35mm Slide Scanning Frequently Asked Questions FAQ

The same slide was sent to Legacy Box and scanned by Affordable Scanning Services. You be the judge.

Click here to see other scanning services results when compared to Affordable Scanning Services.

FAQ Below

Q. There are a lot of slide scanning companies out there. Why should I pick yours?
A. Yes. It is discouraging to see other companies with employees with so little talent getting so much work. Millions if you believe Legacy Box's non-stop advertising and "SALES, SALES, SALES". We hardly ever check their websites any more because anyone with a $99 doorstop "scanner" can make a website and make unbelievable "Sales" and prices. We are sorry that those who fall for their incredible low prices will probably never get their slides digitized correctly. They will not want to spend good money after wasting it and being disappointed. They think that the results just do not justify the money spent and they are RIGHT. When they see the poor scanning results, they think that they have used one of the premier services, because of all the advertising, and there is just no use in going on. Somehow or other some of our competitions are also able to get endorsements by big name companies and Legacy Box has non-stop commercials on "The Clay and Buck" radio show every weekday. The few "review" websites that have even done reviews of these companies do not even do a "slide for slide" test, as we have done, where each company gets the same slides to scan and show the results. And keep in mind that these "Review" websites are not in the least interested in doing reviews. The "reviews" are the hook that gets you to click on their websites and look at their ads. (Some of these "Review" websites also seem to be using AI or "Artificial Intelligence" to write their articles. I say that because sometimes AI currently is not very good and uses strange and stilted language. I'm sure they will get better in time.) That is the real test of which scanning company will do the best job for your project. None of our competitors offer to do FREE DEMO scans of your slides as we do. Why not? We welcome the comparison. They don't and for good reason.

The difference is not in our expensive scanners. The difference between us and our competitors is our talented Photoshop Artists. You will be getting a "BASE SCAN" from our competitors. Some may say that they Photoshop the scans but none of those that we have tested actually do that editing. Why? Because the people they hire to do this type of work are most likely minimum wage workers with no PS talent at all. The only way we can do this is we have a low overhead because we work out of our home and have done that since 2002. In our family business we have a combined experience with Photoshop in the Graphic Arts Industry of 66 years. From the results you can see when we compare our final images to our competition, I would be willing to bet that they have no more than zero years of Photoshop experience. They take the money that should be spent on Photoshop Artists and spend it on advertising on TV and radio and buying high ranking on Google searches. Take a look at the two images above and you will see the difference it makes. Also follow the links to see other examples.

We are sorry if you make the wrong decision when choosing a scanning company but we have done our best to try to help you to make the right decision. At least you will know that you are not alone since Legacy Box, our biggest competitor, says they have over a million customers. Future generations will never know that your slide conversion to digital could have been so very much better. How very sad.

Q. I have a 4K HD, big screen TV. How will your scans display on this type of TV?
A. Your final image size will be approximately 5,256 X 3,544 pixels. The higher resolution TVs today are 4K HDTVs. (The term "4K" comes from the fact that the horizontal side of the display is roughly 4,000 pixels and this is "roughly" 4 times a 1080p ) They measure 3840 x 2160 pixels. Technically, the Digital Cinema Initiative standard for 4K is 4096X2160 pixels. Naturally, the quality of your final image is going to be greatly dependent on the quality of your original slide. Sometimes people think that their slides are in better shape or sharper than they really are. For our own reputation, we are going to get the images as sharp as possible but, if your slide is blurry, you will have a 4K image that is blurry.. The display on your wide screen TV will also depend on how you have your TV setup and what kind of player you use.

 

Q: What if I want CD data disks instead of DVD data disks?

A. If you have more than 70 slides, our workflow is to put them on a DVD data disk instead of a CD data disk. Most every computer manufactured in the last ten years has at least a DVD reader in it. If you insist on CD disks, we will have to charge you for each disk that we have to make when we could have used a DVD disk instead. Many people mistake DVD data disks for movie disks. That is not the case. DVD data disks are just "grown-up" CD disks. Same thing but they hold six times more images.

Q. I would like you to name the folders that my images will be in; do you do that?
A. The only "names" that we put on the folders are numbers. We number like this: 01,02,03 and etc. That is why it is important for you to number your carousels or stacks of slides or photos. If you absolutely need to name your folders, you can do it once you copy our images to your computer.

Q. If I want to get the images printed, what size can they be printed at?
A. You can get someone to make prints at 4x6" or 5x7" or up to 8x10". The more you blow up an image after that, the grainier it will get but we are very satisfied with our print results even when blowing up to a 8x10" print and bigger. A regular size 35mm slide will fit perfectly on a 4x6" print. When you print this size slide on a 5x7 or 8x10, you will either have some white area or you can crop some of the image and print full size. This is because the proportions of the print is different from the proportions of the slide.

Q. I numbered my 35mm slides and photos. Will the numbers on the images match the numbers on my photos?

A. We are not going to be able to guarantee that every image will match up with the number on the back of each picture or slide. This would require looking at each picture, once again, and checking it to the image on the computer and comparing names and numbers. This would be more than could be expected and too labor intensive for our low prices. Sometimes a slide is bent or defective, and it may not be able to be scanned and will be skipped. (This does not happen often but it does happen and so we only charge for the actual scans that we do.) This would throw off the batch renaming of the images. The purpose of your numbering should be to keep the photos in proper order, not to ID them.

Q. I am an artist and I require the highest quality scanning I can find.
A. We would suggest that all artists wanting to digitize their work, really might be happier getting some company to do "drum scanning" for you at $30++ a slide but I have seen some artists that are not even happy with those results. We don't do drum scanning. We look for pleasing color and that will be in the eyes of our Photoshop editors. We can't afford to do rescans or color tweaking for your scans after you critique them, at our low pricing.

Q. Will you do higher resolution scanning for me if I really want it ?
A. We don't think that 99.9% of our customers really need to have their slides scanned at an exceedingly high resolution unless they plan on having prints made that are poster size. We offer scanning at 4000ppi which is very high resolution.

Q. What is the size that I will end up with when you are done scanning my paper photos?

A. We save the images at the original size and at 600 pixels per inch.

Q. I have 35mm slides that all have 2" x 2" mounts but they have different film sizes. Do I have to sort them into categories by film size?

A. As long as the mounts are the same, it doesn't matter what the film size is unless you have "127" size slides. These are the slides that are in 2x2" mounts but only have a cardboard border of about 1/4" all around. These need to be stacked separately and require special scanning and cost more.

Q. I know that the dyes on slides fade, usually to Red but, do slides get blurry as well?
A. Yes. the dyes on the slides do also blur or lose detail as they age. We have seen it on so many slides. There just can't be that many bad photographers or cameras or cheap lenses out there. I would say that out of most of the slides we scan, probably 85% have lost their sharpness and some look downright blurry and with colors mushed together.

Q. I have hundreds of 35mm slides and photos, do I have to count them all before I send them to you?

A. No. When we are done scanning them, all we have to do is see how many images we have. No manual counting is necessary unless you want to do it. Just don't be surprised at how many final scans there are. Just do a rough count and then just send the "Deposit" check with the slides. Also, you can figure that, with normal thickness slides, you will get about 23 per inch in a stack.

Q. Can I get my scans divided into different folders or shows or chapters?
A. Yes. Put your 35mm slides or photos into stacks and then into separate envelopes or plastic bags, or rubber band them and label them appropriately. Separate stacks of 35mm slides or photos will be considered to be separate "shows" or "chapters" unless clearly noted. For instance, if you mark a slide stack as "1A" and then the next one "1B" and the next one as "1C" we will know that you want stacks 1A, 1B and 1C all in "show" number one.

Q. Can you scan pictures if they are still on the album page?
A. We no longer offer that service. All paper pictures need to be removed from their pages and put into stacks.

Q. I inherited my grandfather\'s stereo slides, which include my parents 1955 wedding photos. Can you tell me what your warranty is for your work, and also what guarantee you have regarding the handling and care of the original slides?

A. Your slides and photos are irreplaceable until they are digitized. We will guarantee that we will take care of your slides and photos like they were our own and we will do the same with the transfer to digital. We look at our work as helping you preserve your slides or photos by transferring to digital format. Our reputation is at stake and we have very happy customers. We get as many new customers from referrals and returning customers as we do from our website.

Q. When I play your disk on different DVD players, the timing is very slightly different. Can you fix that?

A. As you can see from your testing our disk on three different players, each player interprets the disk a little differently. This is not to be unexpected. You used to be able to go to Blockbuster and rent commercial DVDs that will not play on certain players. The DVD player's electronics all depend on a lot of different electrical components manufactured by multiple lowest bidders in Thailand, Korea, China or etc. While one would hope for some consistency in the players, the one consistent thing here is our disk. It is the same no matter which player it is put in.

Q. Are my slides and/or pictures returned to me after they are digitized?

A. Yes. Everything is returned that you want returned when your project is complete.
Over the years, we have had a number of people that have sent many 35mm slide carousels filled with slides and told us to dispose of them when we are done. They have what they wanted: digitized images. They no longer have a need for the slides and don't want to pay to have them shipped back and they don't want to have to store them any longer. I have to add that when we estimate the cost of shipping, it is for stacks of slides rubber banded together. If you ship them to us in a large metal box and you want that box back, the shipping cost will be finalized when we can weigh the total shipment.

Q. My mother and father have an anniversary party coming up in two weeks and I can't wait until the end of your job queue. Is there any way for me to get put ahead of other orders?

A. Well, you can get your job "expedited" but you will have to pay our workers overtime pay. Our regular customers are given their Project Target Dates according to straight time rates. None of our regular customers are slighted in the least and will still stay on their schedule. In this way we can be fair to all customers, you can get your scanning project done when you need it and our hungry technicians can make some extra money.

Q. I need a color accurate transfer of my slides to digital format. How can you do that for your low prices per slide?

A. We deal with a lot of old slides and some of them need a lot of tweaking just to get them to look acceptable. We are looking for "pleasing color" so that, when a person looks at the images, they see a pleasing picture or at least a picture that is an improvement over the slide they sent us, considering it's condition. If you want an exact color match from slide to digital, you are going to be paying between $15 to $30 or more per slide depending on where you have them done. We don't do that. We offer an excellent product and value for your money. Our customers have been perfectly happy with our service. (See Testimonials) You just can't expect $30 color matching for our minimal pricing. We are looking for pleasing color and pleasing color has to be in the eye of our Photoshop expert since this is a subjective decision. We offer free sample scans of 10 of your slides so you can see a sample of what you are gong to get. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose by doing our free sample scans. We offer an inexpensive alternative to high-end drum scanning. When you "submit" our order form, you agree to let our Photoshop experts make the decision of what pleasing color is. We hope you understand that this is the only possible way that we can make any money at this. If we had to make re-scans and new disks because a customer did not agree to what pleasing color was, we couldn't stay in business.

Q. What is the resolution that you scan the slides at?

A. Standard 35mm Slides are scanned at 4,000 ppi or dpi and will be approximately 5,256.00 X 3,544.00 = 18,627,264 pixels. This is a high quality scan and is going to be more than sufficient for most uses other than blowing up to a huge size for printing. Paying a higher price for a higher resolution scan is not going to benefit most people. They are just wasting their money. If you just want to make 4x6", 5x7" or 8x10" prints from these images, you will be just fine. Why pay for extra ppi if you don't need it? Its like paying for high octane premium gasoline when your engine will run perfectly fine on regular unleaded. It can make the difference between having your slide conversion be affordable or not. Why don't you take advantage of our free sample scan offer and see for yourself exactly what you are going to get?

Q. How many 35mm slides can you fit on a data DVD?
A. 430 slides would be pretty close when we save them at an industry standard JPEG image high quality of 10.

Q. I found your site through Google and was pleased as to what I found. It seems you offer great services to the public. However, I may have missed something. I do understand that you do great things in the area of restoration, etc., but all I'm looking for is to get my slides converted to clear, sharp prints without the use of internegatives. Is it possible to use your service for my purpose?
A. We scan the slides to digital format. We can then make prints from the digital images. The clearness and sharpness of a print will be determined by the original slide. The transfer from one medium to another is not perfect. Shadow areas tend to fill in in the scanning process and when we try to open up the shadows in Photoshop, some contrast and depth of color will be lost while looking for more details. It is a balancing act. Please remember that the slide is made for viewing with a light that is projected through the film and the colored dyes. With scanning, you are converting to a completely different method of viewing. Printing puts a whole new transfer from one medium to another into the mix. I would suggest that you submit 10 of your slides for our free demo scans and if you are happy with the scans, we can go from there.

Q. Do you charge extra for the disks?
A. No. There are no hidden charges. The cost of the disks are figured into the overall cost. If we can't fit all your scans on one disk, we will put them on additional disks at no extra charge. Duplicate disks are extra cost though.

Q. I am afraid of sending my slides and photos anywhere.
A. We understand your concerns although, since we have been in this business, starting in 2002, we have never had a problem with any delivery service,either to us or from us, USA or Canada. We even have had customers in Korea and Australia and Argentina. Some people, to cut down on their "worry time," send overnight and/or by a service that offers on-line tracking, such as FedEx or UPS or Priority Mail. Some of our customers will divide their collections up and send in different boxes. Personally, if I were to send something that I didn't want to take a chance of losing, I would pack them in the biggest and strongest box I could find. Biggest being a key here since smaller things would tend to be easier to lose, if anything was going to be lost. Its not going to cost much more than sending a small box as long as you use some light packing materials such as foam peanuts or something similar. And really, your one concern is to get the photos to us. Once we have them, they will be digitized and, therefore, preserved forever from any further deterioration, damage or loss. I hope you can overcome your fears and we can do your scanning for you.

Q. Some of my scans look a little less colorful than I remember the slides.
A. The transfer from one medium to another is not perfect. Shadow areas tend to fill in in the scanning process and when we try to open up the shadows in Photoshop, some contrast and depth of color may be lost while looking for more details. It is a balancing act. Please remember that the slide is made for viewing with a light that is projected through the film and the colors. With scanning, you are converting to a completely different method of viewing. Printing puts a whole new transfer from one medium to another into the mix.

Q. What about copyrights on photos?

A. We do not scan copyright protected photos. Because of our high volume of scanning a copyright protected slide or photo may slip past our operators. If a picture has a copyright stamp on it, you are signing off on taking all responsibility by submitting our order form.

Q. Do you accept personal checks?

A. Yes.

Q. First, let me compliment you on one of the best and most informative photo sites that I have seen. I shoot both 35mm and 645 format photos, all transparencies. I shoot mainly landscapes with my 645 and wildlife with the 35mm. What is the best way to handle my transparencies, given that I have 2 objectives: 1) I am planning a website so will need to get my photos displayed on the web. What resolution should my transparencies be scanned at for that purpose? Would it be the same for both 35mm and 645? 2) I plan to produce at least some photographs from my transparencies. Up to 11x14 from the 35mm and up to 16x20 or slightly larger from the 645. What scan resolution would I need for that? 3) Would it be better to just scan at a lower resolution for use on my website and then have photos made from the actual transparency rather than from a scan (if I am understanding how the process works.)

A. I would say that your best results for making enlargements would be to go directly from your transparencies, if you can find anyone that still does that. Any time you transfer from one medium to another, you lose something. Going from Transparency to digital and then to prints would not be as good as going directly from the transparency to the print. I would recommend not having your web-sized image any larger than 800 pixels wide just for loading time for people that want to view your site. Lots of people still don't have high speed Internet.

Q. How many 35mm slides can you fit on a CD? DVD Data disk?
A. 40 slides would be pretty close when we save them at an industry standard JPEG image high quality of 10. CDs hold about 40-45 slides but image size varies.

On a DVD Data disk, which is basically the same as a grown up CD Data disk, we can get about 430 images.

These are estimates and image size varies for many different reasons including how much color or brightness and contrast there is in a scan. Every scan is different. File sizes vary from maybe 5 MB to over 20 MB per image so it is hard to estimate exactly how many will fit on a particular disk..

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