Your questions answered

Prints fade, albums get damp, and negatives and tapes slowly break down. Most families also have just one copy, kept in one house. Once your photos are digital, they're safe from fading, easy to back up, and everyone in the family can have their own copy to enjoy and share.

No. A rough guess is fine. We count everything as we scan, and you only pay for what we actually digitise.

No. You pay for every frame we scan, but frames that are blank, duplicated or have no usable picture are free. We decide this, and they’re listed on your invoice so you can see exactly what you’ve paid for.

We can't scan a whole uncut roll of film. If your negatives are still in one long roll, we'll cut them into strips of 6 frames for you, free of charge. Please don't cut them yourself: just send the roll as it is.

No, there's no deposit. You pay once your scans are ready, then we send your download link and post your originals back.

Small orders are very welcome. There's a minimum charge of £25 per order (before postage), so if your scanning comes to less than that, we'll simply charge £25.

Every photo comes back as one finished set: colour-corrected, cleaned, straightened and cropped. That includes loose prints, album pages, slides and negatives. If you'd like the untouched original scans as well, before our colour correction, add them to your order for £10. Every order also includes our 30-day rescan promise, named folders and dated files if you tell us the names and dates, and a private download page that stays open for 60 days. Writing on the back of loose prints is scanned too, and blank or duplicate frames aren't charged. Return postage is free on orders over £100.

No. We correct the colours, contrast and fading, and clean away dust and scratches, but we never use AI to redraw faces, add detail or change what's in the picture. Your photos stay true to life, just as they were taken. If you'd like an AI-enhanced copy as well, sharper and cleaner for enlarging, we can make one for £1.50 a photo (minimum £10). Even then, faces are never redrawn or changed. It's a separate copy, so you always keep the true-to-life version.

Yes. Vouchers are available for any amount from £20 and can be used on any of our services. We email them as a PDF, ready to print or forward. Just send Dee a WhatsApp with the amount and who it's for. Vouchers are valid for 12 months.

Most orders are ready within 5-7 working days of arriving, depending on the size of your order and how busy we are. If yours is ready early, we'll let you know straight away. Turnaround times start from the day your items arrive with us and don't include postage time.

Need it sooner? Our Express service has your order ready within 2 working days of arriving, for an extra 30%, by arrangement. For anything more urgent — even same day — WhatsApp Dee and he'll let you know if it's possible. For urgent orders, send your items by Special Delivery and your digital files arrive by download link the moment they're ready.

Of course. Most questions are answered on this page — try the price calculator and packing guide first. If you still need help, send Dee a WhatsApp message on 07356 237011 with a few photos of what you have, and he'll get back to you. You can also call or email if you prefer.

Any sturdy box will do. Bag each type of item separately, fill the gaps so nothing moves, tape the box well and send it by Royal Mail Tracked 48 from any Post Office. For valuable collections we recommend Special Delivery. Full step-by-step instructions are in our packing guide on the Delivery page.

Please don't write on the photos themselves, as ballpoint pen can press through and ink can smudge onto the next print. Instead, pop each group into a labelled envelope or bag, for example "Mum & Dad's wedding", and we'll keep them together.

Your photos are handled personally and with care from start to finish. We'll message you as soon as your box arrives safely — by WhatsApp with a photo, or by email if you prefer — and keep you updated until your originals are back home.

For valuable collections we recommend Royal Mail Special Delivery, which is signed for and tracked. Every order comes back to you by tracked post. And we always check with you first: nothing is scanned until you've said yes.

Your photos are only ever seen by the person scanning them. We never share them, and we never use them in our own marketing without asking you first. Your files are permanently deleted 60 days after delivery.

We can collect from your door and bring everything back, by appointment: £15 up to 5 miles, £20 for 5-10 miles and £30 for 10-15 miles. Congestion, ULEZ and parking charges are added at cost where they apply. Dropping off in person is free. Use the postcode checker on our Delivery page to see your price. Collections run on set days each week, grouped by area, and we'll offer you the next available day when you book.

Your originals come back by tracked post for £4.95, or free on orders of £100 or more.

Yes. If you're local to North West London, you can drop them off by appointment. Just send Dee a WhatsApp to arrange a time that suits you.

Thankfully it's rare, but it's worth knowing that courier compensation only covers the replacement value of the physical items — not their sentimental value. No amount of cover can replace a one-off family photo.

To keep your photos as safe as possible, send them by Royal Mail Special Delivery (tracked and signed for), or use our local drop-off or collection service. If anything is lost on its way back to you, we'll make the claim with the courier on your behalf.

Yes, and you don't need to take the photos out. We can scan whole pages from £1.50 a side, or scan each photo separately while it stays in the album from 85p a photo. If the photos come away safely, we can also take them out, scan them and put them back, from 40p a photo. Your album comes back exactly as it was. We never force an album flat: if it is too thick or fragile to open fully without straining the spine, we'll check with you and scan the photos individually instead, or carefully take them out and put them back. For pages larger than A4, just ask.

Loose prints of any size up to A4, including small square prints and Polaroids. For anything bigger, or unusual items like certificates and paintings, send us a photo and we'll give you a price.

Photos that are thick, mounted on card, in frames, badly curled or Polaroids can't go through our photo scanner, so we scan them one at a time on our flatbed scanner, so they aren't damaged. Flatbed scanning is 50p a photo at 300dpi or 55p at 600dpi. If a lot of your order needs this, we'll check with you before going ahead.

Yes. VHS and VHS-C tapes are £17.50 each, audio cassettes £10, photo CDs £12 and home-made DVDs £15. You get MP4 video or MP3 audio files that play on any phone, computer or TV. We can only copy home recordings, not shop-bought films or music. For camcorder tapes such as Hi8, Video8 and MiniDV, ask us for a price.

We send 8mm, Super 8 and APS film to a trusted specialist partner lab, and look after everything for you from start to finish. Get in touch and we'll give you a price for your films.

Yes. Our restoration service repairs tears, cracks, creases, stains and missing corners by hand. It also covers negatives and slides that are too heavily scratched or marked for our scanner's automatic dust and scratch removal. (Kodachrome slides and traditional black-and-white film need extra care, so we check them individually and clean by hand where automatic removal would harm the picture.) Prices are £10 for light damage, £22 for medium and £40 for heavy damage, per photo — see our price list. Already had your photos scanned by us? There's no need to send them back: we keep your scans for 60 days, so just tell us which photo it is and we'll restore it from the scan. Otherwise, send us a photo of the damage. We always confirm the price before we start.

We don't offer printing — we specialise in scanning. Every scan comes as a high-quality digital file that's ready to print, so you can take it to any high-street photo shop or online printing service for prints, enlargements or frames. Choose High detail (600dpi) if you're planning to print larger sizes.

Yes. For businesses and groups we offer on-site scanning at £175 for a half day or £300 for a full day, plus travel. Your photos never leave the building, and files can be saved straight onto your own drive. Before booking, we'll ask what you have so we can tell you how long it will take — for example, we scan about 50 negatives or slides an hour — and give you a fixed quote.

We're very sorry for your loss. If you need a photo scanned quickly — for an order of service, a memorial display or a tribute slideshow — WhatsApp Dee and he'll do everything he can to help, often on the same day. There's no extra charge for urgent help at a time like this. For same-day help, local drop-off is quickest.

We'll send you a high-quality digital copy, ready to pass to your funeral director or printer, or to print at a high-street photo shop — many offer prints and enlargements while you wait.

If we've scanned something crooked, cropped it wrongly, missed it or scanned it out of focus, just tell us which ones and we'll redo them free of charge.

Please bear in mind a scan can only be as good as the original. If a photo was blurry, under-exposed or badly faded to begin with, the scan will show that too. A few slides may come back a slightly different shape: where the film sits crooked in its mount, we crop to the actual picture so you don't see the edge of the mount.

Every scan is colour-corrected to a high standard automatically. If a particular photo still doesn't look right to you, such as a dark face or a strong colour cast, just tell us and we'll take another look.

As soon as you've paid, you go straight to your own private SilverFrame download page, and we email you the link too. You can look through every photo online, download them all in one go. The page stays open for 60 days, and we'll remind you 30 days, 7 days and 1 day before it closes, so there's no rush. Photos come as high-quality JPEG files that open on any phone, tablet or computer, ready to share or print. Videos come as MP4 files. If you'd also like everything on a USB stick, you can add one for £9.99, and extra copies for the family are £9.99 each. Our step-by-step guide shows how to add your scans to Google Photos or Apple Photos.

Need a different format for archiving or professional editing? We can also provide TIFF files, or DNG RAW files for negatives and slides, on request. These files are much larger and cost 10p extra a scan, so just ask when you order.

Yes, on request. We can supply TIFF files for any scans, and DNG raw files for negatives and slides, either with dust and scratches removed or completely untouched, straight from the scanner. JPEG is right for most families, but raw and TIFF files are ideal if you like to edit photos yourself. They cost 10p extra a scan. Just mention it in the notes when you order, or WhatsApp Dee.

We keep everything in the order you send it. If you'd like your photos grouped, just pack each group in its own labelled bag or envelope. We can also save each group into its own named folder, free. Just keep each group together and tell us the names and dates (or write them on the envelopes), and we'll name your folders and files for you, for example ‘1974 - Kew Gardens - 012’.

We keep your digital files for 60 days after we send your download link, so you have time to download them, ask for any corrections or order a restoration (straight from the scan, no need to send the photo back). We'll send you reminders at 30, 7 and 1 days left. After 60 days they're permanently deleted, so please save your photos somewhere safe and keep a backup copy too.