Got Photos? Slides? Negatives?

When digital photography came on the scene, I gave up on traditional film. I kept thousands of old 35mm negatives, however, and with the best of intentions, I bought a scanner and set about reproducing some of my favorites. I soon discovered that this is a very time-consuming process. After five or six years, I’ve little to show for my time and effort.

I investigated the cost of having my collection scanned commercially, but charges ranged from $1-$2 per negative. With 2000+ negatives lying around the house, I gave up on that idea. Local photo shops or drug stores could do the job for around $.75 each, but I’d have to sacrifice quality – they offer a totally mechanized operation. And, cost and quality issues aside, the thought of sorting through all those boxes to choose which pictures to scan was overwhelming. I wanted someone to organize my huge collection, scan my photos professionally, touch them up by hand if necessary – all at an affordable price. 

Believe it or not, such a place exists, and it’s called ScanCafe. A well-respected Wharton MBA named Sam Allen, along with several partners, has set up a high-tech, sophisticated method of scanning 35mm negatives – for 19 cents a pop! They use top-of-the-line Nikon and Kodak technology in the process. In an innovative take on outsourcing, ScanCafe has its own 175-person staff and facilities in India, where an Indian-born fellow Wharton graduate manages the operations on a day-to-day basis.

Photo without ICE technology

Photo with ICE technology

Simply put, ScanCafe is a photo, negative, and slide scanning service that takes the effort out of digitizing your old photos and negatives – and at a cost that can’t be beat. Simply sign up on their web site and mail ScanCafe your collection of photos, negatives, and slides – what’s amazing about ScanCafe is that there is no need to spend precious time pre-sorting photos, since you only have to pay for those you want (with a minimum purchase of 50% of the images scanned). Only ScanCafe offers this revolutionary level of service. They will be manually scanned on high-end Nikon professional scanners. ScanCafe will then send you to a secure online library to view your newly digitized images. Just select those you wish to keep. All of the items you submit will be returned, nicely sorted and in better shape than when you sent them. The images you choose will be sent back to you on a CD, DVD, or a hard disk drive-- your choice – making it easy for you to share them with friends and family. You can archive, email them to friends, or print them with today's advanced printing technology for better results than you got with the original picture!

ScanCafe also offers additional services aimed specifically for professional photographers. For full information and pricing on scanning slides, photos and other services, check out www.scancafe.com. You will not be sorry!

John Lentz

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