Magnasonic FS70 - HDMI

Magnasonic All-in-One 25MP Film Scanner with Large 5" Display & HDMI, Converts 35mm/126/110/Super 8 Film & 135/126/110 Slides into Digital Photos, Built-in Memory : desertcart.co.uk: Computers & Accessories Review: Good quality, good value and easy to use. - I am a retired professional and lecturer in photography so am a bit fussy when it comes to buying kit. I already have a high resolution flat bed scanner for making digital scans of negatives and slides but I needed something to make a record of the many hundreds of family shots on 35mm negative film that have become separated from prints and are generally at risk of being lost. I studied all the reviews and nearly stuck to what I thought might be a safe bet with a model branded from the familiar 'Yellow God' of photography although thought it over priced. Then I found this Magnasonic which seemed better value and didn't seem to have as many negative (excuse the pun) comments from purchasers. I have now started using it and I am very impressed. It is nice and solid with a clear instruction booklet in proper English. Like similar models it is really a camera and light source which means it will never match a full resolution scanner but it is quite good enough and more importantly it is quick, with each shot being completed a little more than a second. If you identified a treasured shot which you wanted to work on with Photoshop or greatly enlarge you could always take it to a local mini lab for the full treatment! If you are considering purchasing this to digitise your family records I can highly recommend it. It is good quality, good value and easy to use. Review: Very good, for the price. - I bought this unit because I was able to download a pdf of the instructions from the Magnasonic website to confirm that it would scan my small Kodak 110 slides. I find it easy to use: one downside is that it needs the date and time resetting every time that it is unplugged from the USB power supply, while it remembers all the other settings. The slide insert is really easy to use: the description and orientation is imprinted in the plastic, so it’s impossible to get wrong. The internal memory is very small: I use a 16GB SD card which, after turning the unit off, can be removed to transfer the photos to my laptop. Given the somewhat questionable quality of the slides that I took (40 or more years ago), the quality of the scans is certainly good enough for what I need and can obviously be improved by post-processing: it may not suit purists or professionals who know more about photography than I do, though. Note that, after removing the scans from the SD card, the scan numbering restarts: I find this useful for keeping the image numbers in step with the slide numbers. The unit feels a bit flimsy, but is certainly robust enough to scan about 1,500 slides without any failures: the slide holder needs reasonably careful handling but loosens up over time. It’s useful to look at the underside of the holder after fitting the slide to check that the slide is aligned centrally with the aperture in the holder before scanning. After some practice, I’m able to scan a box of 20 slides in less than 10 minutes. Cleaning the unit with the supplied brush (really a soft pad) is very easy: dust on the unit clearly shows up before you insert a slide, so dust can be removed only as necessary. I find the default EV and RGB settings are good enough for all but the most poorly-exposed slides. Overall, I’m pleased with my purchase: it saves me a lot of time, does what I want, gives much better results than using a smartphone camera would have and is good value for money.