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i-question Frequently Asked Questions

what will you scan?

We scan photos up to 8-1/2 X 11-inches. We scan film and scan slides or transparencies of many types including: 35mm, APS, 126, 127, 110, medium format or 120/220, 3D Stereo Slides as well as cut or sheet film to 4 X 5-inches. We also scan XPan film, and scan XPan slides too, though these must first be removed from their mounts in order to load into our Nikon 9000 film scanners.

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is there anything you won’t scan?

We do require that you are the copyright holder (usually the photographer) or have permission from the copyright holder to scan each image you provide. We also cannot scan prints mounted in photo albums, baby books, etc. Due to the potential for damage, you will need to remove these prints from their albums prior to shipment to New World Digital Arts. Additionally, the maximum print scan size currently is 8-1/2x11-inches, the largest film scan size, 4x5-inches.

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what other services do you provide?

In addition to slide scanning, film scanning, and photo scanning, we convert analog tape to digital and save the tape to disk. This includes VHS, VHS-C, 8mm, Hi-8, and Sony Beta. We also transfer Digital 8 to DVD. We offer a complete photo restoration service, and we create custom DVD slide show movies from your photo scans, slide scans, film scans, and digital images. Additionally, we produce custom T-Shirts, polos, sweats, aprons, mousepads, etc. from your slide scans, film scans, photo scans, and digital images.

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how long does it take?

While that is dependent on a number of factors including the number and condition of the images to be scanned, as well as how many other orders we are working on at the time, typically all but the largest orders are usually completed and ready for return shipment within one week. Smaller orders of 100 or fewer slide scans, film scans, or photo scans are most often ready within 1-2 days. Otherwise, if time is a factor, let us know and we will do our best to work with you on it.

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extra charges?

If what you want is a raw slide scan, film scan, or photo scan with absolutely no corrections applied, we will be happy to oblige, however, we have found that what most of our customers are really looking for are top quality slide scans, film scans, and photo scans they can use for prints, web pages, slide shows, Power Point or Keynote presentations, archiving or other applications without first having to clean up, crop, rotate, or color correct their scans themselves. This is why we never charge extra for Digital Ice, basic color, grain, or fade correction, cropping, rotating, or the CDs and DVDs used to save your scans. We even include the Jewel Cases which protect each of those discs. Of course, we do not add additional charges for slides shipped in trays, carousels, or cubes either, nor do we have any minimum order requirements. Large or small, we put the same effort into providing the best slide scans, film scans, and photo scans possible on every order.

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what do I get when you scan negatives?

As with all slide scans, film scans, and photo scans, you will receive your original film along with CDs or DVDs containing both TIFF and JPEG files of each image scanned. In the case of negatives, however, the images are reversed during the film scanning process, thus the image files you get back on disk will be positives, just like slide scans or photo scans, and ready to print or use otherwise just as they are.

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why do you provide both tiff and jpg files?

The TIFF image format has become the standard of the photographic industry. The TIFF files you receive from New World Digital Arts will be the full, uncompressed files that provide 100% of the information captured by the scan. This is the file you will want to use for archiving and printing. We also provide a reduced, compressed JPG file more suitable for web use, email, DVD slide show movies, and general viewing on your computer. Bear in mind the JPG is a “lossy” compression method, meaning that each time the image is re-saved there is further loss in data and quality.

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what about scanning slides, scanning negatives, or scanning prints that are in poor condition or underexposed?

We do our best to pull useable scans from every image you send, however, even with the best hardware and software available there are limits to our magic. Digital Ice does a remarkable job of cleaning up dust and scratches on most color slide scans and color film scans. If the problem with your slides is that they are old and badly faded, something that eventually happens to all color slides, film, and prints, Digital ROC can do wonders to restore the original brilliance of your image. A grain problem in color slide scans is something we run into less often, but here again DIGITAL ICE4, specifically Digital GEM, can make a dramatic difference. Otherwise, if your slides were simply underexposed to begin with, Digital DEE (still another part of DIGITAL ICE4) can often help pull additional detail from shadowed areas of the image. General lightening and tweaking of the contrast settings during the slide scanning, film scanning, or photo scanning process will also often help.

That said, some slide scans, film scans, or photo scans, whether due to the original exposure or the age or condition of the film or print, may require manual post-production editing or spotting beyond what our standard service provides. We find this most often with silver halide b&w film which is not compatible with Digital Ice, as well as film or prints which are simply in very poor physical condition. If we find, once we get started on your order, that a good number of the images you have supplied fall into this category we will contact you with three choices: 


  1. We will leave the remainder of the damaged slides, negatives, or prints unscanned and will not charge you for them.

  2. We will pull the best slide scan, film scan, or photo scan we can from these images and leave the post-scan manipulations to you, in which case we will charge you the standard rate for slide scanning, film scanning, or photo scanning. 

  3. At your request we will do a thorough examination of both the original and slide scan, film scan, or photo scan and provide you with a price quote for a complete restoration. While this option does involve an additional charge, for important or irreplaceable images the results can be well worth the cost. In the end, it must be stated that a properly exposed film image or print handled and stored carefully and in good original condition will always produce the best scan.

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do you scan selected frames from negative rolls, strips, or aps cartridges?

Yes and no. If you send us an APS cartridge it will be scanned in its entirety and you will be charged for each frame. Complete film rolls are fine, however, 35mm rolls will be cut into strips of approximately 5 frames before scanning, medium format rolls into strips of varying length dependent on whether the negatives are 645, 6x6, 6x7, or 6x9. In the case of 35mm and medium format roll film, we will scan individual frames if requested.

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what resolution should I choose for scanning slides, scanning film, or scanning photos?

Scanning resolution is properly expressed as SPI or samples per inch, screen resolution as PPI or pixels per inch, printing resolution as DPI or dots per inch. Nonetheless, you will most often – this site included – see scans referred to in terms of DPI as in “4000DPI.” A 2720DPI scan of a 35mm slide, as an example, when printed full size at 300DPI – photo quality for a print -- translates into a picture size of approximately 8x12-inches. Which resolution is best for you depends on what you plan to do with your scans. If you only plan to use them for viewing on the computer, for web pages or email, DVD slide show movies, PowerPoint presentations, or 4x6-inch prints, a 2000DPI 35mm slide scan or film scan should be more than sufficient. However, if you want the option of larger prints – photo quality up to 12x18 inches or simply want the maximum detail in your slide scan or film scan, 4000DPI is the way to go, at least where 35mm or APS film is concerned. The situation is slightly different with 120/220 and 4x5-inch and larger negatives and transparencies because they are so much larger to start with. Even a 2000DPI 2-1/4 inch square slide scan or film scan will produce a photo quality 300DPI print approximately 14-1/2 by 14-1/2 inches, a 4000DPI slide scan or film scan would print to nearly 30 inches square. A 4x5 inch film scan will print to 25x31-1/2 inches when scanned at 2000DPI. 300DPI works very well for most print scans, though smaller images, particularly if you want to enlarge them, may benefit from a 600DPI scan. Whatever is being scanned, higher resolutions cost more because the slide scan, film scan, or print scan takes longer, sometimes much longer. The resulting files are larger as well, not only taking up more disk space but also taking longer to load on your screen. However, a large high-resolution slide scan, film scan, or photo scan file can always be down sized to anything you want, while there is nothing you can do to add data to a lower resolution scan to make it capable of printing larger or to allow for extensive cropping.

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do you scan black & white negatives?

Absolutely. However, as Digital Ice does not work with traditional silver halide b&w film, dust and scratches that would normally be eliminated during the slide scanning or film scanning of color media are not removed. This means that the scan quality where b&w film is concerned is more dependent on the quality and especially the condition of the original negative. At New World Digital Arts we have a great deal of experience scanning b&w film, some of it 60 – 70 years old, and we will be happy to put that expertise to work on your film scanning project. We must warn you, however, that the final scans you receive may not be quite as “ready for primetime” as color slide scans or film scans, and depending on their condition are more likely to require additional post-scan editing.

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packaging and shipping?

We simply advise you to use common sense in packaging, preferably using boxes with plenty of padding for slides rather than envelopes, and securing them in stacks with rubber bands or otherwise to prevent movement and damage during shipping. Film or prints may be shipped in padded envelopes, film preferably in archival sleeves or glassine envelopes, and both securely fastened between two stiff pieces of cardboard. Archival sleeve pages punched for a ring binder are an ideal choice, especially when combined with a sturdy binder. Whether you are shipping prints, slides, negatives, or tapes we strongly encourage you to enclose all in a Ziploc bag or plastic of some kind prior to putting them into the box or envelope to guard against moisture damage. Frankly, we've seen materials packed in all kinds of imaginative ways; our only concern is that you take the same care we do in re-packaging and shipping in order that your film or prints arrive here in the same condition they left your home or business. As to USPS Priority, FedEx or UPS, we have no preference. As long as you pack your materials securely they should reach us safely with any of these services. Where return shipping is concerned, we offer the choice of USPS Priority mail or FedEx Express services. In each case, we charge actual shipping costs.

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how do i pay?

We prefer credit card, or ACH bank payment through PayPal, but will also accept personal checks or money orders made out to New World Digital Arts. Bear in mind, however, that your order will not be shipped until payment is received or your check has cleared. If you have not previously used PayPal you may be interested to know that CNET recommends PayPal as “the most reliable personal bill payment service on the web.” Forbes Magazine named them a “Forbes Favorite,” and they received the #1 Financial Website award from PC Data Online. PayPal is the global leader in online payment solutions with 86.6 million account members in 56 countries and regions around the world, a position due in large part to their unparalleled security and fraud prevention measures.

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what kind of cds and dvds do you use?

The short answer is, “only the very best available.” If you’re someone, however, who wants to know “the rest of the story,” here it is. We use Taiyo Yuden printable discs exclusively. While not a brand familiar from the local discount stores, Taiyo Yuden actually invented the original CD-R back in 1988, were one of the original licensors of "Orange Book," the standard of CD-R, are favored by more professionals around the world for mastering than any other brand, and are still chosen as reference media for design of CD-R/RW and DVD-R/RW drives by most drive manufacturers, thus assuring their compatibility is second to none. That said, we still urge you to make back-up copies of the disks you receive, or copy the files to your hard drive. Unfortunately, as studies over the last few years have made clear, no recordable media can really be considered permanent no matter what claims are made for their longevity by the manufacturers or vendors. You can increase their lifespan by storing them in a relatively cool dark place, properly cased, and always upright, and as tests have shown choosing high quality discs makes perhaps the biggest difference of all, but as CD-Rs only came into widespread use in the early 90s, and DVD-Rs even more recently, there is simply no way to know how long they will last.

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i am considering purchasing prints of some of the photos in your gallery, but first i want to know how long they will last, and why you have them printed by shutterfly?

In a recent national survey InfoTrends, the leading market research and consulting firm focusing on digital imaging technologies and markets, named Shutterfly the “Top online photo service for pros,” thus confirming what many of us have known for a long time. Shutterfly, also rated #1 in recent comparative studies by Consumer Reports and Money Magazines, simply provides the best and most technologically advanced photo printing service available. And because your prints are drop shipped directly to you, in most cases you should have your prints within just a few days of placing your order. As for fading, these unframed, unmounted fine art prints are made on Fuji Crystal Archive paper, the most fade-resistant photographic paper available. Recent independent studies by Wilhelm Imaging Research (an organization respected for its testing of materials) show that Crystal Archive is the most fade-resistant photographic paper of all that are currently made, outlasting other major brands by almost a three-to-one margin. These independent studies showed that under normal display conditions, Fuji Crystal Archive lasts six or seven decades before any noticeable fade; the nearest competing paper was estimated to only last 15 to 20 years before fading. More information can be found at the Fuji Crystal Archive page or by viewing the Wilhelm Imaging Research study.

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what can you tell me about your custom t-shirts?

Over the past fifteen years we have created thousands of custom t-shirts, aprons, sweatshirts, polos, henleys, nightshirts, totes, and mousepads both from our own original designs, and using artwork supplied by our customers. We use the same transfer process, commercial grade transfers, and heavy duty Hix heat presses you've seen in the better T-shirt shops across the country. Our basic price for a plain white heavy duty custom Tee, S-XL with up to an 8X10-inch image is $15. 2XLs, 3XLs, and larger are available in many shirt styles for slightly more. The transfer process works best on white or light colored items, with white being by far the most popular color for custom T-shirts. If the artwork or photograph you would like printed is already press-ready, great. Otherwise, we will be happy to do the necessary slide scanning, film scanning, or print scanning, as well as any editing, adding text, or whatever else may be necessary. Because there are so many variables we ask that you please contact us directly either by email or phone to discuss your project in detail before we begin.

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what if I still haven’t found the answer to my question, or require services other than those listed as standard?

If you have not found the answers you were looking for here by all means contact us directly either by email or phone using our toll-free number. We are always happy to answer your questions personally. Should you need something beyond our standard services: 48-bit scans, multisampling, saving to a particular color space, higher resolution scans from prints or large format film, custom post-production restoration work or the like, again either drop us a line or simply call us. We’ll be happy to discuss your particular needs and offer quotes on the additional services you require.

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