– 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

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.

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.

This little slide scanner is perfect for digitising your treasured slides. I find it's the perfect balance for quickly capturing the images for later viewing. I scanned 1,400 slides in about 5 hours total, all to a 4gig SD card in JPG format. You aren't going to get professional images that you could with a £2k scanner however the level of detail I have recovered from my family slides is more than enough to relive those treasured years. Ask yourself what you need from your images, if you want convenience and speed to enable you to enjoy the past and share the images on social media then this is the perfect tool for the job. If you are looking to printing your images at A3 full colour then you need a professional scanner. I would confidently say that for home archival purposes this is the perfect blend of convenience, speed and quality for you. It's easy to use, the screen is great for previewing the slides and can even be used as a slideshow should you desire. The colour accuracy is good and can be left on auto, we all edit our images in post these days so it matters little to the casual user. Couple this unit with a simple photo editing software and you have exactly what you need.

I have scanned colour and black and white negatives with great success. Also colour slides in card and thin mounts but I have Agfa slides in very thick plastic mounts, these are proving difficult to pass through the adapter. It seems that they will need to be put in individually and I've got loads of them. In spite of this I am very pleased with it, it is easy to use, JPEG compression is similar to many digital cameras, if you need to make large prints you have the negatives for a professional laboratory and there is the possibility to carry out some digital manipulation. As it is colour reproduction is excelent, my Kodachromes are as bright on screen as they were 60 odd years ago. If you need better than this you will have to spend something like 3 times as much money.

A bit fiddly loading slides into the carrier but easing with use. But, it did the job well scanning some 50 year old 35mm slides. Quality of image so dependent on the originals - it won't improve them, but if the originals look good then the scans will be fine. Pleased with the purchase.

I had a heap of negatives from my collection mostly taken over 40 years ago. The negatives got caught to a fire and rescued and was unable to recover. Fortunately with this I could reconstruct most of the images. Since the screen was large and converts colour negatives to real images it was easy to navigate. My only negative point is the low memory which gets filled up easily.Later I inserted a memory card and sorted this out. The 35mm negative holder was not very easy to open up. Other than that this is a superb investment.

This unit does everything it says it can do. Easy to use and any concerns are met with a friendly and helpful after sales customer support service. Some say the picture quality isn't top spec BUT remember, a lot of people are digitising OLD slides and over a period of time these slides can 'wash out' a bit. As for newer slides, what you capture is better than what is displayed but come on now, do you really expect a super high res oled display or whatever for this price bracket?? Overall the unit is well constructed and a breeze to use. Simply insert the supplied usb lead into a standard 5v charger or computer and turn it on.... What could be simpler, I personally use a power bank to operate it making it truly portable, and with some simple controls built in to adjust brightness and colours if needed and an all important reset menu for if you adjust to much and get lost. I highly recommend this unit and have passed these recommendations on to friends and family too. Good quality, value for money and great after sales backup... What more could you ask for??

I knocked off one star for the fingernail busting, fiddly, god awful slide holder. Here's a tip. The holders for the slides are terrible to open. Once you have got it open and put a slide in, closed it and slid it into the machine, you never need to open it again. This is because you just slide the next one in and it pushes them along, so keep a sacrificial slide, you know the green one from the end of the reel, in there to hold a place. It seems to be able to take the 35mm slides in a plastic mount too, provided they are the slim ones. Not sure about the chunkier plastic mounts are going to fare, but overall I am really pleased with this gadget for its ease of use.