Well the Corona virus has certainly had an impact for everyone. The streets are quieter and in the main everyone is taking the threat seriously.
My wifes’ high street knitting shop, Neath Valley Wools, has closed as has her on-line shop Smallscrafts.
At Saturn Films 1969 we are continuing to work. We feel safe to do this as our office is isolated and customers are not visiting just now. We handle your film, be it transparencies, negatives, photographs or cine film, carefully wearing gloves and we double package the usbs and originals for return to you.
Is it a good time to get film scanned ? ………. definitely ! One of my suggestions to pass the time during lockdown is to sort out your family pictures and the movie you want to get digitised. This in often a job that gets put on the back burner for times like ………..well…….. now actually!
The way things are going if you order now the results may will be back with you to entertain you during the continuing lockdown.
One customer this week has given us some very nice feedback on what was an involved and problematic project.
We were sent a batch of large format negatives, from the Raj period in India. The film had been damaged by the effects of time and I was not at all certain we would be able to provide good results. So we sat down and did an original scan on uncleaned film and looked at what we had – It was not good. Phase 2 was cleaning the film which we did using specialist film cleaner. The images were rescanned and looked much improved. Phase 3 was the lightroom and photoshop processing which took an age as every picture had to have specific work and unique treatment. Phase 4 was preparation for printing, adjusting exposure and contrast and dpi. Finally sending to our specialist partner.
The prints came back and I was delighted. Our customer, well lets just use their feedback (yes I have permission!)
“Hello David,
Wow! How fabulous are they! Brought tears to my eyes!
Thank you so, so much. I will be in touch again and definitely would like some more prints.
Kind regards L”
So lots of work but a happy customer – and that is what this job is all about. Though we do need income to keep afloat.
We all have outgoings and financial commitments. The lockdown is going to affect many businesses, I have already told you that my wife has had to shut up shop. We have had a visit from our Assembly AM and it looks as if Neath Port Talbot council are going to provide much needed support to businesses in our region. During this time their initiative is most welcome.
Until next time. David March 26th 2020.