Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is my first Amazon review so I hope that lends some credibility to the depth of my concerns. This is the first time I felt this disappointed about a purchase that I wanted to share my experience. I spent weeks scouring reviews trying to find the perfect solution for archiving 39 years worth of slides and negatives. The first question was flatbed scanner with film attachment or dedicated film/slide scanner? I concluded that a dedicated unit would most likely have better results scanning film because, well, that is their only purpose in life. I was willing to spend $100-$200 for a low end consumer model but was unable to find one that had a high enough rating that it seemed like a no brainer. I finally saw how popular this model was and didn't see any negative comments that scared me away so I decided to give it a shot. I eagerly opened my box from Amazon. To their credit, the item shipped super fast even with standard shipping and was very well packaged. I am very pleased with them on this transaction from order to delivery, as always. I opened the product box and took everything out. All items present and accounted for. My first reaction was that the unit was incredibly light. I examined it and felt like it was maybe one generation ahead of the old viewmaster I had as a kid in terms of quality and construction. For $79 I wasn't expecting machined aluminum, but the whole thing just kind of felt cheap. Other than that, everything you need to scan is there in the box and well packaged. I first plugged scanner into the wall, but then realizing I didn't have an extra memory card laying around, I decided to run it out of a USB port on my computer. You can scan 10 images on the unit's internal memory if you decide not to use a separate memory card, which is convenient for small batches and testing. Bear in mind, you cannot view the image through your computer at any point. You basically do everything you need to do on the machine, then press a button to switch to USB transfer, and cut and paste the image into a folder on your PC as if it was a flash drive. Then you can open and manipulate the file in whatever image editing software you choose to use. Thus, making good scans is a back and forth process. You can view the image live on the little screen on the unit, but the display is about as good as a digital camera display from ten years ago. You can't really use it to do anything other than confirm the image you are looking at and the most basic adjustments. I found that the images all get washed out in the default settings so I dropped the exposure setting down a notch or two. That's pretty much the only image adjustment you can make, besides flipping and rotating. Everything else you need to do in post production on your computer. All the parts and pieces seemed to work ok. The on-screen menu was a little rudimentary and initially difficult to navigate through, but once you figure out how to manipulate everything (about 15 minutes) you'll realize how incredibly simple the whole process is. Once you get in your rhythm, you can start cranking out scans. It really is fast, you can do about 5 slides a minute. I do like that it is a standalone unit so you can sit on the couch and watch tv while going through a stack of slides. Here is my biggest complaint and the ultimate deal breaker, and it really is a function of my own expectations. My goal for this thing was to scan slides and negatives, to make decent digital images to send to friends by email and to post online. From time to time, I'd like to make a 5x7 print to put in a frame for someone's desk. 35mm film, if shot well, will get you up to an 11x14 print without significant issues with resolution. I had no expectation that for $79 I was going to get a giant poster size museum quality archival print. I only wanted two things. A good image on the computer and a good image on a small print. Even using the 10MP setting, I couldn't get an image that was anywhere near satisfactory. I felt like I wanted to reach inside and find some kind of focus mechanism but there is nothing like that anywhere. Again, my goal was to be able to digitally archive my negatives and slides so that I could retire them once and for all and use those images for all future reference. I couldn't get anything close to that. I wanted to include a picture sample but haven't figured out how. In my sample batch, the original Kodachrome processed slides were taken by a decent photographer. They are well composed, very well exposed and the detail in the original slides are, in my opinion, exceptional. I could take them to a local lab and get some really nice, large size prints from them. I know the originals are as good as they get for 35mm. I printed a 4x6 on my printer and the image looks like I had a few beers in me first. The words and lines were not sharp at all. I wouldn't use this for anything more than a small website post on a blog or something casual like that where the image was very much reduced. I can honestly say that I got a better image scanning the original Walgreen's 4x6 prints I already had using my $49 scanner than I did from the scan of the source slides on this machine. I have a sub-10 megapixel camera that produces a better digital image than this. I've spent two days trying to get myself to like this piece of equipment, but I just don't have it in me. Maybe I got a dud. I will be returning it with the following plan. First, I will try the next step up, like the Wolverine F2D20 which says 20MP so I am hoping it will be more generous with the resolution. If for some reason that doesn't work, I will spend a couple hundred on a good flatbed scanner with some kind of film attachment. If that doesn't work, I will just forget the project for a while until I can save enough money to go with a nice used Plustek or Nikon product. I try not to be too critical but there are so many positive reviews, I wanted to at least tell my side of the story for anyone who is in the same position with the same goals as me. It was because of the other positive reviews that I made my decision to buy this item. None of the other reviews I read are wrong, but for someone trying to accomplish what I am trying to accomplish, this was a waste of time and money. I wouldn't use this for anything more than maybe a low resolution digital catalog so that I could open a folder on my computer and determine which items are in a particular slide carousel or sleeve of negatives without having to hold them up to my desk lamp. I wouldn't rank this item much higher than toy status. I am thankful for Amazon's generous return policy.