• Once we have received your order and are in receipt of your media we will set to work, scanning each image at high quality resolution. Once digitised we then return your new images to you on USB along with your original images.

  • We scan prints, slides, negatives, albums, scrapbooks, and more. If you’re wondering if we’ll be able to capture what you’ve got, why not get in touch. I suspect that if we can see it, we can likely scan it.

  • We offer a couple of options. If you live within a 10 mile radius of our East Leake location we will always endeavour to collect your media in person. If you don’t live within our “pick-up” radius then we will arrange for a trusted collection service on your behalf. Our courier of choice has various collection or convenient “drop-off” options available, whereby you drop your packed images off at an access point at a time that suits you (rather than waiting for your courier). Whatever option you decide, we will take care of all the details during the ordering process.

  • We scan photo prints at 600 PPI and slides and negatives at 4,000 PPI. This aligns with industry best practices, technical limits of photography, and The National Archives guidelines for the  preservation of photo materials.

    PPI stands for pixels per square inch (i.e., the number of pixels that are squeezed within each square inch of your digital image.)

  • Higher resolution is better, but only up to a point. After a certain point all you’re really getting is bigger files without getting any more useful details.

  • If you have a print and negative of the same photo, it’s usually best to scan the negative. This is because we can often capture better resolution, better colour, and overall higher quality images. You also often get a bit extra around the edges of the image! But don’t worry if you’ve only got a print, we can also a great scan of them as well.

  • Sometimes with older prints you’ll find that they have a metallic silver shine to them. This occurs when the silver from the photochemical process has worked its way through the paper and creates a metallic shine on the photo paper. It’s impossible to see through with the human eye, but with the right equipment and a few tricks, we can bring these photos back to life. In light of the additional work required, silvered prints incur an additional fee per image.

  • No, an estimate is absolutely fine. We won’t scan more than what you’ve ordered without speaking with you first. When your order arrives will do a quick sense check to see if everything is in the right ballpark.

    We will also reduce the order price if you've overestimated!

    If you’re not sure how to get at a realistic number here is a rough guide to help you:

    Photos:

    • 1” of photos is about 100 photos.

    • On average, a shoe box holds about 600 photos, with a maximum of around 900 if they are standard 4×6 prints.

    Slides

    • 1” of slides is about 20 slides.

    If you’re nearby we can pop by and help you with an estimate.

  • Each project will vary and we’d be happy to give you a more accurate estimate, but hopefully the following will give you a helpful guide. Please note that we have a minimum order size of £50.

    Prints

    • Small Prints (up to A5 Size) - £0.75 per image

    • Medium Prints (up to A4 Size) - £1.00 per image

    • Large Prints (up to A3 Size) - £2.00 per image

    • Extra Large Prints (larger than A3) - priced individually, do get in touch so that we can give you an appropriate estimate.

    • 12x12” Scrapbooks - £1.95 per side

      • Individual Scrapbook images: If your pages contain multiple images and you’d like to save each image separately, this will be charged at an additional fee of £0.60 per image)

    • Slivered Prints (see FAQ) - An additional setup fee +£2.00 per print

    Slides

    • 35mm or 120 (Medium Format) Slides - £1.25 per slide

    • Other slide formats (e.g., 110, half-frame, subminiature, 126, 127) - £1.25 per slide

    Negatives

    • 35mm or 120 (Medium Format)  - £1.25 per frame

    • Other film formats (e.g., 110, 116/616, 126, 127, Disk film carrier, View-Master carrier) - £1.25 per frame

    Specialist Transparencies

    • Glass Plates, Sheet Film, or Lantern Slides (up to A5 Size) - £3 per negative

    • Glass Plates or Sheet Film (up to A4 Size) - £5 per negative

    • Glass Plates or Sheet Film (up to A3 Size) - £7 per negative

    Additional Preparation & Processing

    This is charged at a standard hourly rate of £50 per hour and will vary between projects based on your requests:

    • the complexity of order (e.g., where there are a variety of formats and/or sizes being processed, or silvered prints requiring special scanning).

    • Preparation required (e.g. if you would like your collection curated or sorted, or would like us to remove/return photos from albums in the process of scanning)

    • Post Processing required (e.g. if you would like details such as names, location, occasion of the photo embedded into the file so that they travel with the file wherever it goes).

    When you share the requirements of your project, we will be able to give an estimate of the additional Preparation & Processing required. We aim to work as efficiently as we can to keep this as low as possible.

    Storage Fees

    USB storage - £15

    Archival storage - will vary based on size of project. However for a shoe box of 5x7" prints (1,000 prints) it would be £30.

  • You can pack your media in just about anything, with the average shoe-box holding up to about 900 photos! Cardboard boxes and padded envelopes are ideal. Where you are mailing glass plate negatives it is important these are securely padded and that they are labeled as fragile. Mailing instructions will also be provided along with any pre-paid shipping label required.

  • Keeping your images safe is our absolute priority. We will make every effort to ensure that your images are carefully and correctly handled at every stage of the process. If you have any specific questions in relation to the safety of your images then please don’t hesitate to contact us and we’ll be happy to provide the reassurance you need.

  • We work hard to turn around projects in a timely manner and we aim to have your images scanned within a couple days of receipt. However, for transparency’s sake, this is a part-time enterprise for us and we want to deliver you amazing high resolution scans rather than rush things through. That means, when we’re busy, most projects are going to take a couple of weeks rather than a couple of days.

    However, given that often our photos have been sitting around for years (if not decades) most of our customers don’t mind waiting a little longer.

    That said, if you are working to a tight deadline please do let us know and we will do our best to expedite your order.

  • If your images are provided to us in a specific order, we will seek to return them to you in the same way.

  • We deliver most projects on a USB thumb drive, however if you’re project is really large we’ll put it onto an external hard drive. We can also provide multiple drives if you need more for gifts or backups.

    We deliver high-quality JPEG files for all scanned media. If you’d prefer a different file format such as TIFF or DNG just let us know. We can deliver other file formats at no extra cost, but your storage needs might increase 10x.

  • Once your order is complete we will store your images locally on a secure hard-drive for 12 months. We have found this is a reasonable amount of time for storage and offers peace-of-mind for our customers that they have back-ups available to them should the need arise. After 12 months all images will be deleted from our system. Should you wish to arrange for your images to be deleted earlier, just let us know.