Honestech Film Scan and Save

Every item I have ever purchased made by this company has turned out to be junk. I bought a VHS to DVD converter and it was terrible as well. I finally purchased a actual DVD converter made by Sony that worked fairly well, but VHS is never going to look as good as DVDs. You would think I would have learned my lesson, but I purchased this film scan and save device from a Big Box store on sale and I took it back. I ended up buying a $175.00 slide scanner and it worked better, especially with corrections to the diminished slides, but it was incredibly slow. I sold it after doing about 75 slides in three days and had a professional company convert them for less hassle and about the same cost. They turned out better, but it took me days to sort them into the right files. Otherwise, having it done professionally gave me better results than I expected and they look just like the original slides minus, the dust and scratches. Most looked better than the actual picture. I had the same issues as others had with poor resolution, just plain bad images. The slides looked better in the viewer. They also did not it the tray well as it is like it will only accept one brand of slides. The images seemed to have more dust and scratches in them than the actual slide. Stay away from this companies products unless you can live with junky craftsmanship and poor quality products. These products are much like what you would expect from those commercials you see on late nigh TV. Look great and promising, but let you down in the end.

Hello Amazon, Can you help me to my problem with this item ? It cannot work correctly. For example during the scan it's always appears as scratched as like the negative is already scratched but actually on the paper photo is no scratched. Is it possible to re-send the item to you for cleaninig up the scanner? So I cannot use the scanner like that, with scratched digital photos. Sincerely Plamen Stoilkov

This scanner is marginal. The photo quality is not very good even on the higher pixel count and it is a slow process if you have a very many photos to copy. I'm not saying don't buy it...........just remember you get what you pay for.

Like many of you, my Dad took all our family photos on 35mm slides. Slides are vulnerable to damage, deteriorate over time, and subject to tug-of-wars between siblings over who gets to keep the slides. The solution was to scan them. I've got approx. 3000 slides to scan. Lucky for me, my Dad was meticulous in keeping the slides clean + in good shape. I started with Innovative Technologies Film & Slide Scanner but had trouble with the drivers and it just stopped communicating with my computer. It appears IT doesn't have any tech support and I just didn't have the time to mess with it. It was a gift so fortunately I didn't waste money on it. I found this Honestech, read everyones' reviews + went ahead and bought one. Here's my experience/review: 1. If the slides are in good shape (clean, undamaged), this device works fine. If the slides are dirty/dusty, you'll get dirty/dusty scanned images. If the cardboard frames are damaged, you'll need to flatten them out so they'll slide into the slideholder. If your slides have metal frame protectors (2x2 "ready mounts"), they WILL fit in the slideholder. It's snug but they will fit. You don't have to remove the ready-mount frames. 2. I'm not creating works of art and don't expect professional quality from a $100+ scanner. I'm archiving family photos and the image quality appears very good. Perfect? no. Professional looking? no. My Dad was not a professional photographer and I'm not a professional photo handler. The images are just fine for family photos + memories. There are controls for brightness, resolution, and rotation to turn sideways photos upright. You'd probably need something like photoshop to touchup the photos, remove redeye, etc. IF you are so inclined. I will NOT be doing photo touchups for 3000 images. If your slides are of artwork or you are intending to use the scanned images for wall art (blowing up the size) or business or you need scientific precision, you're probably not going to be satisfied and need to look for a scanner way up the price scale. If you're just archiving family photos, as I am, this will do the job just fine. It appears the only file type for the images is .jpg . 3. This device is easy. There's virtually no setup. Plug it into your computer or use the AC adapter, touch the M (menu) button just to check the settings. (The only setting I changed was resolution. I chose 10m instead of the preset 5m). Put the slides in the holder. Insert the holder into the device + start scanning. It scans very fast. You manually push the slideholder to the 1st pic (it clicks into the correct position), touch the scan button, push the slideholder to the next pic, touch the scan button, and so on. There are no drivers or software to install. 4. The internal memory will hold only 18 pics at 10m. You will need a camera-type memory card (not included). 5. Plugging the device into the computer does not cause the scanned images to write to the computer. It's merely a power source and gives you the ability to move the scanned images from the scanner's internal memory onto your computer's hard drive. My Dad kept a log with each slide carousel giving the who/what/when of each slide. As I scan, I need to keep track of each image's file name so I can match the file names with the logs. With the IT device, I could view the images in Windows Photo Viewer as I scan and log the file names. With this scanner, I can either scan, or I can view the filenames on Windows Explorer, but I can't do both at the same time. I'm dealing with this by scanning a whole carousel then moving all 140 images to my computer and scrolling though to be sure I've got good images. The scanner will number the images sequentially (i.e. Pict0001, Pict0002, etc.) If any rescans are necessary, I can match the Pictxxx to the number on the carousel. I use a new file folder in Windows Explorer for each carousel. My log of filenames + who/what/when descriptions is on an Excel spreadsheet. Slideshows will be made later. I've given this 4 stars because it does what it's designed to do simply, easily, and with very good quality. If it had the ability to show filenames on Windows Explorer while I'm scanning, I would have given a 5th star. I have not tried scanning filmstips yet. Gotta get through the slides first. Happy scanning! (p.s. I don't know why the header to this review shows "Honestech Film Scan and Save (CD-ROM)". There is no CD that comes with this scanner. Just to confirm, my model number is HFS100)

I am very happy with the Film Scan and Save unit I recently purchased. Since I purchased it I have converted 600 slides to Digital Pictures and 1800 pictures from colored and black and white negatives. Our slide projector gave out years ago. This wonderful device has opened up a pathway to the past and wonderful memories of days gone by are now available to my children and grandchildren. I am so pleased with the easy way this works and the quality of the pictures it creates. Now my children will each have a picture record of their lives and our family's history. Many people have slides and negatives just hidden away and forgotten. This unit opens a door to their use before they deteriorate as they do have a limited shelf life. Thank you Honestech for creating this very useful device. I am a 72 year old man.

I am shocked that anyone gave this product a good review. I bought it on sale to scan numerous beautiful vacation slides. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to trying it out until today, and it is long after the return period. Otherwise, I would send it right back! At the highest resolution (10 megapixels), the images come out low quality, grainy, off-color. Just unusable if you want to preserve your favorite slides. I tried 5 different types of pictures, thinking perhaps it just didn't do well on certain types of images. Not one came out well. I experimented with the available adjustments, but the quality stayed low. I also had the problem of dust and other debris on the images that other reviewers mentioned. The scanner comes with a "cleaning brush" which is not actually a brush, and which doesn't do any good. I would not pay $10 for this product.

Worked below desired expectations due to the issues below. I sent the unit back due to poor design of the function I needed most, slide digitizing. Likes: 1) Does not scan, but rather takes a digital picture of the film picture, which is near instantaneous. I have read scanning is better, but it is also much slower. I have a lot of slides. 2) Small and compact compared to large flat bed scanner. Dislikes: 1) 35mm Slides do not sit flat in the tray. Instead they are pinched at the center from both sides which allow them to be at an angle relative to the camera inside the unit. Very poor design which results in some pics being out of focus. Don't know why they don't have it spring loaded on one side and flat on the other. Although I didn't use the negative tray, it looks like it would work well and had magnets to keep closed. 2) Can't view the image on your computer in real time, instead relying on tiny and low res LCD. The problem is that you can't easily see dust or in my case, part of image being out of focus due to problem above. Dust proves to be a problem that must be identified prior to moving on to the next slide, or at least the next set of slides. The dust has to be cleared and then rescanned. I am contemplating just sending slides off for professional scanning if I can't find another (most likely more expensive unit) here on Amazon. Good luck!

I picked this up at a far lower price through the Amazon Daily Deals. This was worth it for a quick scan of the negatives that I have. What is most convenient is the fact that it need no be connected to a computer to do the scanning. Just make sure you have the SD card in the slot provided, power on, align your negative in the tray, stick it into the scanner, view the image on the built in screen and hit the scan button for the scan to me completed. It is as easy as that. Unfortunately I managed to add a scratch on the scan panel when I stuck the provided brush into the device. Now I have a scar on each scanned image that I need to clean up in Photoshop. For a quick fire scan with minimum fuss I think this device is worth it. Just make sure you clean your negatives before you put them through the scanner.