Processing
Digitize your slides
The problems with getting your slide collection “digitised” are well known. It’s an incredibly time-consuming and fiddly job to manually keep changing adaptors or slide carriers regardless of how you scan them. For example, slide copiers attached to a digital SLR can only be done singularly; film scanners just take a maximum of five slides to an adaptor, and even the quickest method by use of a print scanner will only take a maximum of twelve slides at once. The changeover time to re-load slides eventually drives most photographers mad with frustration.
In addition to the time-constraint problem, there is the more critical issue of quality. Slide photographers are some of the most quality conscious image makers around. Why would you want to degrade an image during transfer to such a low level whereby it’s almost unrecognisable from the original? Such is the proposition sold by cheap newspaper offers, e.g. the Ion 35mm Film and Slide Scanner. Its name alone is a misrepresentation - it’s not a scanner, but merely a film camera that copies your images at a lowly 5 megapixels yet costs £90 for the privilege.
Our new SlideSnap Pro is the uniquely different solution to your slide scanning needs. It is like a slide copier on steroids. The basic methodology is that we take a professional Kodak Carousel projector and then replace the halogen lamp with a diffused LED light source. We then add a Nikon D7000 to record the projected images onto a memory card via an electronic control pad to synchronise the picture taking.
This means fast, high-quality and consistent slide copying. Each image is scanned at 16MP (4928 x 3264) – higher if required. You get a 4GB SD card included in the price which will hold 500 slides at this resolution. Having your treasured images on an SD card then means you can view them on your computer, watch them on your TV, make prints or better yet share them with family and friends.
How much does the service cost (including VAT::
1-25 slides £0.80 per slide
26-99 slides £0.60 per slide
100-199 slides £0.50 per slide
200-499 slides £0.40 per slide
500+ slides £0.30 per slide
How to order:
- Print off the PDF order form below
- Gather your slides together and arrange them in the order you want us to scan them.
- Make sure they are clean as we do not use Digital Ice when scanning.
- As far as possible, try to get them in the right orientation although any that are inadvertently misaligned can easily be flipped in your software programme.
- Being a carousel system, you can send us your slides already in their magazines (80 slides maximum) or just send them to us in the plastic “lab” boxes you got at the time of processing.
- We advise that you send your slides by recorded delivery (this is £0.95 on top of standard postage charges) or Special Delivery (which is even more secure).
- Return of your slides is by courier, and we keep a copy of all work undertaken for two weeks in case of loss in transit.
Slide Processing Order Form PDF
Film Recording Services: Write your Digital Photos to Film
Transfer your digital images on to film for use in your darkroom - a revolutionary new service
In an ideal world, you would be able to take a digital image and print it in the darkroom thereby getting total creativity in a way that a digital printer is not capable.
Well, now that option is available, at prices never before possible, due to our investment that makes the dream a reality. Mixing digital and film images for printing in your darkroom is now both accessible and available.
The process focuses on a high-technology CCG Film Recorder which we have purchased, and the idea couldn't be more straightforward. Just send us (up to 36) of your digital images in TIFF or JPEG format on a CD, they can be black and white, or colour and we will record them onto Ilford film for you and then return the film and CD by return post.
The film recording of digital imaging is done by a precise set of lasers (3 passes) to a standard, equal to that of the resolution of the film itself. In other words, it is like copying the digital images onto to film at full 35mm resolution.
The reasons for launching this new service should also help the education world considerably.
A cost saving is the most obvious. Assuming a digital A3 inkjet print costs around £5 to print when you cost inks and paper and outsourcing printing on RA4 using a Fuji Frontier will cost about £6. Normal processing of a black and white 12 x 16 print costs you only about £0.90 (Kentmere paper and Fotospeed chemicals) so the COST SAVING IS THEREFORE AT LEAST 80% when compared to digital printing.
Other advantages include
- Allows you to mix digital and film-based images with ordinary printing.
- It makes no difference if you shoot in colour or monochrome. With digital, you can convert colour to B&W easily.
- Decreases the concern about falling numbers of film-based SLR cameras available.
- You only need to send the best images for converting, so there's no waste when compared to straight film.
- It is easy to combine and archive work onto one film.
- Most work remains in-house, so you retain 100% control over your images.
- The service "future-proofs" a photographic department to carry on using the equipment and processes it is used to.
What to do. Just send your CD with your images and complete the order form or send us your address and payment details in the usual way you place an order. We will return it along with an unprocessed Ilford Pan 100 film for you to develop regularly (if you prefer Pan 400, please indicate this at the time of ordering). All film is returned next day by 1st Class mail (volume permitting).
Alternatively, send your images (in batches of 36) to Dropbox or WeTransfer with the address email of rodney@firstcall-photographic.co.uk
Technical specifications of the files required : JPG or TIF, 35mm - long edge from 4000 to 8000 pixel try to keep maximum file size to 15Mb
Resolution examples for perfect match for 35 mm- 4096 pixels long side on 24x36 mm with a format of 2:3 ratio.
The cost of the transfer service is simple:
£25.00 per roll of film for Black and White film recording
£27.50 per roll of film for colour negative film recording
£32.50 per roll of film for colour slide film recording
We offer students of photography a discount of £2.50 per roll.
Prices include VAT and FREE postage. This means each image costs as little as 28p and can then be processed precisely how you like in the darkroom. Using the A3 analogy, even adding 28p to the 90p, means you are still saving a considerable amount when compared to standard digital printing.
