Your scan, my scan, one scan?

I could bore for England on the subject of scanning. There are no short answers in my book when it comes to scanning.

But I struggled to know where to begin when I was asked a simple question - why is your scan different to mine? This was asked by a client, we scanned around 500 old photos last week. He was kind enough to say he liked ours better and wanted to know how he could match them should he scan his own images at home.

Well - scanner hardware varies, the image capture and light generating components all have a bearing on final scan. Then there's the software, and the intention of the tech / marketing guys who set everything up. Of course the scanner operator can over-ride the settings. Put it all together and there's an infinite variety of options available.

Here's my take. I think our bulk scanning service offers a warmer colouring than your originals may have. The Epson flatbed is noticeably colder in comparison.

The Nikons are much more objective on negatives, producing an image much closer to the data on the negative. Slide scanning is (I think) giving slightly deeper colours; Kodachromes can be very warm in comparison.

So what? Not a lot really - but please ask us to do some samples for you, using your material, then you can draw your own conclusions.