ScanMyPhotos Review - Best Way To Save Your Memories

When you go through the old photos from your childhood, it's not just a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Instead, you're on an emotional journey as those pictures show what life was like at that time. But what if those photos are slowly starting to degrade over time. You might want to consider digitizing them, so you can always view them on your pc, tablet, or phone without any degradation. In this review, we will take a look at ScanMyPhotos, a photo digitizing service.

What is ScanMyPhotos?

ScanMyPhotos is a service that scans your physical photographs, film negatives of any format, as well as videos from old videotapes and digitizes them to a modern media format.

For those looking to save their old photographs, ScanMyPhotos is the perfect company. They can scan your slides and produce high-quality digital copies that are sure not only to last longer but also look much better than average pictures printed or taken with a phone camera.

ScanMyPhotos is also a good option for converting VHS, Hi8, and even old Betamax videos. The service allows you to send in these formats and convert them into DVDs for ultimate quality.

How the ScanMyPhotos Works

There is a minimum scanning fee of $25. So, for example, if you're planning on scanning just a few photos, you will still be charged $25. Don't be confused with this because most digitizing services have minimum order fees. It's great that you can pay per photo, but unfortunately, there's the $25 minimum order fee. You can also expect this minimum order fee to be applied with slides, negatives, videotapes, and film conversion.

Put a copy of your invoice inside the shipping box to avoid possible delays and problems during the process. This will help the staff match your order and media. Then, when your media arrives at ScanMyPhotos, they will notify you of its arrival. For scanning photos, most orders are digitized within 5-10 days, and for Photo Scanning Boxes, you can expect them in 2 to 4 weeks.

With the completion of scanning your media, there are two ways of getting your originals back.

• First, if you order scanning, for example, "Pay-Per-Photo" or "Individual VHS to DVD," they will return your originals with no extra charge.
• Secondly, when ordering a prepaid media transfer box, you will need to pay for the return of your originals or the disposal charge. For example, if you order a Photo Scanning Box, the return of your originals will cost $29.29, and the disposal charge is $24.95. Keep in mind that one scanning box can contain about 1,800 photos.

What Services Does ScanMyPhotos Offer?

Here is a complete list of the things they convert:

• Photo scanning (Per photo scan, Prepaid Box, and Family Generation Collection)
• Slide scanning 
• Negative scanning (35mm, APS, 120mm)
• Videotapes: VHS, VHS-C, Mini DV, and Hi8 (Digital 8) 
• Film transfer (8mm, 16mm)

Your photos will slowly fade away if you don't take care of them. You're risking losing your memories forever if you don't scan pictures and preserve them as digital copies.

ScanMyPhotos offers three options when it comes to the resolution of pictures, and they are:

• 150 DPI (social media quality, $0.10 per scan)
• 300 DPI (archival quality, $0.18 per scan)
• 600 DPI (professional quality, $0.23 per scan)

After being scanned, your images are copied to a DVD so you can easily preserve the photos for years.

Scanning Old Slides

If you have old slides in bad shape, Scan My Photos can scan them and create their digital versions. You have two options: The standard service doesn't offer color and correction, so if those faded colors bother you, go with the premium option for higher quality scans without any loss of detail.

Converting Old Video Tapes to DVD

Home videotapes also degrade over time. Regardless of where you store them and how often they're used, your old home videos will lose quality over time.

With ScanMyPhotos' service to save and transfer videos, you can now send VHS tapes in addition to other formats like Hi-8, 8mm film, and 16mm film. In addition, you'll receive back standard DVDs that work on all modern DVD players, or you can choose to convert it to MPEG-4 file and transfer it to an 8GB USB Thumb Drive for an additional $15.95 + $5 convert per tape.

Fast Photo Scanning

Your photos will slowly fade away if you don't take care of them. You risk losing your memories forever if you don't scan pictures and preserve them as digital copies.

The photographs you send to ScanMyPhotos are processed by a team of digital imaging experts in Irvine, California. They will scan all images to JPG for the highest quality output possible.

ScanMyPhotos offers three options when it comes to the resolution of pictures, and they are:

• 72 DPI
• 150 DPI 
• 300 DPI
• 600 DPI

You can check sample scenes to see differences in photos quality.

After being scanned, your images are copied to a DVD or uploaded so you can easily download photos to your computer and preserve them. Completed digitized order includes your scanned photos (resolution of DPI you picked, True Color, 24-bit JPEG) with a digital download link to your email or with an additional DVD if you pick.

Also, all original photos are returned to you.

For example, 108 photos from 3x3" to 8x10" can be digitized at 600dpi professional resolution for only $25. You won't find this type of scanning quality anywhere else for sure.

Is It Better to Scan the Original Negatives of Your Photos?

If you still have the negatives, then they are the best choice for scanning. They tend to be sharper and hold more information than printed photos, so they'll look great when converted. In addition, getting your negatives scanned may reveal details or colors in photographs that have otherwise been lost on your current photos.

Scanning Negatives

The next time you find yourself in need of scanning your favorite old photographs, remember that it doesn't have to be an expensive endeavor. ScanMyPhotos offers 35mm Negatives scanning for antique cameras and Advanced Photo System (APS) film rolls at reasonable prices, which professionals widely use.

They offer 2000 and 4000 dpi scanning options for APS (Advanced Photo System) film negatives and 35mm photos. The 120 mm negatives can be scanned to a resolution of 1000 and 2000 DPI.

Photo Restoration Service

ScanMyPhotos also does photo restoration. Old photos fade, degrade and get dirty over time which is why it is important to fix them before it is too late.

The restoration process costs $45.50 for any standard photo with a 20 days turnaround time. This is an excellent feature for your photos which hold an immeasurable sentimental value.

How Much Does ScanMyPhotos Charge Their Service?

Photos

The Pay-Per-Photo scanning price depends on which scanning quality you pick.

• 72 DPI (standard quality, $0.10 per scan )
• 150 DPI (social media quality, $0.14 per scan)
• 300 DPI (archival quality, $0.18 per scan)
• 600 DPI (professional quality, $0.23 per scan)

For the Photo Scanning Box, the price starts at $0.09 per scan and $170 per box with included free delivery. The Photo Scanning Box can hold about 1,800 photos. You will get your original photos back for an additional $29.95, or you can choose to dispose of them for a smaller amount of $24.95.

You can choose from some of the popular prepaid boxes:

• Standard 72 dpi resolution for $170 per box
• Social Media 150 dpi resolution for $295 per box
• Archival 300 dpi resolution for $310 per box
• Professional 600 dpi resolution for $355 per box.

Besides scanning prices, there is also the included upload of your digitized photos:

• $4.95 for five days
• $9.95 for one week
• $12.95 for two months
• $29.95 for six months
• $39.95 for one year

Optional services you can include:

• Personal helper - You can pay an expert helper to monitor your order for $12.95 from start to finish.
• Express scanning - paying an additional $0.05 per scan. Your order can be next in line regardless of when it arrived.
• Scanning in order - This is one of the most popular addons. They can scan your photos in a specific order for an additional $0.07 per scan.
• Photo Soap - Helps make old photos look new. For $0.07 per scan, it offers a color correction to get an image's true natural color using a computerized image correction process. This process brings photos to life but does not remove dirt and scratches.
• Image rotation - They can rotate your photos after scanning for $0.08 per scan.
• Dual Side Scanning - We like this feature because if you have important notes and dates on the back of photos, they can scan both sides. This feature costs an additional $0.09 per scan.
• Delivery Signature Confirmation - ScanMyPhotos highly recommend this feature to ensure the box is to you and not just left on the porch to get wet in the rain.
• DVD - For $9.95 per DVD, they can also save your photos on DVD.
• Thumb Drive - For $15.95 per 3,000 photos, you can have them saved on USB over a standard DVD.

Slides

The professional technicians scan each slide and carefully adjust the images to achieve the optimum color and density, ensuring each image is at its best. Most slides are scanned using Kodak's Digital ICE technology to reduce dust and surface scratches.

During ordering, you have the section "Digital ICE preference," where you can choose from:

• I will group my slides by type to be scanned with Digital ICE on and off accordingly
• Scan ALL slides with Digital ICE on
• Scall ALL slides with Digital ICE off

NOTE: You can prevent damage to your slides by grouping them in batches of 50 and securing them with rubber bands when shipping. When packing, add some extra padding for protection. Make sure you remove any metal frames because they could charge you for that.

Negatives

Prices for 35mm Negative Scanning Service:

• $0.47 per frame for 2,000dpi 6MP
• $0.87 per frame for 4,000DPI 16MP

APS Negative Scanning Service:

• $7.95 per roll for 2,000dpi 6MP
• $12.95 per roll for 4,000dpi 16MP

120MM Negative Scanning Service:

• $2.48 for 1,000dpi 6MP 
• $4.96 for 2,000dpi 16MP

NOTE: 2,000 dpi is best for printing slides as photos. You can print up to 8x10" photos. However, for an archival digital image, or if your goal is to create posters from the pictures, 4,000dpi is the best option.

Individual VHS to DVD

Individual VHS to DVD conversion starts at $19.95 per tape, including archival-quality DVDs. Besides DVD, you have the option for digital download and USB. The USB price is:

• $15.95 for 8GB MPEG-4 file + $5 for additional tapes
• $55.95 for 64GB MPEG-4 file + $5 for additional tapes

The price starts at $4.95 + $5 per tape for a 5-day upload for digital download.

VHS to DVD Transfer Box

VHS to DVD Transfer Box can fit up to 14 tapes, and the price is $245.00 per box with free delivery included. You can also convert it to MPEG-4, transfer it to USB, or digitally download it. Converting to USB goes for $125.95 per 64GB, and the digital download starts at $74.95 for 5-days.

Should You Use ScanMyPhotos?

At first glance, ScanMyPhotos seems like an average website with nothing special about it. But upon further inspection of the site, you'll find that this service has some great features to improve and save your photos for future generations.

Conclusion

If you are looking for a quality digitizing service, especially for photos, we recommend ScanMyPhotos. They are reliable and affordable, with high-quality photo scanning and positive customer feedback. Make sure to choose 300dpi when having your photos scanned – you won't regret it.