What area do you serve and how do I get my media to you?

I only work locally.  If you live in Lake Nona, Village Walk, or East Lake I will come to your home to get the media.   If you live within 30 miles of me, I will drive to your home, but add a gas charge (next FAQ) to and from your home.

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What is your gas charge?

My car gets 30 miles per gallon.  A gallon of gas costs about $3.  To travel my maximum distance of 30 miles would be 4 trips (get the media, come home, return the media, come back home - that's 120 miles driving!).  That means the worst-case travel scenario would result in $12 of gasoline charges. Of course, we can always agree to meet at a neutral location closer.

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What equipment do you use?

Computer: iMac

Scanners: ScanSnap ix 1600 (documents), Epson Perfection V600 (photos), PluxTek OpticFilm 8200i SE (slides/negatives), Wolverine Digital MovieMaker Pro (8mm/Super8)

Software: Photoshop, Luminar, Final Cut Pro, Lightroom, VueScan, SliverFast 9

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What Resolution do you scan?

It kind of varies, but I'm shooting for a 20-40MB image which is normally between 800-1200dpi.  This is good for printing as large as 8x10s.  I scan at a 48bit depth for color and 16bit for black and white.  Slides and negatives might be scanned as high as 3200dpi.  I'll save and edit the files as TIFF.  You will be supplied with the TIFF and a JPG file since usually places like CVS only accept JPGs when using their photo printer

What if you can't fix my photo?

I'll tell you as I'm working on it and I will not charge you.

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Can't I just use an app to repair my photos?

Photo restoration can be simple, nearly impossible, or anything between.  Some photos that need restoration are only touchups, like scratches, grain, slightly faded, maybe a small piece missing.  Other photos take time, ingenuity, and thoughtfulness.  A tap-and-repair app just can't do this kind of work.

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I'm not satisfied with what you did.

My work and sales are final.  My prices FAR UNDERCUT professional services.  I'm a hobbyist and this is a side-job for me.  If I'm not personally satisfied with the results, I do not charge.

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Before we meet, can I show you what photos I have so you can determine if you can do it?

Yep!  Just lay them out on a table, take a photo with your phone, and email them to me.

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Can you colorize a photo?

Yes, it's an advanced edit and would be $10.  With colorization, I do the best I can.

I have a shoebox full of slides; what's 35mm?

You may have a variety of sizes.  35mm is a 2"x2" slide where the film part is about 1.5" long and 1" high.  You may have also "super slides" where the slide fills almost the entire slide mount.  Whatever you have, it the slide is 2"x2" or under, I should be able to scan it.

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Some of my slides are pink.

Those are "Expired Slides" which means the blue and green chemicals have nearly faded away completely due to their age.  Slides from the 70s and later don't typically have this problem.  In the case of a pink slide, I usually make lighting adjustments and then colorize it.  Also converting them to a black and white image works also.

Why is there no audio?

My machine does not extract audio.  If there is a yellow line running along the sprocket holes of your film, then you have audio.  You will need to use another service if your film has audio.

Why does the picture look bad on my 4K modern large screen TV?

VHS puts out a signal that scales poorly.  This video will look better on an iPad than a 65" TV.

 

HDTVs can display more detail than an analog TV but HDTV doesn't always make everything look better.  It enhances both the good and bad parts of a low-resolution image.

 

If the picture has background color noise, signal interference, color bleeding, or edge problems the video processing in an HDTV will attempt to clean it up. However, this may deliver mixed results.

Can you just scan normal documents for me?  

Sure!

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How wide can a book be?

The maximum page width is 8.5"

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I understand you tear apart the books.  What is your process?

1. Separate the book from its cover

2. Divide the book into 30-50 page sections with a utility knife

3. Cut off the glue-end of the pages

4. Scan the pages with a highspeed duplex scanner (front and back scanned at the same time, scanning about 40 pages per minute - it's FAST!)

5. OCR the text (make the pages so they can be searched by computer)

6. Scan the front, back, and inside covers.

7. Put everything together in a single PDF file

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What do you do with the book when you're done?

Either I can recycle the books myself, or they can be returned to you as separate pages and the cover.

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I'm not happy with the scan.

I've scanned over 9000 pages of my own books. My scanning is a BEST EFFORT.  The scans are great, but there may be some slightly crooked pages.