Hopefully these will answer your questions.

Feel free to contact us with any other questions you may have at jeff@aussiescan.com

How much does it cost to scan? Are there discounts for large numbers of scans?

Please see our prices page for pricing information. Yes - we have discounts for more then 200, 500 and 1000 scans of 5%, 10% and 15% respectively.

How large will the resulting digital images be?

The scanned images depend on the source (negatives, slides or prints) and the scan resolution. See the chart below for approximate sizes.

Why would I need to scan at 4000 PPI (Pixels per Inch)?

Unless you were planning to make some real big prints or you wanted to crop some of your images quite drastically, 2000 PPI should meet most people's needs. See some full size sample scans here.

What about scratches, mould and dust?

AussieScan manage these with several approaches. Every slide is hand checked and sprayed with compressed air to remove dust. If there is mould on the slide we can remove it from the shiny side. For scratches and any remaining dust or mould, we use Digital ICE to hide these from the scan. Digital ICE is a technology that scans the film surface for imperfections, then automatically removes these during the scan.

What happens to old slides that have faded or turned blue?

It's amazing how well old slides are restored with our process. We take two steps to maximise the quality of our output image files. First we scan every slide in a preview mode so we can apply colour correction and adjust the brightness and contrast. We then do the high resolution scan with these settings. Our second step is applied once we've completed the scan. We copy the original scans and we run a second pass of colour correction and exposure levels using Adobe Photoshop's world leading software. You will receive both the original scans and the second pass corrected images on your CD or DVD.

How long will it take to receive my scans?

It really depends on the number of exposures you need scanned and our current workload. We generally try and turn work around within a week or two but if you're in a hurry, please contact us at jeff@aussiescan.com for a more accurate estimate.

Scanning quality and detail

This slide below was scanned at 4000 PPI. For a sample of some detail, click here.

Here's a small sample from the original scan.

It's generally better to scan from the negative if you still have it. The negative contains all the original detail - some of which is lost when printed as 4x6 photos.

Here's an example of a scan from a 4x6 inch print and a scan from the original negative:

Here is a sample crop from the scan of the 4x6 print:

and from the negative - note the extra detail and the higher resolution available.

What software and equipment do you use?

We use a number of applications to manage all the files and images we process. The main software is Photo File Workflow from Chiizu Event Photo Software for photo file naming, organising and archival. We've written our own software for photo cropping and colour management. We also use Adobe Photoshop CS3 for colour and contrast and brightness correction. For Photo DVD Slideshows we use Apple iMovie HD. Regarding scanning, we use professional Nikon and Epson photo scanners.