A problem with all-in-one slide scanners is that the inexpensive ones have mediocre cameras, and the ones with good cameras are, well, expensive. Fortunately, Kodak (which was late to the digital photography revolution) recognized that today's phone cameras are very good, and that we duffers just need something to do a hundred or two slides or negatives. The Kodak Mobile Phone Film scanner fits that niche. You could build your own scanner, but they've put the parts together in a convenient package. Just position the slide over the mini light-table, point the camera through the hole in the cardboard, and click.
I found that the scanner works best using the 2x optical zoom on my camera. Unfortunately, the app Kodak provides only allows for digital zooming, so for positive slides I just use my phone's camera app. For negatives, you'll have to use the Kodak app, which is fairly primitive compared to the other camera apps out there when it comes to editing your scanned photo. Indeed, that's one of the two substantive limitations of the package.
The other limitation is that you can't adjust the height of your phone camera over the slide. The package is a cardboard, one-size-fits-all thing. I'm not too worried about the cardboard, since I don't have that many slides to scan. But your camera may not be able to focus well at the height provided.
The price? Yeah, a little high for something that's made out of cardboard and that doesn't include the batteries, but it fits my needs and it's something I'd buy again, even with its limitations.

KODAK Mobile Film Scanner

This is a clever product for what it does. And at a great price. I like it for that. And what you want to use it for should be aligned with what it does.

DO NOT think, however, that you are going to scan your entire negative and slide collection and turn them into photographs. While it CAN do this, it's really not for that purpose. It can do this for the odd slide or negative, no problem. But the process is a bit time consuming and depends on the quality of the picture taking capabilities of your phone - which are, no matter how new your phone is, still very limited compared to a scanner or camera. Remember, your phone is a "phone with a camera function" not a real camera. The images you take with your phone are JPGs, which can't be very well post-processed such as with RAW or TIFF images - which is an important requirement for converting negatives & slides. If you have that many slides & negatives, you really need to get either a scanner, or pay a service to do them in bulk. This is simply not the product for that kind of volume at all.

You need to download the Kodak Mobile Film Scanner app for your smartphone. It's a basic app that has "film negative, color negative, positive film" settings for your camera so it can interpret the image it sees over the film plate. It works well enough. It has a couple of filters built in for adjusting contrast and color tint, but they are hard to precisely adjust. (BTW, remember that Kodak went bankrupt years ago, so even though this has the Kodak colors and logo, it's NOT the "Kodak" company of yore. Just some unrelated company that bought the trademark rights for "Kodak" (just like "Polaroid" today as well.).

So here's what it does do and what I bought it for. I do have hundreds of rolls of film (negatives) and this little baby can allow you to view your negatives as positives via the imaging of your phone. It makes it much easier to view the negatives and see what you've got. Your phone's function also allows you to enlarge the image as well, to see details you'd miss just holding it up to the light. You could use a lightbox, which I also have, but you can't enlarge the negatives and, importantly, you are still looking at a negative image, which can make it difficult for the untrained eye (or trained, for that matter.) So this system is much better. You put one end of the negative strip in, and pull it though, all the while seeing positive images on your phone's screen.

After that, you need to make notes and make decisions: "convert #15 and #21," or "toss the whole strip"¦". In THIS way, you can go through your B&W or color negative collection. And yes, make the occasional image capture with your phone and send it to the kids with a note "Just came across this of your 2nd birthday party!"¦ You were so cute! Remember Dougie"¦ heard he's getting out with good behavior in 2 years"¦." Something like that.

Ditto for slides. Holding them up to the light is a pain. This way you can enlarge the image and see what you've got and make that all important decision: "Keep this important image as it's a critical piece of family history that my kids and descendants will value and thank me for saving" or "toss it as the kids won't give a rip about the 6 people in this picture who they've never met and of whom I only remember 4 of them myself"¦"

At that point, after going through your "collection" you should end up with perhaps 1/5th or 1/10th of what you've started with, and can start scanning the remainder with a high-quality scanner (they are not very expensive) and working with image-editing software (that will usually come with the scanner if you don't have something like Photoshop or Photoshop Elements (a much easier and less expensive version of Photoshop with all the most commonly used essentials) to make the best image possible. (Highly recommend it if you are just getting into image editing and don't really need the full blown Photoshop.). REMEMBER: you are now dealing with ONLY those absolutely-precious family heirloom images that you and your kids will want preserved for posterity. You've tossed all the useless junk images. It will be worth the effort.

Once taken, the app allows you to easily save to the phone (bad idea) or email/text/airdrop/post images.

Alternatively, there are several services where you can bundle up your images and send them off to be professionally digitized with properly adjusted contrast, exposure, color balance, etc, and returned in a few months, all while you wait for a few months with no effort on your part. "A few months" you say/complain? What's the rush NOW? These are images that have sat in the back of your closet forgotten for decades, and now you can't stand to wait a couple of months? If that's the case, that's a separate personal issue beyond the scope fo this review"¦

So, yes, this is a good product, inexpensive, and allows you to view a large volume of negatives as positives and also color positives (slides) for easier viewing and decision making, and making the occasional image from them to send to the kids or grandkids. But it is not for volume conversion or quality conversion.

I want to digitize a bunch of old 35 mm slides. The scanner I bought years ago requires special software, selecting just a few slides, copying them in one scan, then separating. Slow, tedious. So I looked on the Internet for how to do it yourself and there were several great methods for building a box, involving measuring, cutting PVC pipe, creating a way to diffuse light through the slide...I knew I would never do it. Kodak did it for me, for a reasonable price. Here's what you need to know! You need 2 AA batteries. The placement of the on/off switch is a little odd - under the box instead of to the side, but the diffuse light works great. The outline on the box for where your smart phone should be placed may not be right for your phone. Once you figure out where your phone needs to be placed, draw your own lines. The Kodak scanning app that they say to install and use may not give you as good a result as your phone's own "camera" app. Try your own app before even downloading the Kodak one. For slides, realize you can place them either horizontally or vertically in the scanner box. See which orientation works better for you to zoom in and capture the image the best.
Your pictures will still need to be edited unless you don't mind poor edges, but this scanner is extremely quick and easy to set up (no tools required!) and will encourage you to look through your slide collection that you probably haven't viewed in decades!

At about $35, this Kodak Mobile Film Scanner is a bit over priced, but I am pleased with the product's simplicity and usefulness. I've captured color 35mm slides (see attached photo, unretouched),and 50 yr-old- B&W 35mm negatives with good success. It's simple enough to use--open the box, fold up the sides to create a platform for your phone, flip the switch to power up the small light box, position your slide or negative in the holder so the light shines up through it, then place your camera where it can view the now backlit image through the hole in the platform. The app that you download to your phone is simple and easy to use. I was surprised by the fact that this thing is heavy duty cardboard, but it seems sturdy enough for years of use. It's nice and portable, folding up to a thin 1 inch (+ or -)thickness. Worth the price if all you want to do is get your slide/negatives into digital format so you can then use computer photo editing to clean up the image. I would purchase this item again.

This is a great product if you have old negatives and nowhere to get them printed! I got lots of great photos that would otherwise have been lost! Having said that, it does take some practice to get good focus and colors. Initially everything comes out kind of dingy yellow, but the app that comes with it helps fix this a lot once you familiarize yourself with it. Also the sleeve to hold the negatives is sized only for 35mm film. For smaller stuff you have to just kind of hold it in place and try to get it to focus, for bigger stuff you may just be out of luck. It's definitely a great way to see what is on old negatives, and you'll get some good prints with a little bit of work, but it is not a replacement for getting your negatives processed professionally.