FAQ

Karmaan Scanning is a division of Karmaan which is run by Matt Kaye, OND in Graphic Design, HND in Graphic Design and MA in Illustration. With over 20 years working in the Design and Print industry he has worked on many high end projects and has been brought up running big industrial scanners on a daily basis. Having run a Fuji Celsis 2650 Drum Scanner for many years and Fuji Certified Trained he knows quality. It is this knowledge and benchmark scanning that all other scans are based upon. This is why even our cheap scans are far superior to many other companies Top Level Scans.

We are cheaper than others as we have no staff to pay, our home based studio means no costly monthly unit rent. We are primarily a Graphic Design company and offset our scanning charges against our hourly rates, which means our Graphic Design charges and Scanning charges supplement each other which in turn means cheaper prices for all our customers. Matt also specialises in 360 VR photography and is now also a Google Trusted Photographer producing virtual tours for many companies.

All slides are made from a chemical dye process, in time this dye will fade and the image will disappear. The worst culprits are Ilford and Agfa originals where they used a low quality process in the 60s-80s. Most Ilford 1960s slides will have already have a lot of fadeing. When you scan an image the digital information do not fade over time and in fact there is a lot you can do to enhance / bring back lost details and image. However there is a borderline where the image goes to far and no amount of enhancements can bring the image back, so it's best to scan before it's too late.

This depends on the original. For 35mm Slides we usually scan at 4000dpi which will give you a 8-10mb approx Jpeg. APS Carts are scanned at 3600dpi. For medium format it depends on the intended final usage but we can scan up to 12000dpi when needs require. For high quality work we will always scan to achieve a minimum of 100meg files.

No, as long as the mounts are in good condition we can scan any age of original and they usually look better than the old originals.

That really depends on the quality of the originals, if the originals are nicely exposed and good quality then the final scans should be excellent. If the originals are damaged and badly exposed the scans should look better than the originals but again it depends on just how bad they are to start with.

Normally no, but it does affect the final quality. The Dust and Scratches don't work as well through glass and some glass slides have a lot more dust trapped inbetween the slide and glass, so bear this in mind. We can only scan 'Proper' Glass slides, by this we mean slide mounts that have glass originally built into them. We have had batches where a normal card mount has then been encased inbetween two pieces of glass and taped around. This makes the slide 3 times thicker than a standard slide and will not go through our system, so we have to take out all the slides from the glass and sometimes remount them in new mounts. We will contact you in anything like this is necessary to inform you of the extra charges involved.

Fill in the order form and package your slides up. ALWAYS ENCLOSE THE ORDER FORM! The easiest way is to put an elastic band round small bundles of approx 50 at a time and put them in a box along with the order form. You can send them in the original Slide boxes if you prefer but it adds to the weight on postage and you may be charged more for the return postage. There is no set rules about how you should send slides but remember if you send them in a big wooden slide box, the postage costs increase considerably.

We try and stick to your organisation and file names if possible. So for instance if you have a Batch of 25 slides called MAJORCA 1968, then the files will be called Majorca1968_01.jpg to Majorca1968_25.jpg and so on.
If there is no organisation involved then we will call the files after you name, so Joe Bloggs slides will be called JBloggs_01.jpg and so on.
We CANNOT INDIVIDUALLY NAME EACH SLIDE A DIFFERENT TITLE, WE CAN DO IF REQUIRED BUT PRICES SKYROCKET DUE TO THE TIME INVOLVED

No problem, we do not use large format roll fed scanners designed for plans and maps. We use high end Flatbed scanners designed for Museum and Gallery artworks and such.

We can scan any size at ultra high resolution.

Only Matt handles every job that passes through Karmaan. We do not employ any staff, every scan is controlled by Matt, this way the quality remains constant, if any problems arise Matt know about it and can assist in any questions you may have.

We work with a lot of photographers and produce high end scans on a regular basis. We offer ICG Drum Scans, Imacon CCD scans and Fuji Lanovia CCD Scans

No, some people do not know where to start with the scanning process, in cases like these it's best to send everything to us and we will sort through your originals and give you a price before commencing any work. Mixed formats can include, Slides, negatives, Medium Formats, APS Carts and Prints.

This is no problem, only Matt will be involved in the scanning process and the scanning suite is completely private with locked doors, so no-one will see any scans or information once undertaken.
We have scanned confidential material for many customers including Evidence for Court Cases, Ministry of Defence and many Fine Art Private Collectors and Glamour Photographers where discretion is a priority

We always try to answer emails within 1 hour of receiving them, most of the time we answer within 30minutes.

Depending on how many scans you have, we can set up Download Links, Save the files to Disc (CD or DVD) which is included in the price or you can supply a USB stick or Hard Drive or we can Supply USB Sticks (£10) or Hard Drives (£45)