I've been shooting lately for my film class and I've been scanning my negative with a canon flat bed scanner. I did not buy the scanner to scan negative, I just happened to have a scanner that is able to scan negative. The scanner is the Canon 4200fs. I bought the scanner about 5 years ago.
I would love to have a dedicated scanner for my negative but my canon flat bed does a good enough job for me. I scan all of my prints at 3200dpi gray scale. I turn off any digital enhancement on the software, I don't have much luck with it.
Most of my scanned photos are for online viewing. I don't plan to print any of my scanned negative. I printed out one of my scanned negative prints and it looks pretty good. The prints where 12x8 printed at Costco.
I am not saying my scanner is the best out there. I know there are better units out there, like the epson v500. I've used the Nikon coolscan as well at school and it does a lot better job. The nikon gives you better detail and better color tone.
Really I think it comes down to how serious you are in scanning your negatives. I would try a good flatbed scanner first. When you buy it, check the store to see what type of return policy they have. If they do not have a restocking fee, buy it and try it out. Nothing wrong with doing that, if you are not satisfied with it, return it. That way at least you get a sense of how good of a quality a flat bed scanner can be.
Saelee's photos- powered by SmugMug
Here are some example of the negatives that I've scanned into digital.
If you want the original size file of any of the image on there let me know I can show you. This way you can get a sense of how good or bad a $100 scanner can be.
All shots where taken with the Pentax ZX-L and Pentax k1000 with Kodak tri-x or ilford hp5 400 film.