📜 Please take a moment to review the Terms & Conditions so you know exactly how your order will be handled. Most questions about timing, counts, and billing are answered here.
Please review these Terms & Conditions before placing your order. They explain our order requirements, how to prepare your materials, what to expect in editing, shipping, and backups, and other important policies.
#1 Order Forms
You must fill out our online order form with your order. If you do not, it will be assumed that you have read all our directions and terms and conditions and agree to them. If you do not send an order form, it makes processing your order much harder for us and you will not have an estimate of what your return shipping will be.
#2 Please Clean Your Slides
We advise everyone to go over their slides with a very soft cloth before sending to us. The slides are hit with a small puff of air before scanning but that does not remove anything other than loose material. For the most part, the slide films are somewhat "greasy", and dust or lint will stick there until you remove it with a soft cloth. We advise you do the cleaning with a mircofiber cloth before we scan them.
The same is true for View-Master Reels. Because these get magnified even more than regular slides, dust is going to show up even more if you do not clean them—both sides.
#3 Please Clean Your Paper Photos
We have very clean conditions. We want to give you the very best scans that we can. Any dust or lint that shows up in a scan generally originated on the items you send us. We wipe down our scanning glass periodically but a few scans might get through with some kind of unwanted material scanned into your image. At our low pricing we can't go back through thousands of photos to rescan singles because of debris you sent in on the photo.
#4 Unedited Scans
We do not send out unedited scans under any circumstances. Original scans are deleted after the job is sent out. All scans are worked by our Photoshop experts and nothing leaves our offices in a "raw" condition although you will get that from all of our competition that we have tested. Buyer beware.
#5 Artists, Professional Photographers, Hyper-critical people
Those who are hyper-critical should realize you are not getting a $30 drum scan for our minimal 49¢ pricing. Because we may be scanning thousands of slides, there are no do-overs at this low rate. Send only what you are prepared to pay for. Try our free sample scans or send a small order first. Requests to pull and compare slides after scanning incur a per-hour charge (e.g., $50/hour or our current editing rate).
#6 Counting your slides
With more than 50 slides it's hard for most people to get an exact count. To avoid refund/re-billing hassels for under-counts, do a rough count and pay only the DEPOSIT on the order form. We'll bill you the balance. It is easy to count images. If you want an overpayment treated as a "tip," note that on your copy of the order form.
#7 Thicker Than Normal Slides
Pricing covers 35mm or other slides in normal thickness: ≤ the thickness of a quarter coin in standard 2"x2" mounts. We do scan glass-mounted slides, special 3D viewer slides, or extra-thick mounts, but they cost extra—see the order form options or call.
#9 Mac Computers
Since 2002 we have not had a case where a Mac could not at least read our disks to copy images. As with PCs, user familiarity matters.
#10 Organization And Orientation
1) 99.9% of the time, the side with the "Logo" is the FRONT of the slide (faces the screen). Some say "This Side Faces Screen."
2) All numbering, if you take the trouble, goes on FRONTS (logo side).
3) Rotate ALL, no exceptions, rectangular slides to the same horizontal orientation; don't rotate for subjects (we correct orientation when Photoshopping).
4) In stacks, the TOP slide (logo up=FRONT) is scanned FIRST and becomes image #1; the bottom is last. Keep FRONTS facing UP.
#11 Organization And Orientation. Repetition is most times helpful.
35mm slides or photos should be organized in the order you want them to appear.
1) Logo side is FRONT; projector light goes through the BACK and out the FRONT.
2) Number slides on FRONTS only, if you care to number them.
3) Keep all rectangular slides oriented the same; we'll correct final rotation during editing.
4) In stacks, the TOP (logo up) is #1 and scanned first; FRONTS face UP.
#12 Storage Containers That Incur "Slide Prep" Charges
These types of containers slow our process and increase handling time. When we can't grab a handful to scan, we must re-stack and orient slides. If you send slides in these or similar containers, we charge a minimal "slide prep" fee (see order form).
Please Remove Slides from These Containers
The following storage containers are difficult for us to work with efficiently. Please remove your slides and stack them in groups of 20 or more before shipping.
Notebook sleeves — Remove slides and stack
GAF/Sawyer carousels — 100 slots — Remove and stack
Airequipt carts & metal sleeves — Remove and stack
Slide Storage Boxes that hold less than 40 slides in a stack. — Remove and stack
Trays with slots — Remove and stack
Processor storage boxes — Remove and stack
#13 Slide Condition & Final Images
We take the steps we deem necessary to produce pleasing results, including converting severely color-shifted images to black & white or sepia at our discretion. During scanning, shadows can block up; our editors reopen shadows to reveal detail, which can reduce contrast. We edit for overall pleasing color; some areas may be sacrificed for the whole. We do not guarantee that the images will match your memory of the originals or every screen you view them on. Please consider sending ten slides for a free sample scan if unsure. Many slides carry dust or fingerprints—we do not clean slides. That is up to you to go over with a microfiber cloth. Warped film (e.g., from projector heat) may be partially out of focus and cannot be "un-warped."
#14 View-Master Reels
View-Master reels sometimes warp and dry out. We may need to flatten them, and dried glue can fail so films may come loose from the reel; if so, we place the films in an envelope for return. There is no way for us to glue them back into the reel. Clean both sides with a microfiber cloth to reduce dust visibility.
#15 Disc Camera Negative Reels
Disc negatives are often inherently blurry because of the small film and the cheap lens that was typically used. We do what we can. Pricing reflects a dedicated scanner station required for these Discs. If the price is too high for you, we understand.
#17 Order Change Requests: Do Not Assume Anything
If you change your order after we receive it, you must document the change clearly by Email or mail, before we create disks, and make sure we confirm your changes. For example, changing disk/flash drive format must be stated explicitly. Please don't assume—use the order form options and confirm any phone discussion in writing or by Email.
#18 Return Shipping and Final Payment
We return the scanning materials you send and charge only our cost for shipping and a small amount for "handling". We can't quote shipping 100% before receiving your materials since weight and containers vary. Our shipping quotes are for slides only and do not cover Carousel trays or heavy boxes. Once we receive your final payment, we ship everything.
#19 Except for RUSH orders, everybody can just pay the DEPOSIT
We highly recommend that if you have a larger amount of slides, you do NOT send payment in full unless you want to leave an overpayment as a TIP. You would think that counting slides is easy but only until you try to do it. We can bill you accurately for the balance when we are finished with your project.
#20 We Try to Keep Backups of All Scanning Projects
We have maintained backups of image scans since 2002 on backup hard drives. If you lose files later, we can often restore them for a fee. We strongly recommend you make and keep your own off-site backups. Everything FAILS eventually. Disks, Flash Drives, Computers, everything. We lost one whole backup drive that would not boot up again. Lost forever. Best backup is to keep multiple full copies in multiple locations and media. How much are your family memories worth?