Kodak RODFS35 Digital Film Scanner - Converts 35mm, 126, 110, Super 8 & 8mm Slides & Negatives to JPEG - Includes 3.5-inch LCD & EasyLoad Inserts (Black)

This is mid-range Kodak scanner, but it produces good quality, high resolution images from old style 35mm slides. The purpose of this type of scanner is to convert 35mm analogue slides into digital files for easier viewing. I had found a large pile of slides originally taken by my late father, and this was objective for this scanner. This was a daunting batch, but needed to be converted just to view the images on modern equipment. This scanner has proved ideal for this task. It is easy to use, and scans into digital files within a few seconds. The lengthy part of the cycle time is loading individual slides, which need to be accurately mounted in a sliding frame. Like similar tasks the loading becomes easier with experience, but accuracy is important to avoid scanning the edges of the frames. There is also a range of frames to cover differing types of film size. The range is fully explained in the product descriptions, but I have only used the 35mm slide frame. The slide frame for 35mm is hinged, and clamps hold on each slide to hold the frame, and ensure it falls within the fixed focal length, so that each image accurately reflects the quality of the original slide. Don't expect it to work miracles if the original slide is out of focus or blurred by movement. However, there is a limited range of editing on the scanner, so some exposure errors can be corrected before the image is scanned. In my experience most modern software offers a wider range of editing for the image once secured to your laptop, etc. The scanner must have an SD memory card inserted, because all the scanned images are saved to the memory card. This means that you can transfer the SD card and the new files to your preferred location for saving. I have not found a method as yet to link to the computer to transfer the files without moving the SD card, but I expect that this is feasible, I have only to extend my practice. Overall I feel confident to recommend this kit, and I have been pleased with the results, which have secured my late father's photography for future generations.

Having seen mixed reviews on this i was a little apprehensive about buying it to archive my parents negatives. I am sure there are possibly better more expensive scanners out there but this is fast and easy to use and let's be honest my parents were not professional photographers. Funny thing is though that this is pretty good. Its true that rubbish in rubbish out and there were a lot of poor negatives and slides and this will not correct under exposed negatives or replace missed tops of heads or feet. However, with a decent negative it produces a decent scan. I say scan but I believe it takes a photo of the negative rather than a scan hence the speed. You have to save to sd card as it will not scan direct to a computer. Therefore you need to do post scanning corrections with computer software which may not be as good as changing the settings for a scan. However for the majority of the photos I dealt with it was quite good enough without any adjustment. We are after all talking about 50 ish year old negatives. Yes they may have marks that would need removing if you wanted to display the photos but for a digital archive this is very good. Most of my negatives are 35mm but some older ones are larger and do not fit which is a great shame as they are my grandparents and parents early years.

The scanner arrived as promised. It was easy to set up. I have scanned about 20 slides. All good, very pleased with the quality. Switched to negative strips. A very small problem, negative strips are bowed and need some care inserting in the holder. Once you get the knack it's fine. I've viewed about 50 strips of 4 negs. The scanner let's you see them as positives on its screen. I saved the images I wanted. The slides and negs gave me 30 images. I edited them in photoshop. Very impressed with results. I can now see photos I took over 40 years ago. And use them.

Easy to use does it’s job, don’t expect real good results you pay for what you get

My previous (Vehu) scanner was simple enough to use but its results were mediocre so I bought this Kodak Scenza. It largely does away with multiple scanning mounts enabling uncluttered use for a full range of formats. There is an inbuilt, limited editing facility for brightness and colour which is simple to use if a bit clumsy, as well as a ‘settings’ button to change formats, resolution, USB upload etc. The contents of the SD card can be viewed at will as a gallery or slide show. The resulting scans are pleasing and useful though I intend using them as a catalogue for higher resolution work. This is a fine, neat, simple to use article but the instructions for use are RUBBISH!

The Kodak Scanza is a great little film scanner. Years ago I had scanned my best 35mm slides using a Canon CanoScan FS4000US but this would take several minutes per slide. Sadly the CanoScan FS4000US became unusable with Windows and computer upgrades. In any case scanning 2000 slides was not going to be feasible using the CanoScan FS4000US because of the time required. The Scanza is much faster – only a few seconds per slide. Images captured by the Scanza are not as good as that made by the CanoScan FS4000US but they are definitely good enough for display on a HD (1920 x 1080 dpi) monitor. The Scanza is not actually a scanner. It appears to capture images using a digital camera within the unit. This makes it very fast to capture a file. The created files have properties of: Camera model FSII-20MC F-stop f/2.8 Exposure time ranging from 1/15 second to 1/2 second depending on the brightness selected ISO-100. There is no need to use the mains adaptor. The Scanza can be powered from a computer via a USB cable. It is then convenient to download files from the Scanza (previously saved on a SD memory card) to the PC. Along with the advertised film adaptors, the Scanza package includes two adaptors for 35mm slides: one for 1.9 mm to 3.0 mm thick slides and another for thinner slides. The Scanza creates 2880 dpi x 4320 dpi images from 35mm slides (2880 x 4320 = 12,441,600 pixels or about 12.4 megapixels). The 22 megapixel setting (4.6 Mbyte file size after compression to a jpg) is no better than the 14 megapixel (1.6Mbyte file size). But my experience indicates that a 1600 dpi scan would be more than adequate so at 2880 dpi the Scanza is just fine. At 1600 dpi the grain on film can be seen. The first two images were scanned at 1600 dpi with Canon CanoScan FS4000US film scanner from a Kodak EBX ISO 100 film slide. Images three and four were made with the Scanza at 14 and 22 megapixel respectively. Images 2, 3 and 4 are closeups so that the quality can be seen. Finally, take off the protective cellophane from the feet. This makes the Scanza very stable to operate.

I didn't actually get to use this scanner. I waited for my holiday to have a day free to get it up and running and scan as many as I could of my father's slide collection. This is not the first slide scanner I have owned - the last one was not performing as well after 10 years and I thought to replace it with a more expensive one, and pushed the boat out for the Kodak one at £149, thinking that it would be high quality. I have just read that Kodak is just being used as a brand name and the scanner is not produced by the famous camera company of yore. (I just read it in a review, I think, and do not know if this is true). However, although there was a dinky little booklet, this did not cover the immediate out of box basics like "naming of parts", and where on the main body of the scanner each lead would fit. Trial and error was the only way - quite time consuming as there were far more bits and pieces and leads than I needed and had to sort out which I really needed. Main problem was that the power lead would neither remain in its intended aperture on the scanner, nor the other end in the aperture in the power plug. Both fell out annoyingly and repeatedly as soon as connected to the power source. I can't imagine why the actual power plug had to come in two parts, either! The three pin plug had first to be fitted together (and eventually a minute button could be discerned which made this procedure possible to achieve). No, I did not try to fit the wrong leads into the wrong holes as trial and error proved that there was only one hole into which each would fit. The trouble was that they refused to remain in place long enough to operate the scanner. So after a frustrating couple of hours it was all packaged up again and taken to the Hermes depot for return and refund. Very disappointing and a complete waste of time.

This device is simply excellent at providing virtually instant readable images of colour and monochrome negatives which is very useful in both identifying pictures and capturing them digitally. It also captures colour positive slides to to digital format on the SD card. Colour fidelity and resolution are extremely good for a device at this price point and colour balance and density are adjustable. I have given this device five stars because it does what I want so very well. However, at this price it does have a few minor shortcomings. The film carriers are a bit "plasticy", the colour balance and density adjustments are in large jumps and getting the SD card images on to a computer is a bit of a fiddle. Nevertheless the quality of the images from the scans when put on a large screen TV are surprisingly good.