Frequently Asked Questions

DPI stands for "dots per inch", and it is a commonly used but often misunderstood and misleading technical technical term in scanning.

DPI tells you the number of pixels per inch that a scanner will produce in a scanned file. The higher the dpi, the larger your scan will be in terms of both pixels and megabytes e.g. actual file size. Large file sizes are notorious for clogging up hard drive storage so it is essential to balance DPI with future needs.

We do believe that your scanned images should be scanned at a high quality resolution. This is important since you may not be sure what you will use your image scans for in the future. So generally speaking, we believe what is needed is a scan that has resolution high enough to allow decent size enlargements if you decide to get any scans printed. On the other hand, it's also possible to scan with too high a resolution too. Firstly, size makes the file difficult to view or edit if too large. Some very detailed scans can also pick up and magnify the grain. So we feel that our standard resolution of 3200 dpi or 12 megapixels for 35mm slides and film negatives, and 600 dpi for individual photos is a perfect balance.

Yes, we keep digital backups of all customers files for 28 days on our secure hard drives after which they are securely deleted from our systems. We do this in case you need more copies or lose your data when backing up. We are happy to accommodate special requests to extend or shorten this period if requested by a customer. 

Absolutely not. We will never use any customer images. They are the customers property - besides which, we would be infringing copyright laws unless we were given express permission from a customer.....which we would never ask for.

We save all our scans to JPG as standard. If you want a different format such as TIFF, please contact us.

Life is possibly too short for that! Unless you want to count everything, we are happy to give you an estimate once your order has been received (to ensure no huge surprises regarding the total cost). A full and accurate count takes place as we scan and we will send you an invoice for the actual number.

Without a doubt. They are your property, even if you asked us to dispose of the originals once scanned, we would decline your request.....we love old photos, we could never bring ourselves to destroy them!

We aim to complete orders within 7 days. However, during busy periods such as Christmas and depending upon the size and complexity of the order, this could be longer. We will always let you know the approximate timescales. 

Yes we certainly endeavour to do this. Occasionally a slip up may occur but this can easily be rectified on your computer.

Yes we can. Just make sure your photos, slides or negatives are put into separate bundles and add a title for the folder name you'd like. We recommend that you put your images into envelopes or similar and write on it the folder name that you want to see or use rubber bands and a post-it or similar. Folders are a FREE service with the exception of our loose photo scanning service. This service is semi automated, as such, naming folders slows the process considerably. If photo bundles for individual folders contain fewer than 25 photos, and there are a number of these, we apply a small charge of £0.50 per folder for making and naming the folder. 

You most certainly can. In fact PicSave have become the 'go to' experts for a photo album scanning service. We are able to offer a great deal of flexibility with our service, so if you don't see exactly what you want with the service, simply contact us. 

Yes we do. We try to eliminate as much dust as possible pre-scan. We lightly brush each slide with a Kinetronics anti-static brush to dislodge dust particles then blow each slide or negative  individually with compressed air. If your slides are very dirty or have mould or fungus, we recommend cleaning them thoroughly before sending them to us. We can provide heavier cleaning for dirty slides but unfortunately we would need to apply an additional charge based upon how bad the slides or negatives are. This would be discussed pre sending in your scans or once identified by us upon receipt of your order.

Absolutely. When we can, we use Digital Ice or a similar alternative software that uses the infra red mapping principle. Dust spots, minor scratches can be removed by using this. It is not perfect however! We do not use high settings as this can very often badly distort things such as eyes that the software sometimes think are dust particles and will blur or remove them! Our view is it is better to see a few speckles of dust than to blur or distort an image too much.

We will crop and orientate your photos. We'd love to guarantee 100% accuracy....but very occasionally, we may not be able to determine the correct oreintation. Should this happen, you should be able to easily orientate on your computer.

That depends. These photos are the copyright of the photographer and permission must be obtained to make a copy of any sort. The only exception to this is where you have the permission from the photographer in writing. We assume that you have the rights to all images that are sent to us and accept no liability for any copyright infringement.

We can scan your risqué photos if you want us to. Our service is discrete and if they are loose photos, then almost entirely automated. We will not however scan anything that is illegal.

Absolutely, if you are in a rush and need a quick turnaround, we can offer an Express service for a small premium. Just contact us if you need this service.

Sorry, no, we love photos far too much! We won't destroy any photos, slides or negatives, will send back everything we have received from you. 

In certain circumstances yes we would but would have to charge for a double scan and merge if the actual pictures do not all fit within the A3 scan. We would scan the page twice to capture all of the photos and then photo merge/stitch the scans together. The additional charge would be the cost of an additional scan.