Zuma / Photolux SV-2 LED slide viewer review

If you’ve got a box full of old film transparencies you’ll likely need some way of sorting through them and lightboxes of old can be cumbersome and expensive.

The SV-2 from Photolux in the UK, and sold under the brand name Zuma in the US, aims to offer a solution to this problem as it’s a very lightweight and portable handheld slide viewer you can easily use from the comfort of your sofa. Note that it only has a 2x magnification and has no ability to scan your slides, so depending on what you wish to do after you’ve made your initial image cull, this product may not be the most suitable for your needs. Unlike the SV-3 which is pretty much better and bigger (literally!) in every way, the SV-2 doesn’t support negative film pass-through so it’s no good if you have boxes full of negative strips.

In this review, I got hold of one, plus the larger Photolux SV-3, and put it to the test to find out if it’s worth your time and money.

Photolux SV-2 LED slide viewer: Specifications

Photolux SV-2 LED slide viewer: Price

The Photolux SV-2 LED slide viewer is ridiculously cheap and that's one of two things it has going for it, alongside its very compact and portable build. However, for $15 in the US or £13 in the UK, you really can't expect a lot for your money. Whilst the glass magnifier is perfectly fine, albeit rather weak at just 2x magnification, it's the plastic materials and ropey electronics in the back end that let it down and make it quite frustrating to use. I would recommend spending a little extra and going for the SV-3 instead.

Photolux SV-2 LED slide viewer: Design & Handling

So you’ve probably seen that I awarded the SV-2 just two stars out of five and this mainly came down to how it performed which I’ll cover in much more depth in the next section. But let’s start with some positives and what the SV-2 does well.

The SV-2 has a very budget-friendly price of just £13 / $15 so it doesn’t break the bank and is therefore in perfect gift-buying territory. It provides a cheap and cheerful way for you to look at old slides in plastic and cardboard film surrounds, though it doesn’t have a pass-through for strips of negatives which is a shame, though it is something its bigger brother the SV-3 can do.

Its sleek dimensions of 7.8x7x11.8mm and weight of 244g (with batteries) make it easy to hold and use – the addition of two angled plastic fins on the back of the device makes it easy to look at your slides when placed on a desktop, though it's also so featherweight it's quite pleasant to use and casually browse through slides from a sofa too. Though I will mention you do have to hold the slides down to power the LED light on – given that this product is aimed at a more elderly audience who shot on film back in the day this could be a problem for those with conditions like arthritis.

For your money you get a full glass display with magnification of two times, which is fine for its size, though the SV-3 is much better at 3x.

The SV-2 is powered by two AA batteries (not included) and once a slide is inserted into the designated opening it pushes down on a metal lever which powers the single LED bulb – this causes a bit of a problem as the single LED is very bright and causes a large hotspot in the centre of the images. This can make pictures look overexposed in the middle whilst dark and vignetted around the edges and corners.

By contrast its bigger brother: the SV-3 uses four smaller LEDs which are less powerful and spread out for much more even lighting – the results are night and day and the SV-3 is the clear winner and not all that much more expensive at around $24.

Photolux SV-2 LED slide viewer: Performance

As I covered in the previous segment, the viewfinder only tops out at 2x magnification and the single LED bulb is too bright which causes a large hotspot in the center of the image which makes the center look overexposed and creates the illusion of vignetting. The brightness of the single LED is also much harsher and less pleasant to look at for long periods of time compared to the SV-3 which has a more flat and even light.

The glass viewfinder is otherwise crisp and clear, though as with these types of devices, they are prone to catching flare from external light sources, so best used in a dark room, or with a makeshift lens hood to block out stray light.

The SV-2 is clearly very portable and lightweight and would be ideal for storing in a drawer or taking with you on the go. This does go in the SV-2’s favor as the SV-3’s footprint is easily three times bigger. Because the SV-2 is very lightweight and small, it's easy to tilt back and forward until the picture is shown at the best angle for you. There are also two plastic fins on the back which allow the SV-2 to sit at an angle which makes it a little easier to look down from above when sitting down and I found this to be very comfortable.

I did wonder how a company could produce an item like this for such an attractive price and still turn a profit, but taking the SV-2 apart reveals all. It’s quite honestly one of the most frustrating devices I’ve used in recent years, the battery compartment is so basic and rudimentary that it’s just a strip of metal barely keeping the AA batteries in place, it’s so infuriating trying to close the back up only for one of the batteries to pop out and you have to start trying to align it all over again. As mentioned before the single LED light isn’t ideal for looking at slides as it creates a large hotspot in the center.

When inserting your slide into the SV-2 it pushes down on a simple metal lever which makes contact with another strip of metal, completing the simple circuit and allowing the LED bulb to receive power from the two AA batteries. The trouble is that this metal lever is quite easy to bend when putting the back of the device back on – as you need to make sure both this metal lever and the LED light fit inside their designated holes (all whilst trying to make sure the AA batteries don’t fall out). This is a bit of a design flaw as the metal lever is also responsible for how much tension pops the slide out ready for you to take out and insert the next one. With too little pressure – the slide barely comes back out at all and I resorted to turning the SV-2 upside down for the slide to fall out.

This issue aside, I tried multiple different slides with cardboard and plastic surrounds and they all worked fine without getting caught. I never had to resort to a pair of tweezers to fish any slides out, though I did have to turn it upside down to get some slides to fall out of it when the pressure from the metal lever was inadequate.

Photolux SV-2 LED slide viewer: Verdict

The Zuma / Photolux SV-2 serves a purpose and is fine if you only have a very small amount of money to spend on a slide viewer. It also does a job if you need something very portable and compact, or you're looking for a gift that doesn't break the bank for somebody who you know has a large box of slides they're waiting to sort through.

However, that’s where my list of positive things to say about the SV-2 runs dry. My experience with the SV-2 was one of frustration and whilst I didn’t expect much from such a cheap and cheerful product, I would encourage anyone in the market for a slide viewer to spend a little bit more on either its bigger brother the Photolux SV-3 or Kodak 35mm Slide Viewer, both of which have a larger footprint but are much more user friendly. Even the Kodak Mobile Film Scanner which is made from cardboard has a useful app allowing you to invert negatives and magnify your slides and film on a large phone screen, so even if its scanning ability isn't brilliant – I would argue it's a better choice simply for going through and culling your old film.

I really wanted the SV-2 to be a neat and useful pocket-friendly slide viewer, but sadly its poor build quality in the backend with sloppy tolerances in the battery compartment and an overly bright single LED light unfortunately make this one to avoid unless you're on the strictest of budgets.

Alternatives

Kodak Mobile Film Scanner
This is a low-tech, left-field solution for viewing your slides. This is a cardboard, collapsible device that is designed to help you digitize your transparencies and negatives using the camera on your smartphone. A free downloadable app helps you with the process. 

Kodak Slide N Scan
Compared with the Kodak Scanza Film Scanner, which costs a little less to buy, this one has a larger screen for previewing scans or playing images back once you’ve scanned them, in Gallery view and slideshows. The control panel is rather different but again relies exclusively on push buttons, as the larger LCD still isn’t a touchscreen. Even so, operation is simple and effective, and the scanning speed is quick, although the actual image quality isn’t overly impressive.