We are doing more and more scanning jobs in the studio, and we often get questions as to our services, what we offer and what we can do. Thus, this blog post.
Q: I have hundreds of old negatives and slides that my dad took when we were kids. Can you scan them and make digital files out of all of them?
A: Yes, we can. Our set up allows us to copy any size negative, slide, or print from 35mm, 110, or disk cameras to 4×5 film negatives and large poster-size prints.
Q. What if I don’t know what is on those old negatives, will you screen out the bad ones for me?
A: Yes, and no. That is a hard one to answer. We will screen out the blank images, the entirely out of focus ones and you can tell us things like “don’t do any of the shots w/o people in them” but after that, we can not tell if the slide we are looking at is important to you or not. The best thing is for you to do is to go through the images yourself before you bring them to us. If you have a question, give us a call or drop by the studio and we can show you some tools that allow you to view slides and negatives. We’ll even give you a pair of white cotton gloves so you won’t get fingerprints on them.
Q: Can you make prints for me?
A: Yes, we can. Our prices for prints from any of our scanning services are on our scanning page.
Q: Can I make my own prints from the files you provide me.
A: Yes, you can. We will provide you with standard JPG files that you can take them to any lab to make prints.
Q: Do I need to organize the slides, negatives, and prints or can I just toss them in a box.
A: If you want the digital files to be in a certain order, then yes, you do need to organize them in some way. You can number the slides or prints in the order you want, you can leave the slides in the boxes they came in and number the boxes, you can leave them in slide trays and number the order of the trays. (please note that if you do bring in slides that are in slide trays, there is an additional 10 cent charge for us to take them out of the trays) If you don’t really care what order they are in, then you can just bring that box of stuff in.
Q: How do you deliver the digital files?
A: We can deliver them in several ways. We can post them to the cloud, allowing you, or anyone you would like, to both view them online or download them to your computer. When we put them on our cloud servers, we will email you a link to the photos. This link is only available to you and anyone you want to send that link to, but not to anyone else. We can also burn the images to a CD for an additional $5 per cd, or put them on a USB stick for an additional $10.
Q: Can you make a DVD slide show of the files?
A: Yes, for an additional $25 we will make a slide show of your images that will play on a DVD player so you can see them on your TV.
Q: What if the originals are in lousy shape, badly faded, with dust and stains on them. Will you clean them before you copy them?
A: This is another one of those yes and no answers. (I’m beginning to feel like a politician now) We can correct for some fading and discoloration to some extent. But other than to blow off dust with a shot of canned air, we do not retouch them. We do that in our restoration services.
Q: Do you send my originals out to have this work done?
A: No, all your originals stay in our studio, and we do all of the work ourselves.
Q: What if I have images done by another professional photographer, can you copy these?
If the photographer is still in business, then no, the images are covered by copyright law. If they are older then 1978, the photographer is unknown or out of business then yes we will.
Q: What is the turnaround time?
A: This will depend on the size of the job. For just a few we can complete the job in just a day or two. For hundreds, it can take about two weeks. We will give you a delivery date when you bring in your order and will always try to work with you if you have a deadline.
Q: Do you require a deposit?
A: Yes, we ask for a 50% deposit when you bring the job in, and the balance is due when you pick the order up. We accept all major credit and debit cards and checks are OK. We will even take cash.
Have other question about our photo scanning services, give us a call at 559-734-2110
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