July Shutdown
Wednesday, June 11th, 2008As I did in 2007, I’ll be shutting down the slide scanning business for the month of July, in 2008.
Due to scheduled vacations and a much-needed break, I’ll ask that no orders be shipped after June 25th and no large orders, over 500 slides, after June 21st.
Incoming shipments can resume on July 31st.
During last year’s shut down, several customers called and told me they were willing to wait for operations to resume. I anticipate many will do the same this year. For those of you who cannot wait, feel free to call me ( Jim Harrington 781-244-5655 ) and ask for a referral.
For those shopping for the lowest price, please don’t bother to call for a referral. The scans service providers I refer callers to are not the lowest priced. A few of the low priced scan service providers send your slides out of the country to take advantage of low labor costs. I only make referrals to US businesses which I am familiar with, and have trust in.
I apologize for any inconvenience the shut down may cause. I hope to be able to serve your 35MM slide scanning needs after July 31st. If you plan to schedule an order delivery after the shut down, please call anytime to discuss the details. I’m not always available to take calls but if you leave a voice message, I’ll return your call. Let me know the best time to call you and the time zone you are in.
My slide scanning business is a home office based operation. Although I often receive large orders, the focus is low volume and high quality. Each and every scan is initially saved to tif format. The digital versions of your slides are then opened in Adobe PhotoShop and each photo is individually enhanced based on its specific characteristics.
Improvements are made, where needed, to improve the exposure, color and to enhance shadow detail. Where feasible, I remove red-eye and clone-out specks and spots which the Digital Ice Dust and Scratch removal left behind. I avoid using automated processes like ROC which automatically enhance scans. ROC can have undesirable results when applied to most slide scans. ( I occasionally use ROC on batches of slides which have a VERY strong color cast due to age. Sometimes very old Ektachrome’s, Anscochromes and Agfachromes have a strong red, blue or purple cast.)
After scanning and improvements are complete, I count up the unacceptable scans and subtract that amount from the invoice…blah, blah blah.