More usefully, a USB cable for connection to your computer and HMDI cable for hooking it up to a TV set are provided out of the box, as are adapters for differing film formats, including 35mm, 126 and even 110 film, plus a cleaning brush to avoid dust intruding. While not a professional grade scanner by any means, if operated as a standalone device, either 14MP or interpolated 22MP files can be saved directly to SD card, though we’ll need to provide our own card for that to happen.

Thus equipped, the jack-of-all-trades device lets us view, edit and scan film slides and negatives, converting them into handy-to-share JPEG digital files, thanks to built-in 14 megapixel sensor. Here’s a slightly more high tech alternative to also bear the familiar yellow and black Kodak branding that, rather than a magnifier, instead features its own built-in 5-inch LCD screen. Without further ado then, lets slide our recommendations for the best slide viewers you can currently buy under your nose…

While many of the viewers showcased here offer the opportunity to use batteries for the ultimate in portability, as well as mains power, for most either the mains adapter and/or the batteries required are optional extras, so we’ve indicated where that is the case. After all, if we’ve gone to the trouble of digging out our old slides, it stands to reason that we might want digital copies of them going forward too. Here we’re showcasing a selection of the best and relatively inexpensive slide viewers currently on the market, which might also, on occasion, happen to double as a scanner of sorts.

Nowadays, of course, some very basic level ‘scanning’ can be achieved with simply a lightbox and a smartphone. Enter the battery-operated handheld slide viewer with viewing alternatives also including mains-powered light-boxes, handheld loupes that utilize ambient light, and if we want to digitize said slides, then of course the film scanner too.

Digital 35mm slide converter reviews