Kodak. More Than Oops.

So, once proud Kodak has filed for protection from its creditors. For people of my age Kodak, like Coca Cola, Pepsi, Ford and so on, was one of the names we grew up with and as I've said many times it's a company that owns photography. So it should, it invented most of it.

I wish Kodak well, particularly those we've had contact with in their photo scanning division. Kodak is needed, not just by this business, but by everyone who has ever picked up a camera. Let's hope this tactic will give them the time they need to pull through.

Although I wish them well I have to say I think they're on the wrong track. Kodak IS images, not printers and certainly not flogging off their patents, which seems to be the plan of the current top man. Why, why, why are they flogging themselves to death advertising printers when surely the evidence of their own eyes must prove that nobody is bothered about printing.

Yesterday I was in a branch of PC World. Yes they had a cute display of Kodak printers, curiously at ankle level. Nobody taking any interest. People were congregating by the large displays of cameras, still and video, an area where once Kodak would have dominated. Nikon, Olympus, Leica are all great names from the past who have somehow pulled through to the other side. It would have been nice to see a Kodak credit on some of those cameras.

Best of luck Kodak, hope you make it, but you might have to forget those printers before it happens.

Photo Scanning

This is the first post about issues, thoughts, ideas, and a few gripes on photo scanning.

Photobook Prices to Fall?

When is a book not a book? Well according to the VAT man, when it’s a photobook. Apparently he’s long taken the view that a photobook is really a special type of photo album, which means they’ve been subject to VAT.

However a recent ruling in a case brought by Truprint, photo and photobook printers. it has been agreed that all photobooks should be treated like ordinary books, effectively exempt from VAT. Apparently there’s been a split for many years in the photobooks industry between those suppliers who emerged out of the book publishing trade and those who turned to photobooks from printing snapshots. It was difficult for the latter to compete with the former as the VAT people told them to charge VAT, not an instruction they’d given to their competitors who naturally thought they were in a variant of the book business. Truprint and I’d guess others are now in line for a chunky tax rebate.
What does that mean for the market? Maybe prices will fall, maybe not. At least all suppliers will be on the same tax footing going forward.

Christmas Deadlines

We’re doing everything we can to make sure we meet our Christmas deadlines. One concern is potential delays in the mail at this time of year but we’ve been assured by Royal Mail that Recorded and Special Delivery will be unaffected.
Photo Scanning
All work with us now will be completed and posted to online albums. We have additional capacity for runs of up to 1,000 images but as next week goes on returning prints will be tight. Images will be available for download soon after scanning.
Slide Scanning
All work received will be scanned and returned. We could handle additional small tasks, up to 200, but larger projects will be completed in the New Year.
Negative Scanning
We are expecting a large batch of 35mm negatives which will absorb all capacity up to Christmas.
Video tapes to DVD
Existing orders and video tapes with us now will be completed. Nothing received from now can be completed before Christmas, sorry.

Divine Composition With Fibonacci’s Ratio (The Rule of Thirds on Steroids

If you’re interested in photo composition, there’s an interesting article here.

35mm Slide Scanner? Which?

You can’t win them all, although we try. Last week I had a couple of conversations with a client who’d inherited a stack of 35mm slides. He has nearly 200 slides.
Of course I said, use us. Save time and bother, access expertise and technology (high price scanners, specialist software) that hobbyists are unlikely to afford. He was doubtful, in retirement he has time, a decent PC, so why not spend his money on a scanner?
Today he rang to say he was going to take the DIY route, so - sorry, but ....
Could I recommend a 35mm slide scanner?
Not wanting to sound like a sore loser I said I’d revisit the scanner market, which I’ve just being doing via Amazon. As the many users of our slide scanner amnesty will know I have a virulent dislike of the many cheap and cheerless scanners based on the insides of cheap digital cameras. Don’t waste your money, I’m pleased to say there are better options available.
We use Epson flatbeds, their top-of-range V750 and they’re great although pricey. However Epson now offer a V330 capable of scanning slides and negatives, at £83-50. Not very much more than the cheapo boxes. Plus this unit will scan several slides in one session, helping with the boredom factor.
Next up in the Epson range is their V500 at £150. That’s a big step up but you do get Digital ICE, dramatically reducing dust and scratches; and the time you’ll need to invest to get decent scans.
I’ve never used a Canon scanner but many who do sing their praises. The lowest price Canon I could see is their 5600F, at just under £100. If the F stands for FARE that’s Canon’s alternative to Kodak’s Digital ICE so you might get decent, clean, scans. Judging by user feedback you might have an issue with Windows 7 though.
There - plenty of choice. Whatever you go for, get a decent scanner, not a toy.

Ho Ho Ho

Hard to believe but Christmas is coming. Took a trip to the High Street on Saturday and saw that even the charity shops have Christmas displays, so it’s time to highlight our seasonal offerings.
Again this year we’re offering our Gift Vouchers for any combination of our video conversion, photo scanning, slide scanning or negative scanning services. These are personalised with a message you choose, and we can either send the voucher to you, maybe to include with a Christmas card, or sent direct to the lucky recipient. They’ve been very popular every year and make a great contribution to saving family memories.
This year we’re offering a new twist. When you pay in advance for the voucher we’ll give you an extra 10% boost to the value of your voucher, preserving even more memories.
If you’re looking for other Christmas gift ideas we have suggestions.