I remember being frustraded like this too. When I finished school the only scanner I had available was a cheap flatbed and it never did any of my work justice. The route I took was to by a Nikon LS-2000 which I sold my soul for. My thinking at the time was that I already had my camera and lenses and the Scanner was a lot cheaper than any digi-cam I wanted. Hang in there dude the prices of neg scanners are dropping fast :)