Superior Equipment & Technology

We have invested in the latest photo, slide and negative scanning equipment and technology. Using a combination of high-end scanners coupled with cutting-edge image enhancement software, we deliver highest quality and accuracy in the most cost effective way possible. Our scanners are extremely gentle even on your most previous items and can create black-and-white, grayscale and colour images. Depending on the type of photos, slides or negatives you have, our trained ScanFactory operators will determine the best scanner(s) to use for your project. In addition, we  use our own proprietary technology to control, streamline and automate all our scanning operations, from A to Z – ScanFactory Resource Planning (SRP). This highly sophisticated, one-of-a-kind technology offers complete traceability and provides full real-time reporting functionality.

Our Scanning Process

A set of clearly defined procedures governs every single step of our scanning process: Pick-up of your photos, slides or negatives, Transport & Intake at our facilities, Preparation, Scanning, Indexing, Quality Control, Metadata & Image Delivery. Our experienced consultants will work with your staff to determine the special requirements of your project. All of our procedures are designed to maintain a high degree of quality and accuracy to guarantee your satisfaction.

To reassure yourself that your precious photos, slides and negatives are in good hands, read how we scan and preserve books (including rare and fragile originals of cultural and historical value) by clicking here.

Photo Scanning Process

To ensure the safety of your original photos, we scan each picture by hand. Our trained ScanFactory operators clean each picture with compressed air and lint-free cloth to remove any dust that may cause a poor scan. In addition, our photo scanning equipment has built-in dust removal features – this immediately helps with the quality of your digital image. In case of photo albums, our operators will remove individual photos from their sleeves, scan them, and return them in their original order. After all of your photos have been completely scanned, our operators turn over the images to our quality control & image enhancement staff. We take the time to go through your pictures to make individual improvements, including rotating of images for proper orientation, correction of exposure problems, correction of colour problems, etc.

Note: If you have both your printed photos and your negatives, we usually suggest scanning the negatives. A photo is like a copy of the negative, so scanning a photo is essentially making a copy of a copy. Our top-of-the line equipment can repair and enhance the image either way, but it is always best to start with the purest image available.

Slide Scanning Process

Every slide is handled and processed by highly trained professionals to meet our strict quality control requirements. Slides are individually cleaned and scanned by hand. Our ScanFactory operators colour correct, crop, remove dust, re-orientate and perform other quality enhancement tasks to restore new life to your slides. The scanning and setup varies depending on the format of the slide. We will gladly receive your slides in carousels, magazines or any other storage container. As we process materials one by one, every slide will be replaced in the exact order it was received. If your slides are in particular order, rest assured your slide organization will remain intact. Each slide is scanned with the highest quality equipment which uses infra-red light to detect dust particles and minor scratches prior to and during scanning, then corrects the image based on the defects detected by the infra-red light.

Negative Scanning Process

Every negative is treated and processed with the utmost precision and care. Scanning negatives is a task that calls for extremely gentle handling, and even something as simple as identifying the right side to scan (i.e. the emulsion side) takes a trained touch. We evaluate your negatives before scanning even takes place. All negatives are individually cleaned, scanned and enhanced to ensure the highest quality possible. We clean every strip of negatives with compressed air and a lint free cloth prior to scanning. Each negative is scanned with the highest quality equipment which uses infra-red light to detect dust particles and minor scratches prior to and during scanning, then corrects the image based on the defects detected by the infra-red light. It also restores and corrects colour, reduces film grain noise, and optimizes contrast & exposure of the scanned negatives. We then crop, de-skew and properly orientate your images.

Quality Control & Image Enhancement

In addition to all the quality control and image enhancement tasks performed by our high-end scanning equipment and our trained staff (see above), our in-house developed SRP system has built-in quality control and image enhancement features of its own. All images and their metadata (image size, dpi, compression, and many other image-related data) are stored directly in the SRP database. SRP’s complex quality control algorithms analyze every single image, flag images that are suspected to have a quality issue and automatically alert our Quality Supervisor to take action. SRP also utilizes a 16-core server dedicated exclusively to post-scan image processing and performs a variety of algorithmic image enhancement functions. This is truly unique technology that is based on decades of hands-on experience in document scanning. It is also worth noting that every action taken in relation to your photos, slides or negatives is tracked in our SRP system in real time.

Last but not least, our employees are trained to apply ISO 9001 Quality Management principles in all their work.

Indexing 

We are prepared to meet your indexing requirements from start to finish. We can provide structural, technical, administrative, as well as preservation metadata and format it just the way you want it (as simple or as elaborate as you require). We can index your materials by matching to any existing databases, by manual keying, or other methods. We will also prepare images and metadata for import into your back-end databases or your document management software.

Metadata & Image Delivery

Delivery of images and metadata can be done via a Direct File Transfer method (VPN) or External Storage Device method (e.g. encrypted Hard Disk, USB sticks, etc.). You decide which option suits you best. Delivery is a fully automated process governed entirely by SRP. During scanning, all scanned images and metadata are stored directly in the SRP database. These images and metadata are automatically exported from SRP without any human intervention whatsoever. As a result, you have virtually unlimited flexibility in choosing your preferred image and metadata file formats, such as JPEG, TIFF, PDF, etc. for images, XML file or CSV file, etc. for metadata.