You don’t need to drop $500+ to get decent results from home negatives — a lot of the budget options this year actually punch above their price point for casual/family archive use. The main things I’d check before buying: what film formats it actually supports (35mm vs medium format vs both), whether it comes with decent software or you’re stuck doing manual color correction, and resolution — anything too low and you’ll regret it once you try to print.

This roundup compares a bunch of the budget-friendly options for 2026 if you want a starting point: Best Budget Film Scanners in 2026