Slide & Film Scanning
Digitise and preserve
If you've found a storage box of old slides and film, get it scanned & digitised with Lazer Photos & Cameras! Film and slides can be susceptible to fungal damage, scratching, and general degradation over time, so it's important to preserve them with digital copies. Plus, it makes it easier to share them with your friends and family! We can transfer your digitised pictures to a USB device or email them to you via a Google Drive link.
Our Process
First, we discuss with you how we will approach your negatives or slides. We'll inspect their condition and advise you of any potential issues – such as extensive scratching or fungal damage – and what can be done to remedy. We'll also discuss what you're wanting out of our work, if you have any particular requirements about resolution, colour corrections, and cropping.
Once we've had this discussion, we then proceed with preparing your negatives & slides for scanning. Our team carefully dust and wipe each frame, and where necessary (e.g. fungal damage), do a deeper cleaning. We then load them into our professional flatbed scanner, where we scan each individual frame at a high resolution.
Following this, we our industry-standard editing tools to correct colour shifts and contrast. Your files are then transferred and slides returned to you!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should I get you to scan my slide/negative/print collection?
Two reasons! Firstly, we don't just use any old scanner for our digitisation work - we use professional flatbed scanners. These work at a much higher resolution than the scanner on your home printer (resulting in clearer scans), along with a host of other benefits including more precise colour & tonal reproduction, and built-in dust removal technology. Secondly, our scanning fees also include basic post-processing services as well. Our team use their skills and experience with industry-standard software to correct colour shifts and adjust brightness to get your scans looking the best they can be. That's why so many of our customers rely on us to digitise their family's collections.
How long does it take for you to scan my slides or negatives?
This depends on both our current workload, and the size and complexity of your job. If you just need a couple slides scanned, we can usually do it same day. Larger jobs of hundreds of frames may take a couple of weeks to complete. If you have a timeframe or deadline you need to meet, discuss it with us so we can let you know what we might be able to do for you.
What resolution do you scan at?
We typically scan slides and negatives at 1200 dpi as this provides a good-quality scan for digital use, although we can scan at a higher resolution (up to 6400 dpi) depending on your needs (e.g. if you want a make a large print from the scan).
My slides have extensive fungal damage, can you clean it off?
Unfortunately, fungus & mold often causes irreversible damage to the emulsion layers of slides and negatives that can't be cleaned off. This is why we recommend that you get your collections digitised before any signs of fungal growth appear! Superficial fungal damage can often be mostly filtered out in our post-scanning editing, however if your slide has extensive damage, we do offer a restoration service for an additional fee.
The colours of my slides look very off when I look at them, is there any way you can improve it?
Of course! Our scanning service includes colour adjustments, so if your slides show any colour shifts (e.g. blue or red), we can adjust the colours to be closer to how they were meant to be!
I've found/inherited a large collection of family slides & negatives, and I have no way of figuring out which ones are important enough to digitise or print?
It can be difficult to get a good look at slides and negatives with the naked eye. We do have a slide viewer available for use in-store or for hire (local pickup only; subject to availability), as well as slide viewers available for purchase in-store or online. Our viewers have a light built-in as well as a magnifier to help you get a better view of slides and decide which ones you'd like to keep.
Want to Know More?
Bring your items into our store, or give us a call or email. Our team can provide you with a free, no-obligations quote.