Slide scanning service review and feedback

Our customer feedback – we have been doing this a while so we must be getting something right 🙂

If ever I wonder why I began this business I sit and read through our ‘slide scanning service review’, the feedback you provide to us. Thank you all so much. David – January 2025.

We thoroughly appreciate all of the feedback you send us and, occassionally, request to use your feedback on these pages. (It is not something we update dilligently, though I confess I should pay a bit more attention to it.) We do not pay for this feedback and all of our customers are anonymised – unless you request otherwise. Most of our work is from returning customers and by recommendation to friends family and colleagues. That’s one reason why we are able to keep our prices down, providing a straight forward, honest, high quality service and not paying the earth to promote it!

Many thanks to those of you who have allowed us to include your feedback on these pages 🙂

2023

CA, Hampshire, July 2023

Hello David
yes, they’ve arrived and they have come out great!
I’m particularly pleased with the B&W negatives.

SG, West Sussex January 2023

Hi David,

Thank you very much for the slides they have surpassed all my expectations. I will be in touch soon re prints etc.

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2022

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DR – Guildford    October 22

Hi David,

Thankyou for my images from the 60’s and 70’s on the USB stick. They took me back many years, I was surprised how few photos we took back then. I know its obvious, but I hadn’t realised how much quicker it would be to view the slides on a screen. I also hadn’t appreciated how the native resolution of the images had changed, the earliest photos would have been with a fixed lens box Brownie or similar and later ones with a Praktica. Regarding viewing on a 4k TV, with the later camera the images were excellent and easy to view. The 4k seemed to bring out all the “detail” available. I had a good look at the 10k scans and the TIFF images and although I thought I could see a difference it wasn’t sufficient to warrant changing from your recommendation of 400dpi and jpeg.              Thanks again 

(DR had asked for some trail scans as tiff and 10k versions to compare with the jpeg images and it was good to have impartial feedback from a customer on this matter to include here. Thank you. David Saturn Films 1969)

DS-Edinburgh February 2022

“I was very pleased with the conversion of my slides and prints.  I was kept informed at all stages and any questions I had were answered very quickly.  I would highly recommend Saturn Films 1969”
Many thanks for your feedback David, I appreciate it. Kind regards, David.

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PP-Eastbourne January 2022

Hi David,  I have just received the slides and USB stick today. I’ve had a quick look at the images and am really pleased with them and I do appreciate that this batch was took a little more work due to the age of the slides – many 50-60 years old! And they brought back many happy memories. I shall not hesitate to recommend you to friends and family, With very best wishes,

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MM-Birmingham January 2022

Good morning David, I have just got back to find your parcel here already – I am delighted with your work! The quality you have achieved with these negatives is astonishing, although the cameraman didn’t help by chopping off parts of the intended subjects!!! It is a shame that we didn’t know of these images before my Mother died. The photos include the best photo we have seen of the family dog probably around 1945.  My sister is the family archivist and as she uncovers more negatives to be scanned I am sure I will be in touch again. Thank you once again, David – brilliant work. All the best.

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2021

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JP – Ipwich, April 2021

Hello David – I just realised that I haven’t thanked you for the return of my pictures and scans. I am very grateful for the hard work you have put into getting them scanned and fit for printing. They include some precious memories, even if the skills of the photographer at the time they were taken were not that good.

Much appreciated.

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RM – March 2021

Hi David

I’ve now viewed all the photos (bleary eyes!).

I’m very excited. The quality is excellent, even where the originals were not brilliant. You have done a splendid job!

At your convenience, would you now send the backup USB’s and slides?

If ever you need a recommendation, please send them my way.

Once again thank you for a cracking job.

JP – Bridgend, January 2021

Evening, David, and Happy New Year to all at Glynneath.  I just wanted to thank you for the work you did for me -it’s really excellent.  Are you happy to post the following on your website as a testimonial:

If you value memories, then have no hesitation in entrusting your precious material to David at Saturn. He was recommended to me by someone in London, and was 40 minutes away from where I live so it was a “no brainer”. I had thought of trying to convert old video tapes myself, but what is the point when David can do it so much more professionally and at a fair and realistic price? I have no hesitation whatsoever in highly recommending David’s work, and am happy to speak directly to anyone considering commissioning him. Go for it! Julie P – Bridgend.

Huge thanks.  Julie

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2020

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AG – West Wales September 2020

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CW – Near Bridgend |June 2020

WH – Aberdare April 2020  (this is unedited apart from the personal identifier Many thanks W for this review 🙂   )

SB – Dudley April 2020 (during Covid lockdown period)

Hi David

Yes. And the pictures are AWESOME! Thank you for all your hard work. I can’t see Dad atm, obviously, but by the magic of Google Drive I’ve just managed to get them through to him. He was SO pleased. I wish you could have heard him!

Thanks again

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LW – Dorking March 2020

Hello David,

AT – Guildford  February 2020

Hi David

Thank you for the USB stick and kind letter which have just arrived. I’ve looked through the scans and it is an absolute delight to see images that I’ve never seen before and many that I thought were lost forever! Thank you for your hard work, care and attention – I’m delighted with the outcome. They are all better than I could have hoped for given the state of the slides – so please go ahead and return the originals when you have a moment – no hurry. Thank you again – I know that the rest of the family will be thrilled to see them too.

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AH ‘a village near London’ February 2020

Hi David,

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2019

DH Swansea

Hello David ,
Sorry i have been quite a while giving you feedback on my scans . I am really happy with what you have achieved with them and the quality of the negative scans  they are all brought to life again  for me and my family especially the ones of my mum when young.
It has been a resounding success thanks to your diligence and expertise.

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JT – Worcester August 2019

Hi David, The package arrived earlier today, and I’ve just had the opportunity to look at the photographs – they’re brilliant, and it’ll be so lovely to pass them on to my brothers! Thank you for doing such a great job on the slides, and also for your customer service – it’s much appreciated!  I’d love to get more of our old slides scanned and printed in the near future, so I’ll be in touch when I’ve organised the next batch! I also wondered if you’d be able to scan and correct a [not quite so ancient] negative (from 1999) which has a small but distracting pink cast on one area?

In the meantime, I wish you well in your current work and ventures…   All the best,   —————-

Jolie, Forest of Dean  May 2019

Hi David

Thank you so much for scanning the negatives and producing the low, medium and high res jpegs onto the 16 GB data stick.

I really appreciate the work you carried out on the colour restoration. I was delighted when I studied your prints of each of the images. Compared to the photos that I had enclosed, your prints reflect such atmosphere, clarity, warmth and depth of colour.

The owls look as if they are lit up by moonlight! The dogs appear more ‘alive’ as the depth of colours and variety of tones reflect the diversity of pastel tints I remember using during their creation.

As I mentioned before, I will be ‘singing your praises’ and referring your website to friends, family and colleagues

Meanwhile, I do have other negatives to send you which will be for a completely different project which I am planning to carry out around July/August.

Kind regards

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BS – Gosport April 2019
Dear David,
Very many thanks for the DVD’s and the return of my slides. I am delighted with them and surprised how well they have reproduced.

Had you been on Facebook I would have been happy to have shared my good fortune in finding you and will of course recommend you to friends etc.

(I DO have a facebook page 🙂 Please be a subscriber, you can read my wittering and rants and the occasional informative article too ! https://en-gb.facebook.com/slidescanningworld/ )

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LM – Nr Chelmsford
Hi David,
Just to let you know that the usb arrived yesterday. We looked at it last night and are very pleased
with the end result.
The slides can now be returned.
Many thanks for the work you have done.

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HD – North Wales March 2019

Dear David,
I am delighted with the results of your scanning my slides to a digital medium. My family have enjoyed revisiting the many happy memories we shared, and are very pleased that the photos are preserved for the future.
Thank you for your excellent service in processing my slides.
Kind Regards

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LC – Toddington January 2019

Sorry for the late reply the photos were amazing thanks so much only got photo book back last week and my Dad loved it . Thank you once again won’t hesitate to recommend your service.
Thanks LC

2018

CH – Liverpool  October 2018

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Hi David

Yes blown away by them. Fantastic job. Didn’t realise there were so many damaged negs, under/over exposed etc so thanks for getting the best out of them. I’m trying to sift and sort them into a more manageable number and pick a best of. So many forgotten memories. Our Paris trip for instance. We just went and hung out there for a couple of weeks, for no reason at all as you do when your young and carefree. I’ll be seeing **** in a week or so and can’t wait to surprise him. I’m sure he’s got a load more negs which I’ll try and persuade him to send to you.

The technical pan images are amazing. I recently bought a couple of rolls of this film from the USA to do some portraits. It’s well out of date though and I’m not sure yet how I will get it developed.

Also some great shots of Liverpool bands 16 Tambourines and Cook Da Books. I’m still in touch with ******************************* and I’m sure he’ll be made up to see them. I’ll send you some links to these bands.

So thanks again. I’ll be in touch again. I’ve passed your details to my brother whose going to dig out his old negs.

Cheers, Colin

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LM- Stevenage August 2018

Hi David

I have just received the memory stick. You have done an amazing job and will be happy to recommend you.

Thank you again. Kind regards, Linda

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BC – Northern Ireland July 2018

David…….what a grand job! Thank you for taking the trouble to produce
such excellent work. Most nearly went in the bin because they’d faded
too much but my wife is going through them as I write this e mail and
she’s so delighted with the clarity of photos of the kids in her class way
back in the 60s. As folk would say here in Ireland..’they’re grand’

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EB – Northampton Feb 2018

Hi David,

We have at last looked through the cine film conversions you did for us, they all seem to be there, and we are very pleased with the results. I will get back to you some time when we get some transparencies sorted out for digitising.

Regards Eric.

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2017

SM – Birmingham Nov 2017

Dear David

I am absolutely delighted with the digital conversions of my treasured negative collection. As promised you have carefully processed every negative, (there were about 10,500) and the results are excellent. Even a few damaged ones were rectified to a very good level of quality image which is now reproducible. Your care and attention is clearly evident.

As promised you have sent an unchanged version and an improved version side by side for comparison which enables me choices when re processing them myself such as enlargements and editing etc. The transfer of all the images and delivery to me onto a hard drive in order of process was also an excellent idea. I have since copied them again onto another hard drive for safe keeping.

Having called a number of companies offering this type of service to discuss the service I was looking for, I was taken by your understanding of the sensitivity from the person calling. In my case it is a much treasured historic catalogue over 40 years of my family and my hobby which as you know is railways over the same period. It was this together with the what in my opinion was a great price decided it for me.

I would thoroughly recommend your service to others and already have done, should any of your potential customers wish to have an unbiased reference from me then please give them my contact details. Thank you again.

Yours Truly

SM

(contact details on your files)

SM has subsequently produced an outstanding collection of albums featuring the ‘Deltics’ ‘Warriors’ etc. Thanks for sharing those with me as I said I do not really take the pictures in when I am scanning, I am looking at the quality of the image – colour, contrast, sharpness and so on. It was very special for you to bring those back in the published form. David.

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PC – North Wales April 2017

Hi David
Scans and slides arrived safely last week.
Had a chance to look at them yesterday and we are very pleased with the results.
I will be recommending your excellent service to my friends and only wished I had kept more of the ones I discarded a few years ago.
Thank you once again.
Regards

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SM – Chesterfield 2017.

David Sack of Saturn Films 1969 has done an absolutely superb job, turning my vast collection of transparencies, negatives and video tapes into digital files. So many memories, until recently confined to the attic and effectively lost, have been retrieved and made accessible and shareable on all the devices we use today.

The quality of the work is first rate. Scans of slides and negatives are all made at very high resolution and were then electronically cleaned to virtually eliminate accumulated dust and fingermarks. Having opted for the professional service, I received the original full resolution scans as well as the standard, compressed edited ones. Editing included cropping to remove any trace of the slide frame or rough edges and, in some cases, manual correction for exposure and colour casts where necessary. Being of much smaller file size, these were the ones that I have used most but having the original uncompressed scan has been great when working on selective enlargements where every bit of resolution is required.

David offers a very personal service and we were involved in regular discussions throughout the course of the job. He was very keen to provide what I wanted as a customer, despite the fact that I was often quite demanding!

One of the great joys of having had this work done is discovering that the quality of pictures taken decades ago is often far higher than I dared hope; vastly superior to the fuzzy, faded prints that were my last memory of the photos. Remember those square enprints from Boots – rounded corners, matt finish and when every sunny day looked orange? Commercial printing of the 70s, 80s and 90s failed to show all the detail that had been captured in the negative and colour fidelity left a lot to be desired. By contrast, scans of the negatives shows that the photographic film of the time was far superior to contemporary printing and it almost feels like you’re seeing images for the very first time. The picture attached to this review was taken in 1964 – the quality is amazing.

I would highly recommend digitisation of anyone’s valuable picture collection and, in particular, the service provided by Saturn Films. It doesn’t cost a great deal; in fact far less per picture than I paid to have poor quality prints made over 40 years ago.

Link to archived feedback

  Saturn-Films 1969,  8 Heol-y-Felin, Cwmgwrach, Glynneath. SA11 5TB

tel.  074 1111 9419

Images are copyright of the image owners.