ScanCafe - THE Scanning Experts
When I decided to approach my Grandpa with the idea of bringing his vintage photo collection online, I was faced with the problem of how to scan SO many pictures. This is a very special project for me and I wanted to do it the right way. At first I thought I could do it on my own so I purchased an expensive high-end scanner. I spent several weekends trying to figure out all the software settings and how to position the negatives onto the glass in those pesky plastic holders, but I quickly gave up in frustration with only a few scanned images to show for my efforts. I STILL needed to process the images in Photoshop. I made it through maybe five images on my own and only achieved lackluster results in trying to remove scratches and dust marks. Knowing this approach would take me years, I set about searching for a professional to do the work for me.
I searched Google and found websites that wanted $1.00 an image and would only scan to a very low resolution. Because of the enormity of the collection, I needed to find someone who was willing to think “economies of scale”. Over at Dgrin. I ran across a posting about ScanCafe.
I emailed them to see if they could handle a project as big as mine and promptly received a response from Sam Allen, CEO of ScanCafe. Sam addressed my concerns and genuinely seemed excited about my project and open to my specific and exacting needs. I wanted TIFF files at a very high resolution and I didn’t want to have to do any Photoshop work once I got them back. Plus, I didn’t want to pay $1.00 an image. Sam not only agreed to work with all of my requirements, but he offered a very attractive price to boot!
So, I packaged up some negatives and shipped them off to ScanCafe. Once my images were ready for review, they sent me a notice and I logged onto the website to review the results. I found the user interface simple to use and feature-enriched. It was a real treat to see all of my Grandpa’s pictures brought to life! Some of them had never been developed or printed. After rejecting a few based on subject matter, I ordered the rest and waited for them to work their magic. (Up to 50% of the images sent for scan can be discarded at no cost!)
When my hard drive full of images arrived, it was a very exciting day! The pictures were so beautiful! The bulk of my images are black and white, so the value-added (and FREE) restoration service ScanCafe offers really means something because they have to be manually and painstakingly restored in Photoshop. Technology like Digital ICE does not work on black and white images. I didn’t realize just how much work they must’ve done until I opened a folder of images on the hard drive labeled “Restored Samples” where they had placed some “before” and “after” pictures. The differenes were stunning!!! For a Photoshop wizard, fixes like scratch and dust removal might be no big deal, but for me, I personally don’t have the time or the skills to devote to this task.
Don’t believe me? Judge for yourself at this special gallery on Scenesfromthepast.com.
To get started with your special scan project check them out here:
