I agree with you about scanners. CCD cameras have a lot of advantages over film in terms of sensitivity, but the prices are silly. I use an even cheaper scanner. Its a 'no name' machine sold by the Jessops chain of photographic shops in the UK for the equivalent of about 150 dollars US. I've seen it under a number of different brand names on the net. It's only 1800dpi, but that's over the full width and height of 35mm negative. This gives me about 11Mb file size per picture and compares very favourably in resolution with even 1 megapixel CCDs, which cost a bloody fortune in the UK. I get the film developed, uncut and unprinted, for peanuts and then scan and process the best shots. It may not be as sensitive as a CCD but its resolution is as good and it will be a long time before I change over.