Need to scan medium format negatives

[dancing-hedgehog]

I have been doing a bit of research, and it seems that it would cost $5-$8 each to get these scanned :eek1 I have a number of medium format negatives (old family pics) that I want to digitize & process in photoshop. I currently own a lowly Epson Perfection 1660. The scanner can do 35mm film or slides, but that's not very useful. I tried to combine two scans and I was able to align and merge them, but the exposure is different for each side :crazy This doesn't seem like a viable approach. I can also see a lot of stuff that I believe ICE would take care of.
The Nikon Coolpix 9000 seems to be the right tool for the job, but costs about $1850. I'm trying to avoid major toy buying right now, but the developed photos are 40 or 50 years old, and it shows :rolleyes
Any words of wisdom regarding this?
TIA,

[dancing-hedgehog]

After some further reading, I answered my own question :rofl

Someone posted a link to another forum, RetouchPRO, that seems to be more focused on this subject - thanks! :1drink The consensus there seemed to be that an Epson 4990/PRO was a cost effective compromise. I quickly discovered that the 4990PRO is currently a phantom; it seems to be backordered everywhere I looked! The 4990 is almost as bad, but I think I found one. I can upgrade the ICE software later if I need to :rolleyes