Hot on the trail of this new film scanner, I’ve been watching HP’s promotional video on the company’s website. It majors on ‘turning family history into digital memories’ and there’s certainly nothing wrong with that. Setting out to be one of the best film scanners, the HP FilmScan 5” Touch Screen Film Scanner aims to send us off to rummage through old shoeboxes of negatives, transparencies and slides that have been packed away at the back of closets or in the attic for years or decades, and bring them into the digital era. Indeed, the video mostly features family photos from bygone times, and even a beehive hairdo makes an appearance. But again, while I’m all in favor bringing old memories back to life, I think there’s more to it than that.
There’s been something of a resurrection in film photography itself, with many people discovering the joys of analog for the first time, or reliving old-school delights with some of the best film cameras, loading up some of the best photographic film, or even just having fun with some of the best disposable cameras. But whichever way you look at it, sharing film-based photos can only get you so far. This new scanner that goes by the catchy model name of HPFS500 seeks to turn ancient or modern film into digital files that you can print on your desktop or share with the world.
