Our Photo Scanning Process
It’s a leap of faith to send your cherished photos away to a photo scanning service that’s not in your local town. That’s why we try to make the process as simple and stress-free as possible by providing 3-way shipping service, confirmation emails when they arrive as well as when they are on safely on their way back to you.
So, what happens from the time you place your order until your photos are returned to your doorstep?
FedEx Label and/or Empty Box is On the Way!
As part of our all-inclusive scanning packages, we will email you a FedEx return label (included) or an appropriately sized box based on the package quantity you ordered plus the FedEx return label ($9.95 fee). Either way, you will receive all the paperwork you will need to pack and ship your photos to us.
If you find that the box we send doesn’t fit the size/number of photos you have, you can use any box that works and still use the FedEx label we provided to take care of the shipping.
Once you have packed your photos and enclosed the instruction sheet, you are ready to ship your box to us. Drop it off at any FedEx office or location that accepts FedEx. We’ll email you when they arrive to our facility with the estimated turnaround time for your order.
Turnaround Times
Turnaround times vary based on workload. When your box arrives, we will email you with the estimated time frame we expect to have your order done (usually between 3-4 weeks). After your photos arrive, most of the time spent here will be waiting for your “turn”. There will likely be several orders ahead of you waiting to be scanned, so once yours is up, the scanning technician will scan, edit and prepare your discs/USBs all within 1-2 days depending on quantity.
Scanning Process
The assigned scanning technician will remove your box from the pending order shelf and open it up, look for the instruction form, and perform a general assessment of your photos. If you’ve organized your photos into reasonable groups, it will make it much easier for the technician to begin the scanning process.
The first step of the scanning process is to rotate the photos to the correct orientation before scanning. Each photo will be hand sorted (in the same order you arranged them) to determine landscape vs. portrait orientation. This also will help the technician determine if there are any fragile, curled, sticky or small photos within each group that they will need to treat with care.
Next, a small group of photos (25-50) are loaded into our Kodak PS80 scanner. The SLOW auto-feed feature allows photos to be scanned at a pace that the technician can watch each one go through to ensure they are scanning correctly, about 30 photos per minute.
Once all photos are scanned, the editing begins. This includes Kodak Perfect Touch, which color corrects older, faded or discolored photos, reduces dust/scratches and enhances contrast. The technician then views each scanned image to ensure rotation, cropping and overall quality is as perfect as it can be based on the photo quality that was in the order.
The files are then renamed sequentially (ex: IMG_001.jpg) and placed on a disc or USB flash drive.
Ready for Shipment
If you happen to have any overage or special handling fees, these will be collected upon completion and before shipment. Your photos, disc/USB, and any other accompanying items will be shipped in the same box they arrived in to avoid as much shifting from container to container as possible. We return everything via FedEx Ground unless otherwise noted on your paperwork. We’ll email you when your order ships along with a tracking number so you’ll know exactly when to expect your photos safely back in your possession.
A Word About Timelines
We try very hard to stay on time with an accurate turnaround time. However, if you include more photos in your box than originally ordered, the turnaround time can be affected by a few days. Additionally, if other media is included (slides, negatives, video tapes), turnaround times will be affected as each type of media is processed in a separate department of VistaPix Media. We will let you know if we anticipate a significant delay in processing times and will always try accommodate with quicker turnaround times when possible.
Any Questions?
If you have any questions about our processes, please let us know!
Contact us at: 866-227-3401 or email: info@vistapixmedia.com