Photo Restoration Advice and Resources



What do slide-scanner.co.uk do?

Slide-scanner.co.uk offer a complete 35mm slide scanning service, large format slide scanning service, negative film strip scanning service, photo print scanning service and photo archiving service. Simply send us your 35mm slides, large format slides, negative film strips or photographic prints and we will return them to you along with a DVD containing high resolution TIFF images and JPEG images. Once you have the photos on disk they are available for shared enjoyment and are also safely preserved for generations to come.

Why should I digitise my photos?

Your 35mm slides and photos are important to you and to your family. They are instant captures of a moment in time, an event, an occassion, that can never be recaptured. But they are vunerable to a myriad of disasters. Saving them digitally will give you a secure and portable archive that you can copy and save in several places - thus, God forbid, in the event of a fire or flood, you won't lose them forever.

And investing in digitising your photos is a sound investment - not only for the security and peace of mind it will bring, but also for the many new uses you will find for your photos.

What can I use my digital images for?

Once you have your 35mm slides, large format slides, negatives and photos digitised you'll find there are many, many new uses for them. You can copy them and share them with as many people as you wish, you can print them and display them or give them as gifts.

And when you are in the digital world, sharing with family across the globe is as simple as clicking a mouse. Your digital images can be emailed to far off loved ones or you might want to create your own web based photo gallery.

You might also want to display your photos in a digital picture frame which will scroll through your photos automatically.

There are also services that will create a proper printed book from your digitised images; or you can have one or any of your digital images recreated in a popart style.

If you have a special image you can have it recreated as a poster or even have it transfered to canvas at huge sizes.

Transfer your digital images to your PC and you can have them display as a slide-show screensaver whenever your PC is idle.

Are slide-scanner.co.uk the cheapest service?

Many companies are using deceptive pricing... they lead you in with a low price and then charge you for the many extra services like colour correction, dust and scratch removal, cropping, image rotation, digital ICE, etc. that we include as standard. Our pricing policy is based on resolution and quality - if you choose a scanning service based on price alone you may well end up paying more and with an inferior product. Don't confuse low cost with value!

Do slide-scanner.co.uk batch scan?

We don't batch scan. Never. Many companies will simply batch scan your images on a standard setting. We have found that the results from automating functions are unacceptable. We treat each scan as an individual... it takes longer but the results are better.

Why do I need TIFF and JPG files?

Well, strictly speaking, you don't. We scan in TIFF format and then we convert to JPEG with 100% quality compression. Some services will simply provide you with the JPEG files but we like to give you the flexibility of having both TIFF and JPEG. If you want to edit your images at a future date then you need TIFF files which retain all the information from the original scan. JPEG files are a lossy format - much smaller file sizes ideal for on screen viewing, web and email use - but of a lower quality..

Why shouldn't I just buy a scanner and archive my photos my self?

Well, you certainly could, and if you didn't have many to scan, you could afford to buy a scanner and quality wasn't an issue it would make sense. But could you match slide-scanner.co.uk for quality, cost and convenience?

Here at slide-scanner.co.uk we use the highest quality slide scanners which are beyond the means of the average pocket. We also have decades of experience in Reprographic industries to draw on. And scanning and correcting images takes a lot longer than you'd expect... the scanning alone takes three minutes per scan minimum, and that doesn't include the time you'd need to crop, rotate, clean, colour correct each image, and burn a DVD. Add it all up and you will be looking at the best part of a day for 100 images! Slide-scanner.co.uk could scan those 100 images for you for just £40?





What are the best flatbed scanners to buy?

Both photo buffs and family archivists often turn to flatbed scanners to digitise prints and film. But what are the best value scanners to buy?

See the Which? recommendations by clicking here

Use the links below to view individual scanners.


What are the best dedicated film scanners to buy?

Scanning your negative strips or your 35mm slides can be done usiing a flatbed scanner but for the best quality you should be looking at a dedicated film scanner.

Here at slide-scanner.co.uk we use Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED scanners. Unfortunately Nikon no longer make these and demand is such that second hand values are going through the roof. For a refurbished model you should expect to pay upwards of £1500.

There are still good dedicated film scanners on the market though but bear in mind that you get what you pay for.

Use the links below to view individual scanners.