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What scanner equipment do you use for scanning 35mm slides and 35mm film? |
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We use Nikon Super Coolscan 5000
EDs film and slide scanners for scanning slides and film.
Click here
for a well written, thorough review of the 4000 slide scanner.
If you're familiar with these scanners, you'll know that it produces
fantastic results but
it's extremely slow. When we decided to offer slide scanning services and began to look at
which machines to purchase, we found two options; fast ones or good
ones. Our solution to the quality vs. speed problem had to
be uncompromising on quality but fast enough to allow us to offer
low prices and quick turn around times. We decided the only way to
solve the problem was to choose the best scanning machine, buy lots
of them and design and build a system and process to allow them to
work in concert. So that's what we did. Our system is
fast, efficient and uncompromising.
We use the Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED slide and film scanners.
Your Kodachrome slides can now benefit from the scratch and dust
removal technology of Digital ICE4!
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What equipment do you use to scan Medium Format
Film? |
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We use Nikon Super Coolscan 8000 and Nikon Super Coolscan 9000 slide and film scanners for scanning Medium Format Film
and other specialty film formats.
Click here
for a well written, thorough review of this scanner. If
you're familiar with these scanners, you'll know that they also produces
fantastic results but
are extremely, extremely slow to work with.
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What
does your standard pricing include when scanning slides?
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Our standard pricing
includes cleaning with compressed air to remove surface dust, scanning at 2000dpi (higher dpi's are available, too),
Digital ICE dust and scratch removal when appropriate, rotating each image to the correct orientation, cropping to the edge
of the image, and image enhancement including color balance, color
restoration, and lightening/darkening each image on an image by
image basis. We do not do batch auto-enhancement like ROC and GEM. This is an
important difference between DigMyPics! and other services. Batch
enhancement works well with some images but it makes others look
worse; sometimes much worse. We consider batch or automated
processing of any kind to be an unacceptable practice and you
should, too. Instead we do those enhancements on an image by
image basis to make sure each image is the best it can be.
Our pricing for 35mm slides also applies to 110mm, 126mm and 35mm
half frame slides in 2”x2” mounts. We can also scan 127 SuperSlides
in 2”x2” mounts, however, the pricing is different based on which
scanning option you choose, please contact us for details.
We include online, instant access to your images to view and
approve. Nobody else is offering this service but we think
it's important. We're sure you'll be anxious to see your
photos as soon as possible and make sure they are everything you're
expecting.
We include one free CD or DVD Data Disk to store your full sized images. Additional disks are $6.00
each. We use top notch archival quality media with a life span of at least
100 years. We spend a lot of money on the media we use.
We wouldn't think of skimping on such an important part of archiving
your photos.
If you're shopping around make sure to read "the fine print".
Many services have service levels that make their prices look cheap
but those prices fail to include many necessary services and will
leave you disappointed or stuck paying more than you expected.
Check out our shopping tips page for a
guide on what to watch out for. Whichever service you choose,
make sure you understand what you're getting and how much you're
paying. We've worked hard to keep our pricing simple but
that's not true of every service provider.
If you have additional needs that require special settings, just let
us know and we'll accommodate those needs.
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| What
do you do about dust and scratches when you scan slides? |
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We use compressed air on
each slide to remove surface dust. We don't wipe the film or
touch it in any way.
Digital ICE
will repair most other surface defects that aren't removed by the
compressed air.
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Original Slide |
After
DigMyPics! |
Click to learn
more about the makeover we can give your slides.
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| Do
you rotate and crop the images? |
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We will manually rotate
images to the correct orientation for no additional charge. We
also will crop your images to remove the black border left by the
scanning equipment.
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| How
long will it take for you to scan my slides? |
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Our current turn around
time is updated constantly and posted on the left sidebar of every
page. We offer a rush service if you need them rushed; just
contact us to arrange to have your order expedited.
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| How
many slides can you transfer to a CD? |
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A CD holds 650MB. A
slide at 2000 dpi in JPEG at 100% quality format is about 3MB in
size. You can fit between 2 - 3 hundred slides on 1 CD.
A slide at 4000 dpi will be 4 times larger and only 50 -
75 will fit on one CD. If you want your images in
uncompressed TIFF format then each file size will be over 16MB at 2000 dpi
or 64MB at 4000 dpi. Check out our
resolutions page.
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| Can
you put my slide batches in different directories? |
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Yes! If you group
your slides and name and label the group, we'll put that group in its
own directory. We'll also name the files so that they start
with that name, too. We want your files to be easy to work with and
we do what we can to facilitate that. We ask that you try to
put no fewer that 40-50 slides in a group.
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| How
should I send you my slides? |
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We recommend that you send
us your slides in boxes, slide trays, carousels, or slide pages, if
possible. Please make sure
they are secure and won't move around or jumble within the box you
use for mailing.
If you have the metal Airequipt trays please remove the slides
from the metal frames. We can do it for you, but because of
the extra time involved we will need to charge a small handling fee.
We have to scan Kodachrome
film using special settings just for that film type. Unless
your slides are organized by some specific group or time frame,
please help us by sorting them by Kodachrome and non-Kodachrome film
types and/or by various mount styles.
If you need to maintain the order of the slides we'll change the
settings in between each small group of Kodachromes within your
group and maintain the order of your slides. If you don't know
which ones are Kodachrome and which one are not, it's ok.
We'll figure it out for you to make sure your slides are scanned
correctly.
If you don't have a slide storage system, we offer several
excellent options in our shop. We can
process your slides and then store them in one of those products for
their return to you.
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| Can I
see some samples of your work? |
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Of course! We have a
few
customers who were kind enough to allow us to use their photos on
our site as examples of our work. Use the link below to have
a look. If you have any questions or concerns,
contact us!
Samples of our slide scans
Samples of our negative and film scans
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Sounds Great! I'd really like to have you scan slides for me.
What do I need to do to get started? |
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Estimate the number of
photos you have and go to our order page.
Fill out the order form and click the button at the bottom of the
page to submit your order. That will add your order to our
database and give you a bar coded label with your our shipping
address and your return address. You can tape that label to
your box or include it inside the box with your photos. Ship
the box to us using the courier of your choice. We recommend
FedEx or USPS Priority mail with Tracking. We don't
recommend using a courier or service that doesn't offer tracking.
When your box arrives, we'll scan that bar code on the order label
which will send you an email to let you know your box has arrived
and it will queue your order to be scanned. Once we've completed
scanning your slides and other photos, we'll send you an email with
the total and a link to pay by credit card. As soon as you
pay, you'll be given access to review and approve your photos. If
you paid by check, we'll just send you an email with a link to view
your photos before we ship. Once approved, we'll ship everything
back to you. It's simple, it's fun, and you'll be glad you did
it.
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I
have some more questions or special requirements. What should
I do?
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Call or write! We're here to help and you're welcome to check out our
complete list of FAQ's:
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