Scan Cafe - Anyone tried them?

[mjs1973]

I have heard about Scan Cafe a couple of times and I'm thinking about giving them a try. Has anyone here used them?

The way I understand it is that you send them your film. They scan it at 3000 dpi, then post the images on a web gallery for you too choose which images you want. They burn the files you want to a disk, and send them back to you, along with all of your film.

I was thinking about purchasing a used scanner, but this may be a better alternative for those boxes of old slides from my Grandmother.

The only part that worries me a bit is that from what I read on their site, your film is sent to India to scan. Without having a backup of the film, I would be a little concerned with loosing my one of a kind film.

[Old Timer]

I have not even heard of them. Sounds like something I might want to look into.

[SmartWombat]

The only part that worries me a bit is that from what I read on their site, your film is sent to India to scan.

Thanks for that, I won't touch them with someone else's barge pole
I barely trust people in the same country with my media, let alone sending it abroad.

I would rather buy a new scanner - my old Dimage doesn't have drivers for XP.

[Xia_Ke]

Ouch, sending them to India??? Too risky for me. I would go through your slides/negatives, pick out the ones you want, then buy a scanner and do it yourself. Time consuming? Yes but, you will have full control and no risk of losing precious memories.

[mjs1973]

BUMP

Last spring I won 2 gift boxes from Scan Cafe. I was a little hesitant to ship my stuff over seas, but earlier this year, I finally decided to give it a try. I loaded one of the boxes with over 250 slides and negatives and shipped them off. It took about 6 weeks from the time I sent them until I got them back on Monday. It seems like a long time, but considering they were just sitting on a shelf for several years, 6 weeks wasn't a big deal for me.

I have to say that the quality of the scans is better than I could have imagined. The files I got back from both 35mm color slides, and B&W negatives are VERY nice! Much nicer than what I was able to pay for locally. The files are around 30mb each and were scanned at 3000 dpi.

The total on my order would have been around $170 but with my gift box, it was all free! I hope to put together a gallery of some of the images I had scanned to share later this week.

[mjs1973]

Double Bump.

I put together a small gallery of some of the film I had scanned. All of the color images are from 35mm slides, the B&W are from 35mm B&W negatives. A couple of the slides I did mess with in PS and I sharpened a couple of the negatives. Other than that, they are straight out of the scanner.

http://www.magiclightphotography.com/scans/