Nikon Coolscan V ED

For those who really need a scanner just for film, experts say that the Nikon Coolscan V ED is the one to get -- but it's not a flatbed scanner, so its usefulness is limited solely to film and slide scanning. Reviews praise the 4,000-dpi resolution, 4.2 optical density (which means it can show lots of shadow detail) and specialized glass on the scanbed that results in truly outstanding film scans. If you want more flexibility, other scanners, such as the Epson Perfection V500 (*est. $500), can do a good to excellent job in scanning film, and can also be used for a host of other scanning tasks that are beyond the reach of the Coolscan V ED.

Shutterbug evaluates the Nikon Coolscan V ED scanner from the viewpoint of a photographic expert -- which is especially valuable given its intended market. CNet gives readers a nice glimpse at the capabilities and performance of the scanner. User reviews at Amazon.com are very useful as the continuing real-life experiences of users give a good indication of how the Coolscan V ED film and slide scanner has held up.