Veho USB negative scanner December 2008

Veho USB negative scanner

If you’re in possession of endless lengths of negative film strips left over from your pre-digital photography days, then the £80 USB negative scanner from Veho may be just the solution for preserving those memories in digital form. 

Film negatives are as prone to decay over time as old photos, so converting them into digital colour photos is a great means for saving old pictures.

This is the first dedicated negative scanner we’ve had the chance to try out, and we were keen to see if it could really do justice to negative images joining the digital age.

Old film negatives can be scanned as digital colour photos.

Simple scanning process

The Veho negative scanner doesn’t take up much space on your tabletop. It’s a neat unit that doesn’t clutter your desk with wires – there’s no need for a power lead, as it takes its charge from the USB connection to your computer.

Our First Look test found that installing the included software is relatively easy – you will first need to insert the packaged CD, though there are a few programs to install that can slow proceedings down.

Once you’re up and running the Veho scanner is certainly easy to use. Simply secure a 35mm film strip into the plastic frame provided, and there’s an alternative frame to use if you are scanning 35mm projection slides. You then insert the frame slide-by-slide into the scanner.

You can either scan by pressing a button on the computer or by using the large button at the top of the scanner unit itself. 

There is a very handy “live view” display on your computer as you move the film strips through the scanner – this displays exactly what the scanner is seeing, so you can be sure you are aligning each slide correctly. 

Aligning the slides is generally easy, though a more tactile feedback as each frame clicks into place would be helpful.

You can scan up to 12 negative frames in a row before selecting to transfer them onto your computer hard drive (you have to set up a folder to save them in beforehand). As you do this, the negatives are automatically converted into five megapixel colour images.

The scanning and transferring process is very quick, even if you opt to scan images in the highest possible quality.

Images scanned from negatives may need improving with photo-editing software.

Digital photo editing software

The quality of the resulting images proved to be something of a mixed bag. Photos of scenes in bright daylight tended to come out a little washed out and overexposed, and a blue-ish tinge could occasionally taint such shots.

More worryingly, a recurring problem with one of the bottom corners of the pictures having an orange tinge to them suggests that the Veho scanner fails to keep all outside light away from the scanning process, slightly spoiling the scanned image.

We found that it was best to brush up each scanned image with some digital manipulation using photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop. This allows you to digitally compensate for any discolouration or lack of contrast between highlight and shadow.

This can be a slightly laborious process if you are to repeat it on every picture you scan, but for ensuring you get the best digital versions of your old negatives it really is essential. 

The software packaged with the Veho scanner probably won’t prove satisfactory for perfectionists looking for the best possible digital images, so be sure to check the Which? reviews of photo-editing software to see that packages that we recommend.

If you’re prepared to put in the work with digital editing after each scan, then the Veho scanner will probably prove satisfactory. It’s certainly a simple means for scanning negatives, and it’s a great deal cheaper than buying a larger scanner.

The 5Mp images each negative is converted into generally look impressive on a computer screen – they can be magnified to take up the size of an average screen without appearing grainy or pixellated.

If you fancy printing these digital images, you will also be able to enlarge them thanks to the 5Mp resolution – for a standard 6x4 inch print, 2.2Mp is all the resolution you’ll need, so 5Mp will give you the capacity to enlarge beyond this.

Picking the best scanner for you

A number of larger picture and document scanners also offer the means for scanning negatives onto your computer, and you can also buy printers with scanners built-in that can scan negatives.

However, such units will be a great deal more expensive than the Veho model, and will also take up a lot more space. But they will have the advantage of being able to scan other pictures or documents, or even print your digital photos as well.

Check the Which? reviews of the best scanners and the Which? reviews of the best photo printers to see if something a little larger and more flexible might better suit your needs.

Pros: compact, fast and simple means for scanning negatives and slides

Cons: picture quality needs improving with digital software, some occasional discolouration to corners of image