How it works
What actually happens to your slides, negatives and prints.
The words on photo scanning websites are almost identical everywhere and the results are not. What follows is what happens in our building, in the order it happens, including the parts that are slower than a bulk feeder.
Intake and chain of custody
Every box is logged at intake, handled by hand, and tracked through the lab under a full chain of custody. Carousel order, album order and box order are recorded, because they are easy to keep and effectively impossible to reconstruct afterwards.
Inspection before anything runs
Slides and prints are checked for mould, fading and surface damage. Fragile prints are handled without pressure rollers, because a crease put in during scanning is permanent. Nothing is cleaned with household products; that does more damage than the dust ever did.
Scanning, one at a time
Each slide, negative or print is scanned individually. Resolution is chosen for what the original can actually resolve, because scanning a soft 1970s print at a huge DPI produces a large file and no more detail.
Return
Image files on a flash drive for orders under 256 GB, or a hard drive above that. DVDs at $5 per disc alone, or $15 alongside a drive. Your originals come back in the same shipment, in the order they arrived.
Faded colour is per-image work.
Kodachrome held its colour remarkably well. Ektachrome and many print stocks did not, and shifted towards magenta or cyan. A lot of that is recoverable, but it is per-image work rather than something a batch setting fixes, so it is quoted separately after we have seen the collection.
We will say which images are worth the work and which are not, rather than charging for all of them.
What we will not promise.
An exact completion date. A collection that needs sorting, or prints that need lifting from album pages, adds hours nobody can predict from an intake form. The queue we quote is our own, because every scan happens in this building rather than being sent out.
Rush service
Available at additional cost, quoted per order in the week you call. Tell us the date that matters and we will say honestly whether it can be met.
Not sure what you have?
Count the containers and send us the number, with a photo if you like. We will tell you what the job involves, with no obligation.