Our Famous Bulk Photo Scanning Service

Our great value ShoeBox Packages are offered for quantities of 200 or more photos, with rates dropping further for lots of over 3000 photos. Scanning is available at 3 different resolutions.

ShoeBox Scanning 300ppi resolution. 300ppi scanning means you could re-print at the original photo size (at regular 300dpi photo print resolution), and also be assured of high enough resolution for most screen-use situations (eg: viewing on TV/computer screens/iPad etc) for photos within service size limits (min 75mm/3 inches each side up to A4 size). This is our most popular service, and the basic ShoeBox offering. Unless we are specifically instructed otherwise at time of order, ShoeBox Scan projects are, by default, performed at 300ppi.

• for lots of 200-3000 photos at 300ppi ……….. .49c ea
• for lots of 3001+ photos at 300ppi …….……... .29c ea


ShoeBox Scanning 600ppi resolution. 600ppi scanning means you could re-print at approx 2x the original photo size (at regular 300dpi photo print resolution)

• for lots of 200-3000 photos at 600ppi ……….. .74c ea
• for lots of 3001+ photos at 600ppi …….….….. .64c ea


ShoeBox Scanning 1200ppi resolution. 1200ppi scanning means you could re-print at approx 4x the original photo size (at regular 300dpi photo print resolution)

• for lots of 200-3000 photos at 1200ppi …..….. .98c ea
• for lots of 3001+ photos at 1200ppi ………….. .88c ea



Please note that unless a job lot has been left with us specifically for a quote, we work on the assumption that photos are left with us to be digitised. We will scan all photos submitted, by whatever method required (at the appropriate rate), unless specifically instructed otherwise at the sales consultation.

Unless advised otherwise, we supply all digitised files on a single USB flash-drive of required size. The cost for supply & load of a USB depends on the size of your project, starting from $22. To make your backup responsibilities hassle-free, you can order extra USBs at any time during your 6 month warranty period.

Colour Adjustment optional extra - Kodak's "Perfect Touch" automatic colour adjustment. This is not professional colour correction performed image-by-image by a trained operator, but simply the application of Kodak's auto colour adjustment, applied on a job-wide basis. Additional 22c per photo.

Scan Both Sides optional extra - We can scan the reverse side of your photos as well as the front, job-wide for an additional 22c per photo.

A second option is that we scan reverse sides only for photos where we see writing on the back. With this method we charge as an additional photo at the appropriate rate for that service/resolution.

NB: If scanning reverse sides of only what we catch we cannot be held responsible for any we might miss.

The ShoeBox Scan service is a high quality feed scanning service designed for Bulk Loose Photos Only, that is, photos supplied loose in a box/bag (or more than one box/bag because of quantity). Photos in cardboard mounts, frames or albums need to be removed and supplied loose for this service. Or we are able to scan these for you with another service offering at a different rate.

Unless clearly understood to be for a quote only, we work on the assumption that all photos submitted have been supplied to be scanned. Unless we are given clear instructions to the contrary, all items supplied will be digitised, by whatever method is required, at the appropriate rates required for us to be able to complete the project.

Photos supplied grouped into bags or bundles within the larger box/bag for organisational reasons will be scanned into separate matching folders on your USB & the physical photos returned to their groupings/bags afterwards. The rate is $2.20 per folder/grouping. If you do not wish for this to happen, please supply your photos loose.

For our ShoeBox Scan service, we utilise highest quality feed-type photo scanners - Kodak PS80 & PS50 scanners. So the service is offered at such a low price, not because we use cheap scanners, but because we offer the service for qualifying photos only. Not all loose photos are suitable to safely feed into a scanner. To qualify for the ShoeBox Scan rate, your photos must meet the conditions below:

• minimum accepted size is at least 3 inches/75mm on at least one side. Some slightly larger than this may also not be acceptable if they will not feed safely through the scanner. Where photos fall below this size, you'll really need a higher resolution scan to get a sufficient sized finished image to enable zooming/cropping, or printing the photo. We scan undersized photos on our flat-bed scanners at 1200 ppi at the listed flat-bed scanning rate, or if you instruct us to set these aside, we can return them to you unscanned.

• maximum size accepted with this service is A4. Everything larger than A4 will be flatbed scanned @ 600 ppi at the listed flat-bed scanning rate, or if you instruct us to set these aside, we can return them to you unscanned.

• photos need to be in good, clean*, flat & flexible condition, not curled, cracking, torn, crumbling, dirty or sticky*. A good rule of thumb can be that most photos from the 60's or more recent will usually be suitable. Most photos from the 50's or older may be too small, too curled-yet-stiff, too tattered, torn, or have frilly edges that might make feed scanning unsafe for the photo. Anything we deem unsuitable will be flatbed scanned @ 600 ppi at the listed flat-bed scanning rate, or if you instruct us to set these aside, we can return them to you unscanned.

• photos should be thoroughly clean and free of obstacles such as sticky tape, staples, paperclips, blu-tac, post-it notes, bits of backing paper extending past the photo's edge, etc. If removing photos from sticky "magnetic" type albums, please make sure the photos are throughly clean & free from stick residue.

Other unsuitable photo types include:

• newspaper print

• cut-to-a-shape photos

• some laminated photos

• some ink-jet printed photos (results may vary - we recommend flatbed scanning for ink-jet prints)

• some very high-gloss crinkle finish photos

• heavy card type paper (non flexible), or mounted photos of any type. You may wish to remove photos from mounts to avail of the low pricing of this service, otherwise these will be set aside as unsuitable.

If you have any photos that you determine are unsuitable, you can still include them. We’d love it if you could group these separately and label them “unsuitable”, and we’ll flat-bed scan them for you.

Even if you don't know what might be in your box there's still no need to worry. At the time of ordering you can let us know your preference, either to have us flat-bed scan, or leave unscanned, any unsuitables we might come across.

It is also important to note that with this service, due to software limitations with the very high quality Kodak system we utilise, we cannot scan photos strictly in order. Once again, if scanning in strict order is important to you, we do offer other services that allow this.

* It is important that photos submitted be clean. Sometimes when removing photos from sticky "magnetic" albums the photo backs may retain some sticky residue, which then can get on the front the next photo in the pile. If not removed this can lead to inferior results, and clog up the scanners, so we regret we cannot scan dirty/sticky photos with this method, or sticky photos by any method. Sticky residue needs to be removed - either by the client, or by us (at a cost to the client), or we can set these aside unscanned if preferred.

Photos that do not meet the above criteria (we call them unsuitables) will be individually flat-bed scanned at our Standard Photo Scanning flat-bed scanning rates. Or you can instruct us to set them aside and return them to you unscanned.

Once again, we work on the assumption that if photos have been submitted to us then they are to be scanned. Everything that comes in with no instructions to the contrary will be scanned by whatever means necessary to complete the project.

Not sure? If you have unsuitables, you can ask us to:

A) Leave unsuitable photos unscanned & return them to you, or

B) Flat-bed scan either all, or a pre-agreed number of images, at the listed rates. If we are working to a pre-agreed limit, if the number of unsuitable images exceeds that, then we will stop at that point & set aside the rest, and return those to you unscanned.

Standard Flatbed Scanning rates are:


• under A4 size, up to 100 photos flatbed scanned @ 300 ppi = $1.65 ea, (101 or more = $1.35 ea)

• under A4 size, up to 100 photos flatbed scanned @ 600 ppi = $1.99 ea, (101 or more = $1.49 ea)

• under A4 size, up to 100 photos flatbed scanned @ 600 ppi = $2.49 ea, (101 or more = $1.99 ea)

• undersized (ie smaller than 3 inches/75mm on any side) up to 100 photos flatbed scanned @ 1200 ppi = $1.65 ea, (101 or more = $1.35 ea)

• oversized (larger than A4, up to A3 size), up to 100 photos flatbed scanned @ 300 ppi = $8.80 ea (101 or more = $7.70 ea)

• oversized (larger than A4, up to A3 size), up to 100 photos flatbed scanned @ 300 ppi = $13.20 ea (101 or more = $11.00 ea)

• Rush Service (subject to workload):

Due to the popularity of this service, standard turnaround for the ShoeBox Scan service starts from around 3 weeks at the moment, but if you need it sooner than that please let us know. Depending on our workload at the time we may be able to accommodate you.

The ShoeBox Scan service is designed for Bulk Loose Photos Only, that is, photos supplied loose in a box or bag. We can only keep the price this low if photos are supplied loose. But for various reasons you may wish to supply photos in separate groupings.

Where you supply groupings of scanned images they will be supplied back to you in matching folders on the USB. The rate is $2.20 per grouping/folder.

Any groupings need to be supplied in separate bags (we prefer ziplock bags, big enough that they can be sealed so photos don't fall out). This is to prevent photos getting mixed up with other photos in your job. Envelopes, photo packets, and paper bags are also ok. We do not accept bulk loose photos with paper/card dividers separating the groupings, because this increases the chances of errors. If photos are brought in with dividers, or rubber banded, or separated in any other way than we have described as acceptable for this service, you'll be given the option to either sort them in bags we supply, or the folder rate with supplied ziplock bags is $3.30 per grouping.

Also the rates ($2.20 per grouping) would suggest that we don't really want a bag with one or two photos in it. 200 photos in 100 groupings of 2 photos each is not what this service was designed for. 200 photos in say, 3 - 6 bags would be more in line with the way the service has been designed. So do yourself a favour & make your groupings larger to save money.

Due to the workflow that enables us to be able to scan your photos as high quality as we do, yet as inexpensively as possible, we do not undertake to scan photos in strict order with the Shoebox Scan service.

If this is a problem for you, it can be somewhat minimised if you group your photos into groupings. These groupings can be scanned in order. Please note: We can scan the groupings themselves in order, not the individual photos within the groupings, but that will help somewhat. Better to get 1981, 1982, 1983 etc scanned in order (or mostly in order) than to get back something completely random. We will place grouped photos together in a matching folder on your USB. Groupings/Folders are $2.20 per folder. All photos received separated into bags/envelopes will be charged as folders.

Scanning in strict order is of course available with our flatbed scanning services, so please let us know if this is important to you.

After many years of being the lowest price bulk photo scanning service in Australia, we've begun to see a few copy-cat services spring up lately, and some may be offering a cheaper price than us.

We would ask clients to bear in mind:

A) We 100% guarantee to scan your images on-site here in our Brisbane facility. You can breathe easy that we'll never send your photos to India (or anywhere else) just to get cheap labour. With our service there's zero risk that your precious photos could end up at the bottom of the Indian ocean.

B) We 100% guarantee to exclusively use quality Kodak PS series scanners for our ShoeBox Scanning service.

There are some cheap Chinese scanners coming onto the market these days (the most expensive we've seen is 1/10 the price of our Kodaks), but as with most things in life, you really do get what you pay for with scanners. We know. We have bought and tested some of these, (even some from reputable brands), and we've found that they really can only produce a fraction of the picture quality that our Kodaks produce.

We just could not in good conscience use them because of the poor results they produce.

So buyer beware!

Due to the popularity of our service, we are quoting a minimum of approx 3 weeks at this time, depending on your quantities.

If you need it sooner than that, for an event or a production deadline, talk to us & we will offer some solutions for you.

Terms:

• We ask for a part payment (deposit) at commencement, of approx 1/3rd of the estimate for your project. 

• To keep things fair, for regular timeframe projects your job will go into a queue of work and will be attended in turn. Please note that predicting timeframes is not an exact science. It's simply not possible to precisely allow for unforeseen issues that may occur with obsolete media, either in your job, or in the jobs ahead of yours in the queue. So we aim at estimated timeframe targets. If you have a looming deadline or event, please let us know, and we can discuss options with you.

• Original media is available for collection upon full payment. Unless prior arrangements have been made, we ask for payment to be made within 7 days of invoicing. Storage fees may be levied on jobs not paid for &/or collected within 30 days of invoicing.

• We like to be as flexible as possible. We’re happy to work with you before commencement of the job to come to a mutually acceptable arrangement. But we do ask that if we have not made alternate arrangements with you before commencement, that you will honour our terms.