The photoscot.co.uk - Photo Scanning and Digital Picture Restoration Service for the Glasgow area, Scotland:

35mm slides, negatives, in mounted or filmstrip format, or larger printed material can be scanned, and a CD made for you.

I can scan film up to 4" by 5", or prints up to A4 size, using a Canoscan 9950F scanner, which gives excellent quality results.

Timescale:

Small numbers of scans can usually be done in two or three days, depending on the service required, and what my other commitments are. Large numbers of scans will take longer. The timescale is by negotiation, as I have a full-time job as a Computing teacher, and will therefore be available to work only in the evenings and at weekends.

The Scanning Process:

I will come to your premises if that is suitable for you. This allows you to discuss your exact requirements and allows me to give you a personal service. I will demonstrate the processes available and provide you with one enhanced scan included in the price of the call-out charge (see below).

If you wish to proceed with scanning, your slides/negatives/prints will then be scanned on your premises. This avoids me taking your slides away, and removes the risk of loss in the post. No alterations (such as dust removal or colour corrections) will be made to the scans at this point. You pay me, and I will then take the scans away and process them, according to your requirements. Every picture will be examined to ensure it is of high quality, before writing a CD for you. The CD will be delivered or posted to you, depending on where your premises is.

If you live further from Glasgow than 50 miles, and you wish to send me slides or filmstrips by post, please email me to discuss this option first, as there is obviously a greater danger of loss of your material.

Scale of Charges:

There is a call-out charge to include one visit to your premises with my own equipment and doing your first scan, of £20 for within 25 miles of Glasgow, or £30 for a 50 mile radius. If you give me a reasonable amount of business, I may not need make another call-out charge, or the call-out charge will be reduced, even if I need to visit you again.

The charge for travelling further than 50 miles is by negotiation, and is only worth while for large quantities.

There is a 10% discount for more than 100 scans.

Thereafter there are 3 packages:

1 - Standard scanning package - £2 per scan

The aim of the standard package is to back up your slides, negatives or prints to ensure that valued photos are not lost, and that you can use them for emailing, for making a slide show on your computer, or for printing:

The standard package includes the following:

remove obvious loose dust and hairs from each picture using an air blower
scan slides or filmstrips at 2400 dpi, or prints at 300 dpi, depending on the size required, to produce files of approx 6 mpix, suitable for printing at approximately A5, or 8" by 6". (It is not worth while scanning originals at small sizes, which would restrict their possible uses to email or computerised slide shows. The originals have a much greater level of detail than a computer screen.)
each picture is individually treated to ensure that the best exposure is made by the scanner - darkening or lightening as appropriate
rotate if necessary to straighten horizon or other obvious tilt
crop manually to remove edges of slide mount left over from automatic cropping
inspect to see whether dust removal is needed
remove small dust specks automatically from selected light areas such as the sky, without removing detail from important areas of photo, which will remain unaffected
remove large dust specks, which are visible at 25% scale using manual digital tools
save as medium quality jpg file on to your hard disc and/or a CD
files named by a sequential number - you are advised to rename them yourself
A backup of your files will be kept for two months, during which time you may request a further CD of your photos, at a cost of £5 per CD.

2 - Enhanced scanning package - including the standard package above. £5 per scan.

The aim is to prepare slides for publication at up to A5 or 8" by 6" size, and includes in addition to the above:

remove dust and major scratches manually so that it is not obvious at 50% scale (this is much more work than removing dust at 25% scale)
colour correct if necessary, if an improvement to the scanned image can be achieved
crop artistically for publishing or the web if necessary
save highest quality sRGB jpg for use on the computer or on the web, or as compressed tif in Adobe RGB colour space for printing - you choose one of these formats
files named according to a number or label on each slide

3 - Professional scanning package - including the basic and enhanced packages above - £10 per scan:

The aim is to prepare photos to the highest standard, e.g. for a photo agency. This service is suitable for small numbers of slides, since each slide is scanned individually to ensure optimum quality:

slides or filmstrips scanned at up to 4800 dpi (or as necessary, depending on the film size, and the size of output needed), producing a file of approximatey 24 mpix, printable at up to A3
remove dust and scratches manually so that they are not obvious at 100% scale
remove imperfections such as small areas of color from fading, coloured spots or fungus growth
manually adjust colour, contrast, brightness if necessary, e.g. to counteract as much as possible the fading of slides

This service does not include removal of undesirable objects in a picture, or retouching in any way, e.g. removal of vignetting or removal of highlight rings caused by using a mirror lens
If such services are required, this is more expensive, as it requires judgement and discussion with the customer, and may cost up to an additional £10 per scan, which will pay for one hour's extra work.

Conditions

You must sign that you are the owner of the copyright on the material to be scanned, or have the permission of the copyright owner for the scanning to go ahead.

The packages may be varied by negotiation, with an agreed alteration in price as a result.

Amonst others, I have so far had scanning business from Christopher Mylne, a wildlife photographer who is writing a book on Foula, and from the Sharmanka Gallery (kinetic sculptures) for their Edinburgh Festival Fringe brochure.

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