FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Quick and easy to use online cost calculator

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 charts below for approximate sizes.

35mm Negative Scans

We can scan strips and uncut rolls of 35mm film. If you don't want every image scanned, please mark the images you want scanned (or don't want scanned) with a textor on the plastic negative sleeves. There are three different scan sizes - from scans that will print nice 4x6 images all the way up to professional scans at the highest possible resolution. If you're making photo books, our standard scans should meet your needs. The economy scans are great for web and small print use.
Source Scan Name Scan resolution PPI/DPI Size in Pixels JPG File Size in MB** Approx Print size at 300 DPI
35mm negatives
Pro Negative Scans
3840 PPI
5450x3660
7.5 MB
12 x 18"
Standard Negative Scans
2550 PPI
3640x2430
3.4 MB
8 x 12"
Economy Negative Scans
1250 PPI
1800x1200
1 MB
4 x 6"

APS - Advanced Photo System (Advantix) Scans

With APS we scan all the images on the roll. There are three different scan sizes - from scans that will print nice 4x6 images all the way up to professional scans at the highest possible resolution. If you're making photo books, our standard scans should meet your needs. The economy scans are great for web and small print use.
Source Scan Name Scan resolution PPI/DPI Size in Pixels JPG File Size in MB** Approx Print size at 300 DPI
APS
Advanced Photo System
Pro APS Scans
3840 PPI
5450x3660
7.5 MB
12 x 18"
Standard APS Scans
2550 PPI
3640x2430
3.4 MB
8 x 12"
Economy APS Scans
1250 PPI
1800x1200
1 MB
4 x 6"

35mm Slides

We scan a lot of slides for our customers. Our custom colour correction process brings life to old slides. There are two different scan sizes If you're making photo books, our standard scans should meet your needs. The pro scans show an amazing amount of detail and can be used for enlargements and archiving.
Source Scan Name Scan resolution PPI/DPI Size in Pixels JPG File Size in MB** Approx Print size at 300 DPI
35mm slides
Pro Slide Scans
4000 PPI
5800x3900
4.9 MB
13 x 19"
Standard Slide Scans
2000 PPI
2900x1900
1.3 MB
6 x 9"

Photo Scanning and Print Scanning

It's a lot of fun to get your old photos scanned. A lot of our customers want to share with family and make photo books. Our custom colour correction process brings helps restore the original colours in faded photos.
Source Scan Name Scan resolution PPI/DPI Size in Pixels JPG File Size in MB** Print size at 300 DPI
Print Scans
4x6 Print Scans
360 DPI*
1800x1200
1 MB
4 x 6"
Other Print Scans
360 DPI*
3600x2400
3 MB
Depends on print size

Medium and Large Format Film Scanning

We scan a lot of commerial medium format film for our customers. We can also scan old fashioned "large" negatives. We have carriers ranging from 645 to 6x9 for our Frontier and we can scan up to A4 transparances on our Pro Epson Film Scanner.
Source Scan Name Scan resolution PPI/DPI Size in Pixels JPG File Size in MB** Approx Print size at 300 DPI
Medium Format
120 Film
Medium Format Scans
eg 6x7 cm
1685 DPI*
3700x4200
6 MB
Depends on film size
* We can scan at higher resolutions. Please contact us for details. jeff@AussieScan.com
** We can scan negatives and slides as BMP/TIFF for extra 20c per image. Please mark this clearly on the order form.

Why would I need to scan at Pro Quality?

Unless you were planning to make some real big prints or you wanted to crop some of your images quite drastically, our standard scans should meet most people's needs. AussieScan's Economy Negative scans are great value for viewing on the computer, TV or printing postcard prints. 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.

Can you scan as uncompress TIFF or BMP?

Yes, we can scan negatives to BMP and slides to TIFF. BMP and TIFF are equivalent. The cost is an extra 20c per image.

What kind of scanners do you use?

At AussieScan we have a number of scanners. We use different scanners for different film and print types. Our workhorse is a Professional Fujifilm scanner that provides 35mm and 120 film scans. We also have a couple Pro Nikon scanners for slides and several professional flatbed reflective and large format film scanners.

Here's our FujiFilm pro scanner with a couple 120 masks on display.

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.

Girl Thumb

Here's a small sample from the original scan.

Eye crop


Should I scan negatives or the prints?

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:

Horses

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

From print

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

From negative

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.