The Acer ScanWit 2740S is probably the lowest priced film scanner with Digital ICE. Digital ICE, which must be built into a film scanner, helps to remove surface defect from the film such as scratches, fingerprints or dust. This can be accomplished automatically, without altering the image details or quality. It is certainly a necessity for any quality conscious photographer, amateur or professional. What makes the Acer ScanWit 2740S so compelling is that it is priced at around $600, while some scanners with Digital ICE are nearly two thousand dollars. It's simply high quality on a budget.

The scanner features a one touch button that enables you scan either 35mm slides or 35mm negatives. Its auto-loading mechanism can hold six frames at one time so you can load up and walk away while the images are stored. The 2740S also features 2700 x 2700 dpi optical resolution. The image resulting from a scan is much better than any consumer or prosumer digital camera. Only professional digital cameras, costing thousands of dollars, will be able to match resolution this high.

So for the cost of an average digital camera, you can continue to use your present 35mm camera and then digitize the images you want. It's a bit more work, but it turns your older 35mm camera digital.

The Acer ScanWit 2740S also:

- takes only 40 seconds to complete the scan at full resolution (2700 x 2700)

- scans in a single pass, 36-bit (48-bit enhanced) in 68.7 billion colors

- has a 3.2:1 Dynamic Range

- can scan 4 mounted slides or 6 negatives on a film strip

- interfaces via SCSI-II

- requires either a Windows Pentium system with 32 Mb of Ram running Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT or a Macintosh PowerPC running System 8.0 (both need CD-ROM drives) - is bundled with Adobe Photoshop LE and ULead Photo Express

- carries a one year limited warranty that includes a swap-out within 48 hours.

- is about 6.4" x 6 x 13.6" in size

- weighs about 6 pounds

- requires about 25 Watts of power

- runs on 110 Volts AC

If you can't afford the Acer ScanWit 2740S, a lower priced version is available with roughly the same specifications, but without Digital ICE for about $400.

Copyright © 2006 Sheldon Langendorf All rights reserved.