Kodak 8mm Film Scanner - Professional Scan Service v Kodak Reels 2 digitiser

In 2020 I sent two 5 inch reels of standard 8mm cine film to a professional frame by frame film scanning service. They cleaned the film and scanned it for me. I was rather disappointed with the quality of the resulting digital files.
In 2023 I decided to purchase my own 8mm film scanner and digitiser. After much research I purchased the new version 2 of Kodak Reels digitiser, which had recently superseded the original Kodak Reelz scanner. (I suggest you avoid the old Kodak Reelz version - the new model, although similar in appearance, has a much improved specification & quality of output).

I tested the quality from the Kodak scanner by re-scanning the original film scanned by the professional scanning service to see how my Kodak scanner compared. The results can be viewed in this video. I was pleasantly surprised by the superior results from the Kodak Reels scanner over the results from the professional frame scanner service.

The new Kodak Reels has several improvements on the many other scanners in the under £1,000 price range.
The main ones are:
1. The viewing screen at 5" is about 4 times the area of most others.
2. The image sensor is much higher at 8.08 megapixels (3280x2464) using a 1/3"sensor, which is higher than any other I know of.
3. Reel sizes from 3 to 9 inches can be accommodated on in and out sides with no problems.
4. With most scanners the SD card is limited to 32 GB whereas the Kodak takes any size up to 128GB (I have tested and can confirm this).
5. Large buttons on the control panel are easy to use and the menu makes everything easy.
6. Films are scanned at 2 frames per second, which is the same as the other scanners in this price range. The problem of leaving any of these scanners unsupervised is that if a splice breaks on the film (not unusual for film spliced together 50+ years ago) the output film may end up spilling onto the floor.
7. The resulting digitised film plays at 20 fps (frames per second). Standard 8 was filmed at 16 fps and Super 8 at 18 fps. If this bothers you you can adjust the film speed using a video editing program. (I have used the Cyberlink Power Director editor for many years).
8. There are some reports of color instability with Kodak Reels - I have never had this problem. I think the reviewers were possibly writing about the old version 1 Kodak Reelz.
9.It is essential to thread the film properly through the gate. The film must run smoothly underneath all four tabs. If you don't take care to thread the film properly the results will be out of focus and look awful. This can be fiddly but it's essential.
I overcame this by sliding the start of the film leader through the gate underneath a damp index finger. Fiddly, but you have to thread the film properly before snapping down the gate lid, otherwise you are going to miss the good results available from your Kodak Reels scanner. The instruction book is weak on the importance of this point. If you have focus problems they tell you to switch back and forth between the Standard and Super 8 settings. Sometimes that helps, but if your film is not properly threaded under the gate's tabs it won't help you.
10. The film gate does not collect dust like a projector gate does. I haven't had any problems with dust and hairs, but you do need to keep the gate area clean with the cloth provided.
11. I have only used it for standard 8 films. With Super8 it looks likely that there is additional fiddly work switching around reel hub converters.

Finally I would say that I am very pleased with my Kodak Reels digitiser and I
hope this helps you to evaluate the 8mm film scanners currently available as at April 2023. I would add that I have only used the the Kodak Reels scanner and one professional scanning service, and that there are many other scanners and scanning services available (all the scanners are made in China, often looking identical to each other with the same specs). There are many reviews and opinions available for you to review on the internet, before you buy one.