Packing Guidelines

Arranging your slides, and negatives for scanning.

If you would like your digital images scanned in a particular order (and hence named in a particular order; e.g., 01_001.jpg, 01_002.jpg, etc.), you must indicate the desired ordering to us in your shipment of slides or negatives. We will attempt to scan your slides or negatives in the order you designate. We will also attempt to follow any naming guidelines that you give.

If your slides are in the original boxes or another type of container, arrange them in the order you want them scanned and label the order of the boxes appropriately. Slides will be scanned in the order you indicate.

If your slides are loose, wrap them in groups with strips of paper and secure them with rubber bands. If you have more than one boxed or banded group of slides, number the box or group in the order you want them scanned. Wrapped slides or single-row boxes will be scanned beginning with the end which you mark with an "X" or other designation. Label separate boxes or banded groups to indicate ordering relative to the other boxes or groups.

For a large number of loose slides, wrap the slides in a number of smaller groups of less than 50 slides each to make them easier to handle.

You can always rearrange the digital images after we scan your slides and negatives but if you arrange them before shipping to us, you will have less work to do later.

Packing.

Videos can be shipped in the cases they come in (either plastic or paper).

Negatives can be shipped in the poly sleeves that they were packed in by the photo processor. Please do not remove them from these sleeves as this will likely result in scratching and the accumulation of dust and dirt. If you no longer have the poly sleeves for your negatives, place them in small groups in envelopes. If possible, place a group of the poly sleeves or envelopes into a smaller box which you will pack into the larger box for shipping. This reduces the possibility that the negatives will be scratched or otherwise damaged in transit.

Slides should be packed in the original boxes or wrapped in small groups with strips of paper and rubber banded together. We suggest that you do not ship slides in carousels. Carousels are heavy and costly to ship. We are happy to pull slides from carousels but we will not put them back into the carousels after scanning. (We will keep them in order, however.) We are happy to put the slides into archival storage boxes after scanning. Please feel free to ship these boxes to us, or call us for other options.

Before you put your slides or negatives in a box to ship, you should take one additional important step: place your slides or negatives into Ziploc bags to help prevent any damage from moisture and dust during shipping. We suggest using gallon-sized freezer bags for this purpose.

You should use a sturdy box that is significantly larger than the slides, negatives and videos. Boxes can be purchased at any shipping store (e.g., Kinko's, the UPS store), most moving/storage businesses and many department and variety stores. If you are also looking for long-term archival storage for your slides or negatives, we suggest that you purchase the packaging and use it to ship your materials to us. Several good sources for these storage materials can be found on our links page.

You should pack your materials using cushioning packing material such as packing peanuts. You should use packing materials that are as dust-free and static-free as possible. For example, using newspaper or shredded packing is discouraged as is the use of packing peanuts that are not static-free (if they stick to your hands or to the inside of a box, they are not static-free). Limiting static reduces the amount of dust that will find its way onto your precious films and videos.

Lastly, please place a copy of the packing list inside the box so that we know to which order the materials belong. You can print this packing list by following the appropriate link from your orders page.

Shipping.

Shipping address information and shipping labels are available on this page. We suggest that you employ a traceable, reliable shipping method such as UPS or FedEx. Requiring a signature upon delivery is recommended. We will send you an email when we receive your materials.