Bulk Photo Scanning

From your Shoebox to your Screen

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q:  How do I get my photos to Sean Murphy Studios to scan?
A:  If you are in our local area (Broome and surrounding counties), we will arrange to meet you to transfer your photographs to us.  Once the scanning process is done, we will again, meet to get them back to you.  If you are outside of area we will discuss shipping options once you fill out the form below.

Q:  How will Sean Murphy Studios know what to name the images?
A:  In short, we won't unless you tell us.  If you sort your photos before you give them to us and bundle them by time frame, by event, or by category (ie. "Vacation Summer 2001" or "Jessica's 3rd Birthday Party") then we will use these descriptions in the file names so you can more easily find the images you want.  We can enter year, month, and event in the file name if you would like (example - 1987_October_Trip_to_Mars.jpg).  If we do not know these things, we will label the images with your name (example - sean_murphy.jpg).  We recommend you break them down into large groups of images as keying in every one would be impossible.

Q:  What files will I receive from my scanned images?
A:  For every scanned image, you will actually receive three JPEG image files.  The first (file_name.jpg) is the original scanned image, just as it looks in the print.  The second (file_name_a.jpg) is the enhanced version.  The third (file_name_b.jpg) is the scan of the back of your photo.

Q:  How soon will I get my photographs and digital files back?
A:  Because every batch of scans is different in number and composition, we cannot guarantee a specific timeframe but we do our best to have your batch complete within two weeks.  If it appears it will be longer than this window of time, we will contact you and discuss our options.

Q:  How will my digital files be delivered?
A:  By default your images will be uploaded to our web based gallery system in a password protected gallery.  You will download your images from this gallery at full resolution to your computer.  If you would prefer to have your files copied to a thumb drive or portable hard drive, you can supply one or we can supply them for you.  Thumb drive costs range from $10-20 and hard drive costs start at $60.  CDs and DVDs are available but not recommended due to their fragile nature.

Q:  What if I have torn or damaged photos?
A:  There is risk of further damage to your photo in this process so special steps need to be taken to accommodate torn and damaged photos.  Because this is a very manual and time consuming process, we need to charge a $0.75 surcharge for each photograph needing repair.  As we review the photos you have submitted, if it looks like this will be an issue, we will contact you to discuss before we do anything that would raise your price.

Q:  What enhancements are done in the "enhanced version"?
A:  In our process we perform a general color correction, make adjustments to contrast, saturation, and when possible, correct for red-eye.  You will have the original and enhanced file for each and every scan so you can chose which you like better.

Q:  How big a print can I make from the scanned image file?
A:  We scan all images at 600 dots per inch (dpi) as opposed to 300 dpi that many in the industry use.  As a general rule of thumb, a print can be enlarged 300-350% when scanned at 600dpi.  Using that as a guideline, a 4x6 print can be enlarged to 12x18 and an 8x10 could be enlarged to 24x30.

Q:  Will Sean Murphy Studios back up our images for us?
A:  We will hold your files for 60 days in archive and then purge them from our file system.  If you wish to have long term archival service, we can provide this for you at a price of $20 annually.

Q:  What is the online gallery?
A:  For 60 days after we complete your scan, we will host a password protected online gallery of your scanned images.  You can download all of your images from this gallery to one or multiple computers as well as share it with family and friends.  If you want to have prints and enlargements made of any of the images, this is also possible from our lab right through the gallery interface.  If for some reason you need to keep the gallery online for longer than 60 days, we can do this for a nominal fee.