Digitization
Bring Stories to Life
Artwork―Prints―Albums―Slides―Negatives
Background
My dad piqued my interest when he asked me to keep an eye out for slide carousels at vintage shops. He wanted to view the film slides he had tucked away and hadn’t seen for decades. Because I was already scanning film negatives at home, I offered to instead digitize the collection, bringing his memories into the digital age.
Upon seeing his images, my dad immediately started telling stories I had never heard before; about meandering through the Brazilian countryside at eighteen years old, getting to his host’s home in the middle of the night after getting lost, crossing a river up to his neck, running behind a horseback rider for forty-five minutes, and eventually climbing over the wall of the house. Hearing these stories made me realize that there’s a limited window of opportunity to collect and retell these memories. Many other people have boxes of slides full of stories to tell, waiting to be as impactful for their loved ones as my father’s were for me.
"My box of old slides contained memories locked away, inaccessible. Seeing the now digitized images brought back forgotten stories to tell my children. Looking back at images from my 20's, I see they foreshadow much that would come later. I'm so thankful I can see them again! And, I was a much better photographer than I remembered."
- Jonathan B.
"After many years of accumulating slides, I heard how Lancaster Film Co could scan and share all my slides. Problem solved. I was able to share all the slides with each of my five children."
- Irene S.
Personal Life Gallery
Much of my personal life gallery photos are film images digitized.
Slide Restoration
Sometimes after decades of wear and tear, color restoration and/or scratch and dust removal are necessary to breathe life into a collection. Depending on the film stock and how it was originally exposed/processed, digital color balancing can dramatically improve the tint of shadows and highlights. See this image before/after. More than likely the slide was underexposed when taking the picture, but restoring the image quality can make what was an unusable image printable.
Converting Negatives
Film negatives present a unique challenge in digitization, as they contain inverted colors and require careful processing to reveal the true image. Our specialized scanning process not only converts these negatives into positive images but also preserves the rich detail and tonal range that make film photography special. We can work with various negative formats, from 35mm to medium format, ensuring each frame is properly converted and color-corrected to match the original scene.
High Fidelity Digitization
Once cleaned of dust, our scanning process brings out the richness of film slides or negatives, which are digitally converted to positives. We make sure to use high accuracy CRI lights and standardized white balance settings to get the very best colors out of your images. The detail revealed may surprise you compared to viewing small prints or via a whirring old projector.
Steps to Slide Digitization
Dust Off Your Box of Slides: Discover your long-forgotten memories hidden in the attic. Gather them all and carefully pack them up for preservation and digitization.
Pack Your Slides: Safely package your slides for transit. Often slides are stored in little yellow boxes direct from Kodak, in slide projector carousels, or in metal slotted containers.
Drop Off or Ship: Once you purchase via the services page, choose the most convenient option to deliver your memories to Lancaster Film Co.
Relax and Enjoy: Let Lancaster Film Co handle the cleaning, scanning, and scratch/dust removal.
