To simplify for you to judge the image quality we produce we have collected a few samples of actual customer images here.
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We handle the following formats:
We do not handle unprocessed films. We do not develop and print paper photos, but we do scan developed and printed photos.
If you want to know if we can scan your specific images, please contact us.
Digital photography and handling of digital images have many positive aspects; the images can be copied in large quantities without any loss of quality, they can be sent to other persons and look exactly the same when they are received as when they were sent. Digital images can also be manipulated in many ways, for example balancing of colours or retouching. Digital pictures do not lose their quality over time, instead the largest risks are that the photos are erased by mistake or that the used storage medium is destroyed or lost.
When it comes to the handling of traditional images, regardless if it is paper photos, negatives or slides, the situation is unfortunately somewhat different; colours fade and originals get fragile. Every time a traditional image is copied, the original is being slightly worn and the copy can never be completely identical to the original. Many pictures that we receive also have some dust, scratches, smudges or fingerprints on them.
This means that small amounts of dirt end up in our production systems as we digitise images. To minimise these effects we clean our machines and continuously replace parts that are being worn. All scanned images also have digital dust- and scratch reduction filters applied to them.
There can still be traces of dust, scratches and other dirt when scanning old images.
The professional photo paper that is used for developed pictures can shed small particles when being scanned at high speed. When dust or paper particles get stuck on the scanning surface of our production system it blocks image pixels from being scanned. As the paper photos move across the scanning surface the blocked pixels can leave thin colour lines in the digital images, and in some cases vague streaks of shifting colours. These lines and shifting colours are most evident in large, evenly coloured areas in the original picture, e.g. snowy landscapes and cloudless skies or large shadows and dark photos taken at night.
It is not certain that you see traces of dust, dirt, scratches or fingerprints in the digital images we produce, especially if you show the digital photos in digital photo frames, develop and print them in small photo sizes or show them on TV screens smaller than 40 inches
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The conclusion is that the cleaner originals you send to us the better are the resulting digital images we produce, but even if we clean our equipment between every customer order and apply digital filters we can never fully remove these issues.
Contact us if you have any questions.
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Our production process is highly automated allowing us to keep a low price combined with an even production quality.
This means that we transfer *all* originals sent to us, i.e. from single frames that you have cut apart to different lengths of 35mm film strips – up to full-length developed film rolls.
If you do not want to cut your negatives apart, we also transfer single or multiple frames in film strips. Be sure to write a clear instruction on which frames to scan.
All negatives that we transfer are saved as positives. This means that the digital images you receive will have "normal colours" (e.g. blue sky, green grass). These can therefore be printed, presented on a TV or computer monitor, or used at a photo store. For more ideas on what you can do, see our 10 reasons for having your images transferred by us.
When you send negatives to us, we will under certain circumstances mount them in Gepe slide frames before we transfer them to disc. This is most common for single negative frames.
For customers who do not want their old negatives in return this obviously does not make any difference. If you choose to have your negatives returned (LARGE shipping), some of those may have been mounted in slide frames by us.
Contact us if you have any questions.
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You can mix photos of different sizes and formats, e.g. Polaroids, in the same order. You need not sort or group them.
We do not handle framed and mounted paper photos or photos still kept in photo albums.
Due to our production process being highly automated it is important for us that the photos you send us are “whole and clean”.
Our production equipment operates at high speed and damaged photos can get stuck and be further damaged. Torn corners or lightly folded photos do not normally cause any problems. Fragile prints, e.g. older photos where the image layer has started to crack and flake and photos that are torn into the picture from one of the sides may be damaged.
You only pay for the pictures we actually digitize. If you send pictures that we are not able to scan you do not pay anything extra, but at the same time we cannot take responsibility for potential damage to photos that are not whole and clean.
Contact us if you have any questions.
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When you send unmounted slides to us, we will under certain circumstances mount them in Gepe slide frames before we transfer them to disc. This is most common for single unmounted slides.
Contact us if you have any questions.
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The originals are scanned as high resolution digital images and are stored in JPEG format (jpg). This equals photos taken with a digital camera at approximately 20 megapixels.
The digital size of paper photos depends strongly on the original size. If the paper photo we scan is larger than 10x15 the resolution will be equally higher and vice versa.
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As a comparison, The TV standard "Full HD" equals 2.1 megapixels. Despite this, most of today's DVD-players can show the images we produce.
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There are sample customer images available to show the quality of our standard services.
You can edit and print the images on any standard computer or use them as input for paper copies made by a photo store. If you have the knowledge and equipment you can also use the images when creating e.g. invitations, slideshows or electronic scrapbooks.
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In our production process we
We keep a high level of automation in our production process. That means if all your negatives and slides are not facing the same direction throughout the batch some may be transferred as "mirrored" images. Paper photos are not “€ťmirrored”.
We deliver the images on discs without any copy protection or other special requirements. Therefore you can mirror, rotate or crop the digital images yourself using standard software.
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We transfer images to discs from more than 70 different types of memory cards.
Some of the most frequent examples of memory cards:
MemoryStick/MemoryStick-Pro/MemoryStick-duo, MemoryStick-Pro duo, SecureDigital (SD), Mini SecureDigital, Micro SecureDigital, MultimediaCard (MMC), RS-MMC, Compact Flash I-IV, MD, SMC and USB-memory sticks.
Contact us if you have any questions.
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Typically we do not have any problems in handling older slides with glass covered film, however we do require the slides to meet the 35mm standard size.
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In STANDARD-orders all digital images are put directly on the disc, not in different folders.
When making a PLUS-order you decide how you want us to save the digital images into different folders and sub-folders.
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Advanced Photo System is a film format for analogue still photography. It was developed and marketed by Eastman Kodak under the brand name "Advantix".
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We transferred APS until January 2010. It is a format that few suppliers of professional scanning equipment support. We have not been able to find a production system meeting our quality standards. If you know of one - please tell us.
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We use high quality products from AMD, Canon, Gepe, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Microtek and Nikon to ensure high quality results.
Our equipment is compatible with all standard 35mm negative films, developed paper photos and 35mm slide magazines (CS/Universal/Braun/LKM) and single 35mm slides.
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Digital reduction of scratches and dust is made with Digital ICE Quad Advanced™ technology on negatives and slides.
It works well on any colour images and newer black and whites (C41 process) to improve clarity and quality enhancements despite scratches and dust. However, it is not as effective on traditional silver-halide b/w films. Digital ICE™ mostly works well also on Kodak Kodachrome™ images, but some of them (especially if they lack colours in the red spectrum - e.g. underwater shots) can lose some of their clarity.
When scanning paper photos and Polaroids we use ImageCleanerTool. It is most effective when used on matt originals. Also blank originals are improved, but not always with the same distinct results.
Please remember that the state the originals are in when you send them to us will always be reflected in the final results!
If you do not want us to reduce scratches and dust, please choose PLUS when you order.
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For negatives and slides we use Digital ROC™ to gently balance and restore natural colours in images that have lost some of their colours or shifted tone over time. We can also use it on black and white images with good results. The digital image file is then technically stored in colour mode.
Paper photos and Polaroids are restored by using Retouch Tool. It restores and balances natural colours in images that have lost some of their colours or shifted tone over time, while also adjusting contrast and brightness.
The templates we use are set to average images regarding exposure, e.g. holiday pictures.
If you have images that are consciously over- or under exposed we recommend you not to choose colour restoration.
Please remember that the state the originals are in when you send them to us will always be reflected in the final results!
If you do not want us to apply colour restoration, please choose PLUS when you order.
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When analogue film is developed a certain amount of grains appears in the images. The grains are generally larger for faster ISO film.
When we digitally reduce the amount of visible grains in different types of films for negatives and slides we use the technology Digital GEM™. We can use it on black and white images as well as Kodachrome™ with good results. The digital image file is technically stored in colour mode.
Grain reduction is not applied on any paper photos.
If you do not want us to apply grain reduction, please choose PLUS when you order.
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We deliver the images on discs without any copy protection or other special requirements.
You own the originals you send to us. Therefore you can copy, edit and store the digital images as you like. For more ideas on what you can do, see our 10 reasons for having your images scanned by us.
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The DVDs store approximately 1000 images each and are delivered in the DVD-R format
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If there are so many images to store that they will not fit on a single disc we will use the title you provided us in your order, with a numbering to separate the discs. Example: "Family Anderson 1" and "Family Anderson 2".
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When we produce discs it includes verification of the individual image files.
If the photos are not shown on your TV or computer screen, try first to use another player or computer. If you still have problems showing the images check the following:
1. Can the player show jpeg or tiff?
The images are saved in the format jpeg (jpg). Professional orders can also be saved as tiff (tif). Check that your player can show jpeg (jpg) or tiff (tif).
2. Can the player show images from this type of disc?
A few DVD-players can only show image files from DVD, not from CD. A computer equipped with a CD-ROM can only read CD, while a computer equipped with a DVD-ROM can read both CD and DVD.
3. Can the player show high resolution images?
We transfer images with such a high quality that each image file is larger than 5 megabytes. There are a few DVD-players that cannot handle files of that size - consult the manual. Computers with limited random access memory (RAM) can become very slow (or not show photos at all).
4. Is the graphic card and image software able enough?
There are computer programs that cannot handle large files - consult the manual or download one of the many free programs available online to see if that resolves the issue. Some older graphic cards have limited memory and can therefore not show larger files.
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Original images and slides that are sent to us are exclusively owned by the customer. No intellectual property rights are transferred to our company during the processing.
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7 of 10 customers recommend DiaDirekt to others. Read more here
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