Originally posted by MRRiley ...yet by it's nature, it is intrinsically and completely digital.
The technology is digital, but the process is film-dependent. Successful scanning is not as simple as pushing a button on a dSLR. It requires fairly intimate knowledge of the film characteristics and the ability to read the negative/slide for appropriate interpretation. It is strictly analogous to traditional optical printing.
That being said, I can see your logic. After all, digital is digital, right? A scanner is just a variation of a digital camera and the software that runs it is like the image processor inside the camera. The main difference is the how the image is captured and the way in which the technology is being used. For a dSLR, digitization is the main event. For scanning, digitization is a single intermediate step in the process from image capture to publication. The digitization is an optional extension of traditional darkroom process. Film and film processing is the full rational and the only reason to even own a photo scanner.
Steve
BTW...If the intent is solely to produce a digital image, why is it that any of us are even bothering to scan? After all, the price of a decent scanner and a reliable camera is about the same as a new K-x.