I am now offering photo restoration and it's working out well. I need a printer/scanner to scan and email the images and also a printer to print them out after restoration is complete. I have been using another local company to scan and print but the cost is too high now. I need a good quality scanner and printer to be able to do this myself. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should look for? Also, for anyone else who offers this what is the markup? Lets just say I order an 8x10 photo of a 5x7 photo that was restored. The company I order from is charging me $40 for the restoration and cost of the print.
Printer, scanner for photo restoration, what works best?
- Thread starter piper
- Start date
SusanG
SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Piper,
I have chosen to get my photos printed locally by an independent family owned photo lab. This place does the processing for professional photographers. Although I would love to have a printer, doing the numbers, it just wasn't cost effective for my volume. It's a little inconvenient, but compared to having the restoration company print, it's faster (one day) and there's room for markup.
Susan
I have chosen to get my photos printed locally by an independent family owned photo lab. This place does the processing for professional photographers. Although I would love to have a printer, doing the numbers, it just wasn't cost effective for my volume. It's a little inconvenient, but compared to having the restoration company print, it's faster (one day) and there's room for markup.
Susan
BatesMotel
MGF, Master Grumble Framer
I LOVE my Epson 10000XL Scanner! It has a 12x17 bed and I plan to upgrade it so I can scan negatives and slides.
I bought the Cannon IPF 6300 and it is working well for me.
It all took me some time to get the production flow down but I'm so glad I made the investment.
I bought the Cannon IPF 6300 and it is working well for me.
It all took me some time to get the production flow down but I'm so glad I made the investment.
photowonderbrian
CGF, Certified Grumble Framer
Photo services are a great way to get some additional business in the door and drive more framing work. Outsourcing is a great way to offer printing without the cost of the printer. This is also a great way to build the volume required to support your printer when you're ready to get one. I agree with Susan regarding fast turn around and no delivery time. You can also generate good referral business this way. You can also do this through a photo service provider like.... PhotoWonder 
who offers photo services and can print for you. Outsourcing leaves you free to focus on framing work, marketing, etc. If you'd prefer the printer right away you could go with something like an Epson 7900 that does up to 24". These are $2k less then the 44" models would cover the vast majority of your prints. You can still outsource the larger prints that can't be done on your printer. Be aware of the unexpected costs like software, the initial purchase of the different substrates (photo paper, art paper, canvas, etc.), canvas sealers, inks, calibrated moniters, etc. This can add up. Others could chime in on this better then I can as I only sell and don't actually do the production. Hope this helps.
who offers photo services and can print for you. Outsourcing leaves you free to focus on framing work, marketing, etc. If you'd prefer the printer right away you could go with something like an Epson 7900 that does up to 24". These are $2k less then the 44" models would cover the vast majority of your prints. You can still outsource the larger prints that can't be done on your printer. Be aware of the unexpected costs like software, the initial purchase of the different substrates (photo paper, art paper, canvas, etc.), canvas sealers, inks, calibrated moniters, etc. This can add up. Others could chime in on this better then I can as I only sell and don't actually do the production. Hope this helps.
Kirstie
PFG, Picture Framing God
Negative Scanner Questions
We have the same scanner with the negative attachment. Great scanner. We bought a 24" Epson 7890 which so far has been large enough for corporate work and small enough to easily handle paper roll changes. We use various roll sizes and use it for all of our smaller restoration work as well.
I am curious about scanning negatives. We scanned some last month for a customer and then had to do a lot of Photoshop work to make the images presentable. They were old negatives, as most are, and the scans results were yellowed. I can't imagine batch scanning and getting an acceptable result without editing work. Thoughts?
We have the same scanner with the negative attachment. Great scanner. We bought a 24" Epson 7890 which so far has been large enough for corporate work and small enough to easily handle paper roll changes. We use various roll sizes and use it for all of our smaller restoration work as well.
I am curious about scanning negatives. We scanned some last month for a customer and then had to do a lot of Photoshop work to make the images presentable. They were old negatives, as most are, and the scans results were yellowed. I can't imagine batch scanning and getting an acceptable result without editing work. Thoughts?
DVieau2
SPFG, Supreme Picture Framing God
I presume your talking about color negatives.
Prints and Transparencies are easier to scan because both you and the scanner can easily see the image but with color negatives you have to deal with the orange color mask that exists to make printing easier. There were also many different kinds of negative film manufactured for different reasons, (ie pro film, low light film, fine grain film, Fuji, Kodak, Agfa..... etc), and they all have different color dye characteristics. You will not find a great negative color profile in the software made for using flat bed scanners. Photoshop is needed here.
A dedicated scanner made just for film will yield much better results from negatives or slides.
I use an Agfa Duoscan 1200 flatbed for scanning large negatives and transparencies. It gives acceptable results from 120 size film printed up to 8 x 10. I get better results from 4x5 size film. 35mm scanning on any flatbed is sub-standard, when compared to the results from my dedicated (and expensive) Agfa Dlab1 film scanner and printer.
If your making really big prints from negatives or slides I would suggest a visit to the local photolab for scanning.
Doug