Scan Cafe: Seems there has been a lot of interest in scanning, scanner vs. a service, I just received this email from Scan Cafe. Pretty good deal, I think.

lbrandt79 Loc: League City, Tx.

Seems there has been a lot of interest in scanning, scanner vs. a service, I just received this email from Scan Cafe. Pretty good deal, I think.

Frapha Loc: Tulsa, Oklahoma

I've used Scan Cafe on a couple occasions for scanning slides, negatives & prints from old 35mm film. Very well satisfied with their product, process and result -- would not hesitate to use them again.

hj Loc: Florida

I used them one time and would NOT again. I took nearly three MONTHS from start to finish. Unless they have changed, they ship your slides to India to be scanned. I was not impressed with the results even though they claim to enhance (brighten etc), remove dust etc from each individual slide. I spent over $800 for their service for a sizeable batch of slides. I had some remaining and then purchased a $100 Wolverine slide scanner and got decent quality that was just about as good as ScanCafe.

lbrandt79 Loc: League City, Tx.

hj wrote:

I used them one time and would NOT again. I took ... (show quote)

I would ask how long ago? I read some comments like this also after I had already sent mine in. It does take 6-8 weeks, but what is the hurry, they have been in storage, in my case, anywhere from 20-30 years. I have only used them this year. I could care less where the work is done, although you can have it done quicker if you choose and they never leave California as I understand.

hj Loc: Florida

I had mine scanned about four years ago with ScanCafe. If you check their website it indicates it takes 6-8 weeks for the scan processing and another 2-3 weeks for shipping. AND, it says unless you pay extra for service in California, slides are shipped to Bangalore, India. My main complaint was that the quality was a big disappointment compared to the glowing reviews on their website. Hardly better than what I achieved using a $100 Wolverine scanner and I paid them $800 thinking the image quality would be better.

lbrandt79 Loc: League City, Tx.

hj wrote:

I had mine scanned about four years ago with ScanC... (show quote)

It does take 6-8 weeks, that is true, but the experience I had with quality was really good, again, what is the hurry. Think maybe things have changed in 4 years or so. 800 dollars, wow, how many did you have scanned. Gracious, I would never have invested that much all at once without knowing or at least having an idea of what I was getting. I had 700 negatives and 500 slides done at two different times. Would have to go back and check but know I didn't spend half that much. Think you would have a different experience today. Sounds like you should have sent them a sample batch to check the output at least. I regretted the first batch I sent because I read some negative reports but they were already shipped so waited on them was pleased and then sent my negatives, they were well done.

BillKe

I have had over 25,000 prints, slides and negatives scanned by Scan Cafe. No complaints other than long lead time (which I did not care about)

lbrandt79 Loc: League City, Tx.

BillKe wrote:

I have had over 25,000 prints, slides and negatives scanned by Scan Cafe. No complaints other than long lead time (which I did not care about)

Thanks for the reply, I mean what most of us need scanning is sitting in boxes somewhere for years, 6 weeks is nothing, would be interested in others who can support or disagree with hj who spent 800 bucks and was unhappy, I certainly would at least give them a try before I spent that much, and, 4 years ago they may have had issues, I don't know.

BillKe

I had many orders over a two year timeframe--usually about 1,000 images per order.

I did this from 2010 to 2012.

lbrandt79 Loc: League City, Tx.

BillKe wrote:

I had many orders over a two year timeframe--usually about 1,000 images per order.

I did this from 2010 to 2012.

I think he may have had a bad experience but for me to believe he bought a 100 scanner and had better success is ridiculous, I have a great Epson Scanner that can approach what they produce but the time to scan that many is not worth it.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

lbrandt79 wrote:

Seems there has been a lot of interest in scanning, scanner vs. a service, I just received this email from Scan Cafe. Pretty good deal, I think.

They did a little over 100 slides for me @ $0.29 per slide. They let me look at the results and delete a certain percentage. When they were finished, I could download them while I waited for the DVD. Great quality - clean with good color. It probably took a month or more from start to finish, but I'm satisfied with the results.

Be aware that anything other than 35mm will cost about a dollar a slide.

BillKe

In my case, if I had spent 3 minutes per image scanning, it would have taken me 31 weeks at 40 hours a week. Yes, I spent a lot of money doing this, but my time was worth the cost.

My objective was to catalog the images for my son & daughter. I arranged them by year and subject and last Christmas I gave them a 2 gig hard drive with the scanned images on it (and also images from the "digital" era).

lbrandt79 Loc: League City, Tx.

BillKe wrote:

In my case, if I had spent 3 minutes per image scanning, it would have taken me 31 weeks at 40 hours a week. Yes, I spent a lot of money doing this, but my time was worth the cost.

My objective was to catalog the images for my son & daughter. I arranged them by year and subject and last Christmas I gave them a 2 gig hard drive with the scanned images on it (and also images from the "digital" era).

Absolutely, exactly my sentiments too.

hj Loc: Florida

lbrandt79 wrote:

I think he may have had a bad experience but for me to believe he bought a 100 scanner and had better success is ridiculous, I have a great Epson Scanner that can approach what they produce but the time to scan that many is not worth it.

If you will read properly, please note that I did not say the wolverine gave better success. In one post I said the Scan Cafe results were "hardly" better and in another post I said the wolverine was "just about as good" ... never said my personal results were better. The difference in quality between wolverine and Scan Cafe did not justify the extra cost. Yes, in retrospect I should have sent a sample batch, but their website and "selected" user comments raved about their process, so I sent over 2500 for scan at one time.

lbrandt79 Loc: League City, Tx.

hj wrote:

If you will read properly, please note that I did ... (show quote)

Sorry if I misquoted you, sending that many was a mistake. Cannot imagine risking that many and bucks. Most of the comments here on many posts have been positive.