OT: Negative/slide scanning services

Has anyone here used ScanCafe.com? They hand process all slides and negatives and the price is great. I am looking to digitize the family's collection of slides and negatives (couple thousand). I'm looking for high quality and customer service is obviously important. I know they ship to India for processing but that doesn't bother me any more than shipping across state lines (It'll be hard to let them go at all

- Thanks!
Bill

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>Has anyone here used ScanCafe.com? They hand process all slides and
>negatives and the price is great. I am looking to digitize the
>family's collection of slides and negatives (couple thousand). I'm
>looking for high quality and customer service is obviously
>important. I know they ship to India for processing but that
>doesn't bother me any more than shipping across state lines (It'll
>be hard to let them go at all

Looking at the site, it would appear they don't give batch discounts.
As such I'd recommend doing it in small lots, that way you don't risk
them loosing everything. Personally I find the idea of shipping them
to Bangalore, India for scanning a little disturbing.

The one thing I find odd is that they charge 5 cents more per slide
than negative, I would think slides would be easier to do. I'm
looking at embarking on a project to scan hundreds of negatives, and
a lot of slides as well. I have limited time for such a project, so
I think I need to decide if something like this might be worth it.

What I don't like is that it costs 9 cents extra per scan to have
them done as TIFF instead of JPEG, and 9 cents extra per to have
4000dpi rather than 3000dpi.
So what I'd like done comes out to more like 37-42 cents per scan.

Zane

--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh%40aracnet.com">healyzharacnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| MONK::HEALYZH (DECnet) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. |
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Zane H. Healy wrote:
>> I am looking to digitize the family's collection of slides and negatives
>>; (couple thousand). I'm looking for high quality and customer service is
>>; obviously important.
>
> The one thing I find odd is that they charge 5 cents more per slide than
> negative, I would think slides would be easier to do. I'm looking at
> embarking on a project to scan hundreds of negatives, and a lot of slides
> as well. I have limited time for such a project, so I think I need to
> decide if something like this might be worth it.
>
> What I don't like is that it costs 9 cents extra per scan to have them
> done as TIFF instead of JPEG, and 9 cents extra per to have 4000dpi
> rather than 3000dpi.
>
>; So what I'd like done comes out to more like 37-42 cents per scan.

A "couple thousand" at $0.35 each would be $700.
For less than $600 you can buy a 4000 dpi Nikon Coolscan V ED.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim Saklad mailto: jimdoc%40iname.com">jimdociname.com

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Jim Saklad wrote:

> A "couple thousand" at $0.35 each would be $700.
> For less than $600 you can buy a 4000 dpi Nikon Coolscan V ED.

And spend how many hours to scan yourself?

Costs can be more than just cash outlay.

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At 1:05 PM -0400 3/9/08, Michael Leone wrote:
>Jim Saklad wrote:
>
>> A "couple thousand" at $0.35 each would be $700.
>> For less than $600 you can buy a 4000 dpi Nikon Coolscan V ED.
>
>And spend how many hours to scan yourself?
>
>Costs can be more than just cash outlay.

I have access to a Nikon scanner (in fact it is currently in my
possession), and I'm taking the outlay of time into consideration!

Some stuff I really do not want to let out of my sight. I'm starting
to think about scanning that myself (some I did with my Epson flatbed
scanner), and sending the rest off for someone to do.

I just thought of an interesting question on all of this, how does
using a Scanning service effect your copywrite on your own material?
Something to definitely think about when using a service that sends
stuff to India.

Zane

--
| Zane H. Healy | UNIX Systems Administrator |
| healyzh%40aracnet.com">healyzharacnet.com (primary) | OpenVMS Enthusiast |
| MONK::HEALYZH (DECnet) | Classic Computer Collector |
+----------------------------------+----------------------------+
| Empire of the Petal Throne and Traveller Role Playing, |
| PDP-10 Emulation and Zane's Computer Museum. |
| http://www.aracnet.com/~healyzh/ |

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At 01:05 PM 3/9/2008, Michael Leone wrote:

>Jim Saklad wrote:
>
> > A "couple thousand" at $0.35 each would be $700.
> > For less than $600 you can buy a 4000 dpi Nikon Coolscan V ED.
>
>And spend how many hours to scan yourself?
>
>Costs can be more than just cash outlay.

ABSOLUTELY!

I don't make any money sitting in front of a computer (much as I
enjoy doing so). I make money actually out shooting. Even at a
minimum billing rate, unless someone values their time at only
minimum wage or so, it doesn't take long to "use up" more than $700
worth of one's own time.

And I'd think even the most hard-core hobbyist would get bored after
scanning the first 50 or so slides. Even with an auto slide feeder,
there's still a lot of work involved in making usable-quality scans.

Sure, for the odd-few scans here and there (of a sporadic nature) it
can be useful to "roll your own," but I sure don't want to make a
full-time job of scanning thousands of my own slides.

What most pros that I know of do with their extensive slide
collections, is scan the (relatively) few slides at a time when they
have a request for the appropriate subject matter, and don't worry
about digitizing entire libraries all at once.

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At 04:08 PM 3/9/2008, Zane H. Healy wrote:

>I just thought of an interesting question on all of this, how does
>;using a Scanning service effect your copywrite on your own material?
>Something to definitely think about when using a service that sends
>stuff to India.

First, it is *copyRIGHT* not "copyWRITE" -- big difference in
meaning, at least legally and semantically.

Anyway, it's not worth worrying about from a practical standpoint,
unless you're afraid the scanning service will make a few extra
copies for themselves while scanning your work. But if you worry
about that, you also should worry about the same consideration
whenever you send a slide or negative off to be printed at a local
lab. Same thing *could* occur.

In any event, there is no effect on *your* copyright, because, even
if an extra copy is made of your work, legally you own the "derivative work".

And if you are a U.S. citizen, you *did* register your work with the
Copyright Office of the Library of Congress, right? Otherwise your
copyright isn't worth the proverbial "bucket of warm spit..."

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John Albino wrote:
>
>
> At 01:05 PM 3/9/2008, Michael Leone wrote:
>
> >Jim Saklad wrote:
> >
>; > > A "couple thousand" at $0.35 each would be $700.
> > > For less than $600 you can buy a 4000 dpi Nikon Coolscan V ED.
> >
>; >And spend how many hours to scan yourself?
> >
>; >Costs can be more than just cash outlay.
>
> ABSOLUTELY!
>
> I don't make any money sitting in front of a computer (much as I
> enjoy doing so). I make money actually out shooting.

(I'm presuming from your statements that you are a pro photographer; I
am not)

Previously, you spent cash to process your photos to a lab; now you
spend those costs in your time. You made money before from the
combination of shooting and processing and printing the shots. Don't you
still do? Isn't the difference - previously you spent time shooting and
cash processing, to make prints, etc to earn you money? And now you
spend time shooting, and spend time processing, and (perhaps) cash
printing? You always spent on processing, only now you spend it in time
in front of the computer, instead of in cash to the lab.

If so, are you not earning by sitting in front of the computer? Shots
always had to be processed. You're just paying for it differently.

>; Even at a
> minimum billing rate, unless someone values their time at only
>; minimum wage or so, it doesn't take long to "use up" more than $700
>; worth of one's own time.

Most people don't value their time that way, tho. In any activity,
really. They figure they are saving money by doing their own home
remodeling, for example, and not counting the cost for the larger number
of hours that they must spend to do the job that a pro would be able to
do in less time.

>
> And I'd think even the most hard-core hobbyist would get bored after
> scanning the first 50 or so slides. Even with an auto slide feeder,
> there's still a lot of work involved in making usable-quality scans.

I would. I do I have sooo many photos on the computer that I just
never get around to even putting on my web page, much less printing out.
These days, it's just as easy to show off your shots by sending someone
a link to a web gallery, as it is to print out shots on paper and hand
them to people to look at.

> Sure, for the odd-few scans here and there (of a sporadic nature) it
> can be useful to "roll your own," but I sure don't want to make a
> full-time job of scanning thousands of my own slides.
>
> What most pros that I know of do with their extensive slide
> collections, is scan the (relatively) few slides at a time when they
>; have a request for the appropriate subject matter, and don't worry
> about digitizing entire libraries all at once.

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>> A "couple thousand" at $0.35 each would be $700. For less than $600 you
>>; can buy a 4000 dpi Nikon Coolscan V ED.
>
> And spend how many hours to scan yourself?
>
> Costs can be more than just cash outlay.

How much your time is worth is a decision only you can make.
You spend the money, or you spend the time.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim Saklad mailto: jimdoc%40iname.com">jimdociname.com

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> I just thought of an interesting question on all of this, how does using
> a Scanning service effect your copywrite on your own material? Something
> to definitely think about when using a service that sends stuff to India.

Google "copyright 'work for hire' ", and read in particular:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Work_for_hire>

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jim Saklad mailto: jimdoc%40iname.com">jimdociname.com

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