Whether you choose Standard or Custom scanning, every slide or negative is inspected and cleaned to remove loose dust, lint, and fingerprints before it is scanned. Every slide or negative is scanned individually by hand using a Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 film scanner. Every scan is previewed, analyzed, and manually corrected until the best possible image is acquired. If you choose ICE or ICE (the default), we attempt to remove any remaining dust and scratches after the scan*.

We always use Digital ICE to remove dust and scratches unless you tell us otherwise. Image color balance and saturation, brightness and contrast, are corrected using standard scanning techniques whenever possible. We use Digital ICE on a discretionary basis to restore color on faded or badly underexposed film, remove noise and film grain, and to bring out more detail in the highlights and shadows.

When we scan older slides or negatives, there are a number of enhancements we can apply to the image to restore it to its original condition. The image used in the examples below was photographed over 30 years ago using Kodachrome 25 slide film. It illustrates what today's professional scanning equipment, software, and experienced eyes can do to restore old slides and negatives.

The enhancements made to this image are actually far more dramatic, but in order to fit this image on the page and minimize the load time, it was reduced and JPEG compressed. Consequently, most of the dust, lint, and scratches can't be seen as a result. This small sampling of the original TIFF file, reduced 50%, will give you a better idea of the condition the slide was in before it was restored:

	Digital ICE and Digital ICE Despite the image size limitations described above, you can still see that this slide has collected a fair amount of dust and lint and the colors have shifted.
	Raw Scan
	Digital ICE was used to remove the dust, lint, and scratches, as shown below. We strongly recommend that you select Digital ICE or Digital ICE when you order, even if your slides or negatives are brand new.
	Digital ICE
	To restore the color and sharpen the image, Digital ICE image enhancements were applied during the scanning process, as shown below. In this case, we used Digital ROC to restore the color. Digital DEE was not used, but we did adjust the image brightness and contrast, as we do with every scan. As you can see, Digital ROC is very effective at restoring slides and negatives to their original color. The same color correction could have been made using standard scanning techniques, but we wanted to illustrate what Digital ROC is capable of doing on its own.
	Digital ICE

	Please note: As good as today's technology is, it's not perfect. Depending on the image's condition, film exposure, emulsion, film speed, lighting conditions, or whether the film was pushed-processed, etc., results can vary. Kodachrome slides and B&W slides and negatives, older ones in particular, can be problematic. Digital ICE will not always remove dust and scratches from Kodachrome slides and it won't work at all with some B&W films, so we do it manually in Photoshop. We have the expertise and wherewithal to get the most out of our equipment and software, we know some tricks, published and unpublished, but still, on occasion, we get an old slide or negative that can't be restored, in which case, we don't charge you for the scan.
	Cropping Of the four print sizes available with Standard scanning, only the 4x6 and 12x18 print sizes have the same aspect ratio as the original 35mm slide or negative. For that reason, we crop up to the black border when you choose to have us crop on the Order Form, regardless of the print size. When scanning for a DVD Slide Show, we always crop the images using a copy of the original scan. The example below illustrates the cropping rectangle (dotted line) we use. We used an older slide with round corners to show the maximum amount of image loss. When cropped, the black border is removed and the scanned image fills out the 35mm frame.
	Before the Crop		After the Crop
	Rotating All 35mm slides and negatives are fed into the scanner lengthwise and as a result, any photograph taken with the camera on its side produces a scanned image with the wrong orientation when viewed on a monitor or TV, as shown below.
	When we can determine the correct orientation, like the obvious example above, we rotate the image after it is scanned.

For more information about Digital ICE and its related technologies, visit their Web site by clicking here.

*We will attempt to remove dust, scratches, and other imperfections that Digital ICE misses. Badly damaged slides and negatives with many scratches or large scratches, odd-looking color streaks, and large mold spots cannot be removed 100%.