Help Topics and Frequently Asked Questions

Overview

Getting Started

Updating your account

How Do I...

Hey! This is great!

Contacting Us

Ordering

The web site

Technical Stuff

Other Services

Policies

 

Questions and Answers

Overview

How does this work?
Please go to the overview page to learn more about how our services work.
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Getting Started

Creating an account
Please go to the account creation page.
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Deciding what you need
Please see our detailed scanning explanation page. Feel free to contact us if you have questions.
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Scanning Technology and Process Details
Please go to our detailed scanning explanation page.
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Scanning Resources on the Internet
Please go to the links page.
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Updating your account

Go to my account
You may access your account information here.
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Forgot my password
Please go to the forgotten password page.
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Changing your password
You may change your password on your account page.
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Updating personal information
You may modify your personal information and preferences on your account page.
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How Do I...

How do I ship my slides and negatives to you?
Please see our packing guidelines page for a guide to packing your slides or negatives for shipment to Pixmonix.
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How do I preview the completed scans?
Go to your orders page and click the images link for the order you would like to preview. You will see a series of thumbnail images and a larger preview image. Clicking on the thumbnail images will display the preview image for the thumbnail. Note that it may take a few seconds to download the preview images depending on your internet connection speed.
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How do I approve and pay for an order?
Go to your orders page. If an order is complete, you will see a link to review the scans. After previewing the completed scans, you may pay for the order on the orders page by clicking on the appropriate button.
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How do I get shipping and tracking information?
Go to your orders page and click the track link for the album you wish to track.
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How do I get prints of my digital images?
There are lots of places that will create prints from your digital images. We provide a few examples on our links page.
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Hey! This is great!

Tell-a-friend Program details
Our Tell-a-friend Program is a great way to introduce our services to your friends AND get free scans for yourself. For each friend that you refer that spends a small minimum with us, we will give you free scans! The free scans will automatically appear in your account and we will send you an email when we award your free scans.
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Tell-a-friend now!
You may tell your friends about here. The more people that you tell, the more free scans you will receive! Thanks for spreading the word!
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Status of my Tell-a-friend invitations
You may see the status of the invitations you have sent to friends on the Tell-a-friend status page. Thanks for spreading the word about !
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Contacting Us

Questions or comments? Please ask us!
Please go to this page to ask us questions, offer suggestions or provide us feedback. We would love to hear from you!
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Contacting us
Please go to this page to find all the different ways to contact us.
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Website issues
Please go to this page to ask us questions, point out problems or give us comments on the website.
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Account maintenance issues
Please go to this page to ask us questions about your account.
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I never received my order.
You can track the shipment of your order from your orders page. If this does not answer your question, please go to this page to ask us questions about an order.
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Can I talk to a human being or do you just work via email?
Talk to a human? Certainly! There really are people at ! We would love to speak with you. Please see our contact information to find out how.
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Ordering

Is there a minimum order size?
No. Ship us one slide or 1000. You receive the same service from !
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How much is shipping?
We charge you the actual UPS or Federal Express shipping and insurance costs. You can choose from a variety of shipping options, all providing insurance and requiring signature upon deliver, ensuring the security of you precious images.
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How long does it take?
The time required to process an order depends on the size of the order and how busy we are processing other orders. Generally, we scan and post preview images within a few business days after receiving your materials. After you pay for an order, we generally ship the same day (or the next business day for weekend or evening payments).
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I need fast turnaround. Can you do a rush job?
Every job is a rush order for us. At this time, we will not take additional payment or provide anyone with a rush order. We service our customers in the order in which we receive their slides or negatives. Our goal is to service every order as if you paid extra to have it handled quickly, accurately and flawlessly (even though you do not have to do so!).
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How are scanned images delivered to me?
We return your original materials and the scanned images stored on CD or DVD. We ship using UPS or Federal Express, shipping the materials insured and requiring a signature for delivery.
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Can you ship my order COD?
No. We require payment in full before shipping.
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Can I have scanned images shipped to someone else?
No. At this time, we will ship your order only to you.
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Do you use secure ordering and payment mechanisms?
We are currently using PayPal to process all payments. PayPal uses secure ordering technologies. does not ever handle your credit card information. When we ask you for personal information (e.g., mail address and phone numbers) we transmit this information only over secure channels (i.e., using SSL / https). We make every attempt to safeguard your personal information and personal property (your slides and negatives).
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Can I pay by check or money order?
Sure. Please write your check or money order payable to and send it to the address you can find on our contact page. We will not ship your order until the check clears appropriately with our bank. If you prefer, you may include a check when you send us your slides and negatives for the estimated amount presented on the order page. If the estimate turns out to be high, we will include a check for the difference when we return your materials and finished scans. If the estimate was low, we will let you know. As long as the prepaid amount is close to the final cost, there will not be a delay in shipping your order back to you.
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What is your return/refund policy?
If you are not happy with the quality of your scans, we will attempt to resolve your issues. However, once an order is processed, it is final. We will not provide any refunds on processed orders and we require full payment before returning your materials. If you tell us to cancel an order before scanning has started, we will happily return your material after you have paid for any shipping charges we may have incurred in conjunction with the order.
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What is a bulk scanning package?
A bulk scanning package is a way to prepay for large numbers of scans and receive a volume discount on your scanning. Please see the bulk scan ordering page for details of currently available packages and terms of the packages. When you buy a bulk scanning package, scan credits will be added to your account for use on subsequent scanning orders.
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How do I know how many scan credits are in my account?
Log into your account. Click on the My Account link at the top of your screen. Your scan credit summary is listed on the page, along with the expiration date for the credits and your scan credit usage history.
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Must I use all credits from a bulk scanning at the same time?
No. Credits in a bulk scanning package can be "spent" in any way you see fit. This is an advantage of bulk scan packages over a simple discount if you have a larger order. Please see the bulk scan ordering page for details of currently available packages.
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How do I tell if my bulk scan credits were applied to my order?
If you view the history page for the order from your orders page, it will indicate how the order was paid, including the use of scan credits. Additionally, the account page details your available scan credits and the previous usage of scan credits.
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I bought a bulk scanning package for slides. Can I use it to scan negatives?
No. Scan credits for slide scans can not be used to scan negatives. Scan credits for negative scans, however, may be used for slide scanning (using one negative scan credit for each slide scanned).
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How much does it cost to create an account?
It is free! Even better, you get free scans just for signing up!
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Where can I find information on my previous orders?
Please go to your orders page and click the history link for the order in which you are interested.
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Do you scan APS film?
Yes, we do. Please see a description of our APS scanning services here.
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Do you scan medium or large format film?
Yes, we do. Details of our medium format scanning services can be found here. Please see our pricing here.
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Do you scan 35mm negative film in roll form?
At this time, we scan only 35mm slides and cut 35mm negatives. However, we are adding new services regularly. Please ask! We may be able to help!
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Will you scan a single image from a negative strip?
Yes. We are happy to scan less than the full negative strip. Note, however, that we charge for a minimum of two frames per negative strip.
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Do I need to remove my slides from the carousels?
No. Feel free to ship your slides in the carousels. We will be happy to remove them before scanning.
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Will you ship orders outside of the United States?
No. At this time, we will only ship orders within the United States.
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The web site

Can I invite guests to view my scanned images?
Not yet. This is a service that we plan to offer in the future.
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Does the website use cookies?
Yes. Please see our privacy policy for a description of our usage of cookies.
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Does support FTP download of scanned images?
No. Not at this time.
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There is a problem with the website.
Please go to this page to ask us questions, point out problems or give us comments on the website.
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Technical Stuff

What is cropping and why should I care?
Cropping is the process of trimming the outer portions of an image (1) to remove the portions of the scan which cover the slide/negative/photo edge/mount and/or (2) to size resulting image to a specific aspect ratio (e.g., 4"X6"). By default, we do not crop the full resolution TIFF images we provide to you. By default, we crop the slide/negative/photo edges from JPEG images, however. Please let us know if you would prefer a different treatment. See our detailed scanning explanation page for some examples.
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Tell me about image file formats.
This is a big topic... There are many different image file formats and many tradeoffs in using one over another. Image files that we provide for your scans may be in two formats: JPEG and TIFF. JPEG is a standard format used on the web. JPEG files can encode images of any pixel dimension (i.e., number of pixels). JPEG files compress well and provide good quality, even at fairly high compression levels. JPEG files we provide are saved at high quality settings (i.e., low compression settings) for a given image size. Hence they are not as small as they could be, but they do not lose as much quality in the transformation to JPEG format. TIFF files are significantly larger but represent the most complete image data. We recommend using these TIFF files for long-term archival storage or if you are doing extensive manipulation of your photos. We provide these multiple resolutions of JPEG files (for email, slide shows and prints) as well as TIFF files unless you request otherwise. See our detailed scanning explanation page for more discussion.
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What are color profiles and color spaces?
This is a big topic... A color profile describes a color space, which provides color-aware applications information about what colors the numbers in a digital image represent so that they can be displayed accurately on a variety of output devices such as printers and monitors. Not all imaging applications are color profile/ color space aware. The "standard" profile used on the web and by consumers (including most photo printing services) is called sRGB; this profile will be handled correctly by all applications. The images we provide to you in JPEG format use this profile. The images we provide in TIFF form, however, use the Adobe RGB color profile, which allows for the representation of a wider range of colors (i.e., a larger color gamut). For more information, we suggest that you explore the links on our links page.
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What is color calibration? How do I calibrate my monitor?
Calibration is the process of adjusting your video or printer hardware and software (graphics card, graphics/printer driver software, operating system and monitor/printer) so that the colors of images displayed on the monitor match the intended values. For most people and for most use of digital images, this is not critical. If you are interested in performing calibration of your video hardware, we suggest that you explore some of the links on our links page.
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What technology do you use to scan my slides/negatives/photos?
We use state-of-the-art dedicated film scanners to process your slides and negatives. These scanners provide the latest scratch and dust removal, color restoration and grain reduction technologies and scan at very high resolutions (up to 4000DPI, producing very large image files which generally are capable of maintaining more detail than is available in average slide or negative images).
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What is ICE?
"ICE" stands for Image Correction and Enhancement. Basically, this is the technology in our scanners that automatically and effectively removes the effects of minor scratches and dust contamination on your slides or negatives. Please read our introductory tutorial on this technology. "Digital ICE4" is the brand name of the product from Applied Science Fiction (now a Kodak company). Please see their website* for lots more details.
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What is GEM?
"GEM" is the technology in our scanners that automatically reduces the perceived effect of film grain during the scanning process. Please read our introductory tutorial on this technology. "Digital GEM" is the brand name of the product from Applied Science Fiction (now a Kodak company). Please see their website* for lots more details.
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What is ROC?
"ROC" is the technology in our scanners that automatically and effectively restores the color of your faded or damaged slides or negatives. Please read our introductory tutorial on this technology. "Digital ROC" is the brand name of the product from Applied Science Fiction (now a Kodak company). Please see their website* for lots more details.
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I am just going to buy a scanner and do it myself. They are not expensive anymore...
Scanning is straight-forward and not too time consuming for a few images. If you only have a few images to scan, why buy another piece of hardware and software that you will not use much? If you have lots of slides or negatives to scan, the effort and time required to scan them is tremendous. We can scan more efficiently than an average person because we do it a lot. We have lots of computers and scanners working together and skilled technicians that know what they are doing and do it every day. If you like to tinker and you understand the significant effort involved, then by all means, buy the scanner! It is fun!
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How will the files in my order be named?
All scans have a simple base name (i.e., scan001). Full resolution images simply have this name with an appropriate extension determined by the file type (e.g., scan001.jpg, scan001.tif). The base name of reduced resolution image files is appended with an indication of the resolution of the file (e.g., scan001_640x480.jpg). We also separate the different image file types and resolutions into different subdirectories on the CD or DVD media.
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How big are the digital image files? How many images fit on a DVD? CD?
Please see our slide and negative scanning details page for a complete description of file sizes and storage requirements.
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Do you do 16-bit scans?
Though our equipment, software and workflows are fully capable of scanning to 16-bit images, at this time, we scan only 8-bit images. For most users and for most negatives and slides, the difference between 8- and 16-bit scans is not noticeable and the increase in file size and processing time makes 16-bit files unworkable for most people. Additionally, most printing services will not work with 16-bit images. Unless you are quite picky, have excellent quality slides or negatives (i.e., low ISO, high quality, well maintained, shot on high quality camera gear, etc.) and you are interested in doing extensive post-scan manipulation of your images, 16-bit is not worth the effort.
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Can I get black and white versions of my images?
At this time, we do not offer the option to receive black and white versions of your digital images taken from color slides or negatives. However, we may offer this service in the future. Please contact us if you are interested in this service.
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Other Services

Can I get prints of my scanned images from you?
No. When you have your digital images from us, you can use your local photo processing center to make prints for you, or use one of the many quality processing centers available on line. We give pointers to some of these services on our links page. Getting prints is easy and inexpensive (e.g., about $0.20-$0.50 per 4"x6" print, depending on the service used).
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Do you do custom photo restoration or manipulation work?
At this time, we do not do custom photo restoration or manipulation work. We may offer this service in the future, however. Please contact us if you are interested in this service.
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Do you convert home movies or video tapes to digital format?
Yes we do. Information on these video transfer services can be found here.
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Do you sell digital cameras, scanners, software, etc?
No. We do not sell any hardware or software.
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Do you sell DVD slide shows?
No. We do not currently sell a DVD slide show product. We have found that each customer has different requirements that make it difficult for us to provide a single solution which satisfies a significant portion of our customers. We do, however, provide the images you need to build a high quality slide show using one of the many readily available tools for generating slide shows. Please see our links page for some pointers to these tools.
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Policies

Terms of service
Our terms of service are detailed here.
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Privacy Policy
Our privacy policy is detailed here.
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Copyright Policy
Our copyright policy is detailed here.
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35mm slide scanning, negative scanning and video transfer services.
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