My company used ScanCafe when their scanning operation was in India. They scanned thousands of transparencies for my company and the results were great. The company relocated its scanning operations to Chicago and the quality of scans has declined demonstrably - sharpness, exposure, and color balance. I attempted to correct the scans in Photoshop to no avail. To its credit, ScanCafe attempted to rescan the images- the results were the same. I then requested a refund and did not receive a reply. Then, I had another company scan a sample number of transparencies and also tried Walgreens. I have shared the results. Scanning equipment and software have made great strides over the years. Sadly, it ScanCafe has not kept up with the times and their service is now far below what I experienced previously. read more

ScanCafe - ScanCafe Scan - Video/Film Production Near Me - Fishers, Indiana

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This was not a pleasant upsell --- more like going to the dentist because you need to and getting sold more stuff while you wait for the novacaine. They did a passable job. I had screened the things I sent and they sure played better on my equipment than they transferred. No one notified me they were done, I just checked their website. Then after sending them what I thought was the whole fee, I got hit with new fees. I'm done. There are less annoying and more professional people who don't claim to care for your stuff then hold you hostage to get a bad glimpse at it. read more

I used ScanCafe to digitalize over 450 color slides (35 mm) in 2015. They did a great job! I can still access the photos online, via their website, but I also purchased a portable USB hard drive that contains the photos. read more

For all their claims about professionals who can clean up files and do colour correction, I had to fix everything they did. The video file that was sent back was unwatchable. The audio was completely mangled, luckily I could pull a back up of the actual audio and edit that in myself. And for colour correction and clean up, I was able to do miles better myself as an amateur. And I fixed it in less than a day, including the time to research how to do it, and rendering the video on my terrible computer, with only consumer grade software. If what you have is film of any video, dont send it to them. This cost me nearly $200, and they absolutely mangled it. read more

Used them since 2007 for many orders while slowly digitizing my parent's collections: 35mm slides, paper photos, negatives and 8mm videos. Very happy with the results. I always knew they sent the photos to India each time, so no worries about that. Originals have always come back in pristine condition. They do tend to underestimate the delivery date. However, they were clear that it would take months for the standard process to complete, so it never really mattered to me. read more

Service is slow, even when paying for the expedited service. Took over a week longer with no communication and no warning. Rude customer service when asked about the delay. They tried to charge me $15 per photo to remove dust from pictures. Worst of all, the rude customer service that finally agreed to give me a small discount for the delay never applied the discount to my order! EDIT: I really wish I could give them negative stars! Since I posted my review before they uploaded the pictures or returned my photos, they are now HOLDING EVERYTHING HOSTAGE! Everything was completed last week and they said they would have the uploads available on Monday and would return ship the originals that date as well. They STILL HAVE NOT SHIPPED MY PHOTOS!!! read more

I had 2400 film negatives scanned. Very poor quality. Color correction and dusting almost non-existent. Very inconsistent work and nowhere close to the care and quality claims made by Scan Cafe. My order was received with another customer's order mixed in, further demonstrating a lack of quality control, care, and diligence. It took over one month to get my negatives delivered to the Chicago office for pick up. No updates or communication. False statements were made by customer service regarding delivery. read more

I will not use Scancafe again: they neglected to scan 12% of the negative but returned the negatives as if all scanned. The USB was missing 12% of the negatives sent to them. And they lost a packet of negatives: yes, lost a packet of negatives. Straightening the whole thing out was unpleasant and slow. And they would not give a decent refund, my opinion. I will not be using Scancafe again: very bad experience. Zero star rating, my opinion. read more

This was a wonderful experience from start to finish! Excellent, kind, prompt, knowledgable customer service. I was 100% comfortable shipping my photos for scanning. The team kept in touch throughout the process, so that I always knew at what point my project was at. Quick turnaround, great pricing, and followed instructions to the letter. I received my photos back quickly, as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you ScanCafe! Highly recommend. read more

Service was fast, efficient, and the results were great! Customer service was prompt with responses and I plan to use Scan Cafe again. Thank you for preserving over 1,200 photo memories! read more

In the past I have had good experience with Scancafe, but my last order of slide scans was horrible done with the same black splotches on every slide, obviously scanning artifacts. They do not answer the phone or as yet respond to email or chat. read more

ScanCafe - Black splotches on every slide. - Video/Film Production Near Me - Fishers, Indiana

NOTE: I drove to Hayward (mere minutes from the San Mateo Bridge) and dropped off 100 family photos and was very impressed by the speed and professionalism. A very particular client had me research The Best Scan Business in the Bay Area. Much Research later - online - phone calls for actual cost analysis - etc ScanCafe won. It has a lot going for it - esp. Customer Service, Jennifer, with on the front line. She made what could be an ordeal a breeze,. ( Jennifer is no longer there...too bad, she was the best conduit for information.) We opted out from email updates - were very pleased with the resulting CD of 100 photos ad ability to edit online. We have hundreds and hundreds more to Scan... Will not hesitate to recommend ScanCafe to all my clients. read more

I have been sending Scancafe several batches of b&w and color 35mm (and lg. format) negatives to digitize. I researched many companies and Scancafe uses some of the best equipment and has the best individualized cleaning and image adjustment of any service (with the exception of some high-end companies servicing low quantities of images for professional use.) Even then, there is hardly any perceptual difference. Cleaning b&w negatives is hard but they do an excellent job. They often offer discounts for larger quantities and customer service is excellent. (I'm looking at some of the negative reviews and I had none of the issues they are describing.) read more

First, billing: you'll get a cheap quote and then they'll add on fairly reasonable shipping charges, although I could've done better with my personal account. The surprise is that they hit you with really high return shipping costs. Turnaround: going on 3 months and still haven't gotten my videotape transfer. However, I have received an email from the CEO blaming delays on supplemental unemployment insurance benefits. Tacky. Just don't keep bringing in work if you can't do it. That's what businesses do all the time that are concerned about customer service. Don't blame workers who don't want to die doing a low-wage job. I regret supporting this business. This was a test order and I know everything I need to know. read more

I asked Scan Cafe to rush a slide to picture order because of a trip I was making for my mother's 96th birthday. They were gracious and very accommodating and they did the best they could to get the pictures to me to present to my mother on her birthday. I was thrilled and appreciative of their professionalism and human touch when communicating with me. If I ever need to process photos, videos or whatever, I will use them for sure! So glad to leave them this review! read more

I used ScanCafe to digitize 35mm film with really excellent results. I tried a few negatives myself with a home scanner, but the paper dust required special cleaning, and it was very tedious to mount and scan. ScanCafe was a life saver! I sent them 4 batches of about 2000 negatives in each batch, over 10 months of time. Each one went to the India location, taking 45 days there and 45 days back again, however I bought the option for immediate online access to the scans. The quality was outstanding and I have not seen one spec of dust on the scans! The return box of negatives included a DVD, but I had already downloaded everything. I love the ability to write a directory/information name on each baggie of 35mm negatives and get the scanned images back in a directory of the same name! Great work ScanCafe! read more

I was very nervous before sending all of my family's pictures off to a stranger. I was furious when I got them back. 60-70 year old pictures, that had been carefully bagged when sent, were returned in a jumble. Many were taped together and were permanently damaged when separated. Who would use tape to hold pictures together. The scans are very good, but a lot pf physical pictures are irreparably damaged. Buyer beware!! read more

Cannot recommend ScanCafe at all. Sent in a test order of fewer than one hundred photos - two months and still nothing returned!! It should be clearly displayed on their site that everything goes to India for scanning. Yet another reason not to trust them with anything you don't want to chance to lose!! AVOID!!! read more

I've used ScanCafe 3 times. I have thousands of pictures many video tapes and some 8MM film and I don't dare ship it all at once from a risk management (and financial perspective). The first order, I paid extra for U.S. processing. Communication from the beginning to end was as good as it gets and the timing was reasonable. I paid extra to have about 30 old black and white images restored (by hand) and the results were impressive. The last two experiences were poor due to long wait times (2-3 months). ScanCafe did apologize after I emailed and did provide a further discount. I am going to give them one more chance. There are many other options as those who are having their old pictures scanned realize. read more

Prior to Covid, I would have given them 4 or more stars. I have had them scan over 30,000 images and have been relatively pleased with the results, but being picky, I always post edit photos.... No problem. Unfortunately, since COVID, the service has been AWFUL! I do not expect quick service, but I do expect results by the anticipated due date. I contacted them and was told that they are running "a bit behind" and have over 1 MILLION IMAGES IN THE QUEUE! As for when I could expect the photos uploaded for review? I was told perhaps another 14 WEEKS! Had they informed me when I sent them in, I would be patient. Since they declined to notify me, I am furious. They are still offering new promotions when they can't even get the work done that they have on hand! I just hope they don't go out of business before they return my last 1500 images! read more

I had a sequence of problems with execution. I submitted a large order of older 35mm slides for scanning. When completed, it was apparent that they had not attempted to clean a large fraction of the slides - they were covered with dust, that was easily removed. ScanCafe quickly acknowledged the problem and offered to rerun all of the scans :) However on receipt I discovered that less than half of the files were in the TIFF format I requested and paid for. I requested a refund for the slides that had been mistakenly formatted as JPEGS - ScanCafe permits the customer to reject slides that the customer decides are inadequate, but there is no way to determine this prior to shipment. ScanCafe rejected my request and offered to rerun them again. Burned twice.... Maybe the problem is COVID read more

They NEVER stated that my negatives were being sent to INDIA! Not Indiana (I guess after reaching Indiana, India is next stop and NO tracking for that leg of the trip!) When I messaged them to see about expediting (and me pay the extra fee) and NOT send my negatives to India, they would not. Already TOO LATE. They are "unable" to change an order once entered. Also, I have a very small (trial) order to see how they do and did not use their UPS label. I sent in via USPS (3 stamps required vs $12 for UPS!). The agent said that they would refund my UPS fee on final price. Anyway, still 3 weeks out until India has the scans ready for review. Their advertised time of processing is way longer than they say. I'll give them the "unable to change it" but they should up front tell you they are sending your negatives to India! I'm not impressed with deception (fine print I missed?) Let's see how they do. I am a do it yourselfer and just wanted to try them to see if they can do any better. I'm using a Ion scanner and PhotoPad editing software and mine look really good. Let's see if they can beat mine. I have scanned 742 in 2 week-ends and they have had my negatives and slides over a month now (only about 200). read more

I am really surprised there are any negative reviews, I have used ScanCafe in 2010 and then again this year for 4 large orders of scanning. Their new Hi-Res download cuts receipt time from the prior shipping. I used their promo programs when possible to keep cost down and am so happy to de-clutter. My scans without extra touch up have all come out great! They are so terrific with their communication and online chat. I have had no issues using their overseas service. Yes, there is a bit of a delay to ship out but now with their download I am ecstatic. Really, when you have boxes of photos and slides lying around for YEARS, what is a couple of extra weeks! read more

Pretty unhappy with the scan quality. Pictures look much more scratchy than they are. Colors are washed out. I have one of the pictures that I had scanned in years before and while it still has red eye it is a much better picture. I had them scan 1000 pictures and it looks like now I will have to do it myself. read more

ScanCafe - My scan - Video/Film Production Near Me - Fishers, Indiana

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Entirely unreliable. I paid an expedite fee to have the scans done in two weeks. Ten days after the promised date I was told they would be available "next week" and got an apology for any "inconvenience" and a credit for the expedite fee. 300 people at my reunion cannot view the "apology", the scans, or the originals. Empty handed. If you have months, then this service is fine. If you need your results in less than a month, DO NOT use ScanCafe. read more

After my bad experience with ScanCafe, the company reached out and convinced me to try again. My second experience was much better. Customer service was helpful and friendly and responses were timely. My recommendation is if you experience poor customer service from ScanCafe, insist on talking to/hearing from a different customer service contact. read more

It took over 5 months to get 400 pictures back- I want through photos before I sent them out to make sure they were in good condition. When the pictures were posted there were scratches, stains, rips and spots on almost all of the photos, which were not there when I sent them out. they said 95 % of the photos needed to be edited for a cost. I don't know if they put lens on to create problems? I emailed 30-40 times, I spoke to 5-6 people. It was a very slow and unpleasant process. "About the damaged images, I'm sorry to hear this. However, I would like to assure that since 2006 we have not damaged a single photo." This is what the quality control manager said to me.Then he goes onto say to share the image number and the production team with look at the images... I advise going to a local shop state side and spending a little more and getting the work done faster and without the drama. I worked with this company 3-4 times prior to 2015 and had good experiences. I will never go back to them, they were horrible. read more

If the situation changes, I'll post an update. They've "lost" my order of several thousand slides sent in 5 months ago. Worse, it appears that 'customer service' isn't making much of an effort to track them down; as well as not being responsive to inquires. I'm actually having to consult an attorney because I'm so concerned about my collection of family memories that have gone missing. Still a lot of questions to be answered, and it appears from other threads here that I'm not the only one having major problems with getting an order settled. I had figured that this could be a several month project but this?! My certified letter from my attorney to them was just returned today because the post office couldn't locate the business at the listed address (or, more importantly, forward if applicable). read more

I have sent about a dozen orders containing thousands of images to Scan Cafe over the last 5 years as I work on a project to digitize and organize family photos. I have always been more than happy with the results and find Scan Cafe to be very professional, and the cost is much cheaper than is available locally (Toronto). As I have been sending negatives, the ability eliminate up to 20% of the images after processing is a huge benefit. It means I don't have to try and determine the quality of each picture, and more importantly, I don't need to cut the negative strips. I just review the photos online after processing and eliminate the ones I don't want. It rarely even comes close to 20%. The basic service is not quick but it meets my needs, and there is a faster turnaround available for a higher price. I haven't had much need to contact customer service but when I have they have been pleasant and helpful. In summary, Scan Cafe provides a great service at an affordable price that you can trust with your most cherished photographs. I wouldn't (and don't) hesitate to recommend Scan Cafe to anyone. read more

They don't friggen tell you that they send your stuff to INDIA! I placed an order on 2/15...sent my tapes to Indianapolis....who turned around and sent my tapes to India for processing! Here it is 10 April and these numbnuts are still telling me that I should be getting my order 'next week'. Why would I want to send my tapes to be converted on the other side of the world?! Jesus Christ. Plus...they hit you up with extra fees after you've given them the deposit. Never again. Do your research first. read more

Good for everyday photos; wasted on golden hour photos. Service is very slow and customer service barely adequate. I sent about 500 slides in June 2020. The result - in November 2020 - was very good for the price...for images shot in midday light. ScanCafe describes photo scanning to include, "...your images will be reviewed and corrected as needed, one at a time, by an assigned technician." My technician apparently didn't look at my slides and let the machine turn images with warm alpenglow into neutral gray. If you took pain to control white balance when you shot your images, ScanCafe may not. And it's slow and their website doesn't provide accurate status and no one answers email requests. Call them early and often. read more

Slow service compounded by opaque customer service made for an aweful experience. Short story: the order took way longer than expected, the online status provided no clarity in the process and I've found it impossible to reach anyone except for what seem to be non employee call center staff except for the time I visited the actual facility. Long story: I made an order in April 2, 2019 to preserve my parent's original family photos which didn't have duplicates or negatives. When ordering there is an option for local pick up and drop off. My parents live in Indiana, not far from their HQ, so I elected this local drop off and pick up as an additional precaution against losing their photos. To ship to or from the scancafe facility requires additional steps, including providing an address and paying additional shipping cost (I did neither). Having heard nothing about my order by June (2 months later), I started to get concerned. Over the next month I contacted scancafe by phone and email numerous times, each time speaking with a different company representative who seemed to be a call center employee with no answers. Each time they said the order is taking longer than typical but the notes in their system say it is being processed but it's unclear what the actual status is. When I asked for more clarification, they assured me they'd get back to me with an update as soon as they heard back from their processing team who is outside of the country, and each time they failed to get back to me with answers other than follow-up email noting that I spoke with someone about my order. Eventually (about a month later) they called to tell me that my order had been found and they would "expedite" the scanning and processing. A week or two later, the scans were complete and visible online. Not long after I received an email that my order had shipped, which seemed odd since I selected local pickup but no tracking was provided, so I assumed it was simply a notice that they're available for pickup. Another week later (today) I was called and told that the photos would be delivered to my home in Miami, which I intentionally was trying to avoid. Not only did they risk losing my order in transit, I also have to ship or personally deliver boxes of photos across the country. While the scans seem of acceptable quality, I don't think their service is worth the headache and stress of potentially losing valuable memories. read more

Good job, kept my images in sets as requested. I will use their service again.

I have used Scan Cafe 3 times and have been impressed with my work. Types of media I have sent: -35mm color Negative, Slide, and Black and White -Paper Photographs, from small wallet size picture up to 11x14 prints -126 color and negative film -Medium Format color and Black and White -VHS and movie film I used Scan Cafe for scanning my family video and photographs, including my grandparents. For me, I did not have the time to scan all the thousands of pictures myself. And I knew that Scan Cafe had the best equipment and software to restore my pictures. They were able to restore some pictures that were destroyed into 3 segments into back into one. That was amazing. I personally am doing a large endeavor to scan several generation of my family pictures and to send them out to my extended family. They do offer additional DVD/CD or HD for doing this automatically but the cost rises quite a bit if you have a large extended family. And if you still have a DVD drive you can easily do that portion yourself much cheeper. Or even on a hard drive, SD card, or even a USB thumb drive. Quality I am personally happy for the default settings of 3000dpi for film but slightly sad with the 600dpi for prints. I would recommend sending the largest size picture you have of that print. 8x10 seem to look the best on a large format monitor or to be able to reprint in the future. Sizes under 4x6 are just for reference. This is examining the pictures at 1:1 magnification up close. The best is to always scan the film if you still have them. Scan Cafe does a general great repair for pictures that have been damage from age or abuse. Color cast minor folds, noise grain, cropping. But they will not repair mold spots, tonality banding, or scratches. These would need need extra cost extra for repairing. Videos/Movies For video, they will not edit or improve the video. So consider that if you have many film. It may better to do a regular service like Costco, yourself. Unless it is a rare format like movie film. Albums For albums both with film and pictures, they keep them in the same order you had them. Which is great for people wanting to keep their photographs organized. This saves time vs doing it yourself. And they really put them back they way you had them. Value Pack vs Regular Service I have not done the value pack to India. I have only sent my pictures to the USA scanner location. I always wait for a discount before I sent my pictures. Pricing One thing that I do not like is that they want you to pay 50% upfront before shipping so you are paying 50% scanning and shipping. I personally would rather pay to see the scanner restoration then pay the final fee. It is nice for larger bulk scanning so you don't have to pay it all at once. If you are not in a rush, I would sent small sections of your pictures at a time to see how satisfied you are with the pictures. Partially as their website is not outdated to be able to smoothly organize pictures. Repairing One thing also to consider for pricing is they hold your pictures and you have a one time offering to use their restoration service to repair pictures that need help. So that is something also to consider for additional pricing. In the past I paid an extra 10-20% more for restoring about the same percentage of my worst pictures. I will repair the rest myself if they are minor. Backs of Pictures They will not scan the backs of prints unless you ask them. And that cost extra. I personally do not care about the words more than the metadata attached to the picture of who is who, when, or where it was. This is more helpful for pictures beyond your generation. Customer Service Usually if I am unsure of something or unsatisfied, I called Scan Cafe and was able meet a great result with my issues or problems with the scanning. I had not idea for the process and would call them asking about things. For example, old 35mm was into strips about 4-5 pictures, and they will scan them all. Of course many pictures are not worthy to be scanned, so you don't want to pay for them. Scan Cafe told me how to safely cut my film to scan the ones that I wanted. Improvement It would be better to offer services such as scanning back of pictures, offering how to store your pictures besides DVD, such as a USB thumb drive. They do offer a hard drive, but if your order is smaller a thumb drive is fine. Also an option for doing backs of pictures would be helpful too, especially further if you could specific which folder you want them to be done. Overall, I have done some scanning myself with middle of the road scanners, sent them off to services like Costco but overall I have been really satisfied with Scan Cafe. And knowing some of the way Scan Cafe conducts business for cost, service, and quality, then you can really get a great experience as well. read more

GREAt SERVICE! I have used Scan Cafe for almost 10 years and they do a superb job. I've never had the slightest problem and the quality of the scans is excellent. It's just so fun to get all those old slides and prints scan into a form that you can use them easily. read more

The quality and organization of the photos were beyond my expectations. I bought a scan cafe special offer and waited almost a year to pick out and send my photos. They honored the deal and did a great job. All my photos were safely returned. I will do another project with them again! read more

My very old slides and picture albums, plus many loose pictures, were scanned perfectly; I totally recommend ScanCafe!

I had an excellent experience with ScanCafe. My requested service was for 95 color slides taken in the early 1970s. You can't ask for better updates regarding an order by both email and phone texts (if you want them). They let you know when you receive your shipment for peace of mind. As far as quality is concerned, I thought the outcome was outstanding. In comparison to original scans, their adjustments were great. I didn't ask for any other adjustments. As for prices, I found a place locally that was almost double the cost and didn't offer any adjustments with that cost. Thanks ScanCafe. read more

They screwed up everything. I had sent in my VHS tapes to be put on a flash drive and after waiting TWO MONTHS to receive the copies, they sent them incomplete. I spoke to numerous customer service people who passed the buck and insisted the job was done because their technician people told them so. Basically they never called me, I had to chase after them, got so many insane ridiculous reasons why i wasn't being called back, they finally admitted their error and not only did not really apologize but did not express my job when they knew the mistake was theirs and the rub is I paid for an express job originally. I wouldn't trust them with my valuable memories ever again. Terrible customer service. I see others were offered discounts. I got nothing offered to me for my troubles probably because i didn't ask. I guess being nice with this company gets you nowhere. BEWARE. read more

Ordered/Shipped my negatives on Jan 15, and now FINALLY UPS tells me they will arrive tomorrow, March 14. My god, much longer and I'd be dead. read more

ScanCafe - Video/Film Production Near Me - Fishers, Indiana