I'll be trying this soon. I've got four potential places found on the Internet -- wondering if anyone here has experience to share.
I though I would try a test batch, then if i like it send all my slides first (a few hundred?), before dealing with negatives/prints (thousands, tucked away in dozens of envelopes).
i'll be interested to hear about any in the UK, i've seen a few but i don't really like the idea of sending 1 of a kind photographs via our postal service!
interesting, i've been doing some similar research in the UK as i have a pile of stuff that i would like to use digitally. @Scrivna I'll keep you posted on what i find in terms of quality and cost! (starting off with negatives i don't mind losing!!)
I would be interested in such a place in the United States. I am also interested in enlarging some of my photos to 8 X 10s and larger. What is the best and the most economical way to do this?
Scan Cafe is a US place... http://www.scancafe.com/ I've never used them (turn around time is too long for me, and I'm not getting that many scanned).
I would say it truly depends on the amount of stuff you need scanned. Hundreds/thousands... definitely a bulk place. But Under a hundred/enlargements I'd consider a smaller photo shop... like http://www.northcoastphoto.com/index.html North Coast Photo.
I'd recommend Dwayne's Photo EXCEPT... they're scans are NOT that high of quality, at least not the ones they give you after photo developing. Nearly all photo places (including the big chains like Walmart, etc) will scan your stuff to a resolution to make a 5"x7" print. That is not that high of resolution if you're wanting to print bigger or want the highest quality. In this case, you'll have to find someone who will give you the highest resolution possible.
@Scrivna - I don't know about places in the UK you can send them off to, but my Dad has scanned in all his old slides with a different type of scanner that has a holder for them. I think he can use it to scan negatives too. Don't know how much it cost him, but it won't have been a lot.
@wormentude -- I can't see doing it myself:
1) Although the cost has come down in the past few years, high-quality equipment like a scanner for photography/slides, slide loader, (software: to separate negative strip images into files / Image Correction and Enhancement) is still expensive. Then what would you do with it once finished? store, collect dust, or hassle of selling it online and packing it up to ship.
2) The cost of your own time for labor is worth $10 or $20 or $45 or $100 or whatever it is, per hour. I think the slides would take 5-9 minutes apiece (those bulk scanning services are doing post-processing of the JPG/TIFF, too). 1000 slides x 7 minutes per slide = 116 hours, x $10 per hour (I get paid more than to work…) = $1166.
3) The TEDIUM. The monotony. Waiting. Taking slide out of the box, putting it into the scanner, turning it when you put it in the wrong way, waiting. Lifting the lid, putting it back into its box, take out the next one, waiting. The stress of deciding whether you should start color-correcting now in the scanning software, or do everything later with your photo editing program. The annoyance when the slide loader jams up again.
Nightmarish! :-o If I could, I would have done it already years ago.
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I would say it truly depends on the amount of stuff you need scanned. Hundreds/thousands... definitely a bulk place. But Under a hundred/enlargements I'd consider a smaller photo shop... like http://www.northcoastphoto.com/index.html North Coast Photo.
I'd recommend Dwayne's Photo EXCEPT... they're scans are NOT that high of quality, at least not the ones they give you after photo developing. Nearly all photo places (including the big chains like Walmart, etc) will scan your stuff to a resolution to make a 5"x7" print. That is not that high of resolution if you're wanting to print bigger or want the highest quality. In this case, you'll have to find someone who will give you the highest resolution possible.
1) Although the cost has come down in the past few years, high-quality equipment like a scanner for photography/slides, slide loader, (software: to separate negative strip images into files / Image Correction and Enhancement) is still expensive. Then what would you do with it once finished? store, collect dust, or hassle of selling it online and packing it up to ship.
2) The cost of your own time for labor is worth $10 or $20 or $45 or $100 or whatever it is, per hour. I think the slides would take 5-9 minutes apiece (those bulk scanning services are doing post-processing of the JPG/TIFF, too). 1000 slides x 7 minutes per slide = 116 hours, x $10 per hour (I get paid more than to work…) = $1166.
3) The TEDIUM. The monotony. Waiting. Taking slide out of the box, putting it into the scanner, turning it when you put it in the wrong way, waiting. Lifting the lid, putting it back into its box, take out the next one, waiting. The stress of deciding whether you should start color-correcting now in the scanning software, or do everything later with your photo editing program. The annoyance when the slide loader jams up again.
Nightmarish! :-o If I could, I would have done it already years ago.
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