying capability. If you must purchase a specialty negative film scanner, you would be spending around 300 USD for something higher end such as a Plustek OpticFilm 7300 Film Scanner.
A cheaper alternative that is not a specialty negative film scanner but would do the job would fall in the 100 USD range. One such scanner that has an adapter for scanning slides and negatives is an HP Scanjet G3110 Scanner. Although purchasing a scanner may sound like something affordable, given the limited utility for most people that would be using it to scan old family pictures and such, it is not good value for the money. A better alternative would be to use the scanner at your local library. If it is one at a college library, it would be a multi-thousand dollar one that most people would not buy in the first place and would give much, much better results.
The other option to consider would be to let a photo lab put the scanned images on a CD or online for you. This would probably work out best since it would be professionals that would be doing the job for you and you would not have to expend any effort or time. In addition, the cost is minimal for such a service and any photo lab, even the ones found in your local pharmacy, would provide this service. For an idea of how much this charge is, consult your local photo print shop or visit one of the many on line photo scanning service web sites for details. Visit negative film scanners or portable printers for laptops for further information.