Digitise old tapes, film and photos and restore them
A family archive that decays with time
VHS tapes lose their magnetic signal, film fades and grows mould, and paper photos dull and crack. The longer you wait, the harder it is to save the recordings. So it is better to digitise sooner rather than later, and to keep old media dry and away from light.
One more thing: digitising and restoration are different tasks. The first transfers the recording to a file, and the second fixes defects. Sometimes you need only the first, sometimes both.
How to get offers on BlaBlaPrice
You write a request: which media, how many, what to do with them and how you will hand them over. You can add one photo, for example of a damaged picture or tape. The request is checked, and you are told which details the specialists still need.
Specialists and studios reply in the chat: the price or what it depends on, timing, the format of the result and how they accept the media. Each one sees where their offer ranks and can improve their terms. The offer with the best overall terms is shown first, with reviews next to it. Contacts are opened only to the chosen provider. More on the “How it works” page.
What to put in your request
- Media — VHS, miniDV, 8 mm film, slides, negatives, paper photos, audio cassettes.
- Quantity — for example, 15 tapes or 200 photos.
- What to do — digitise, restore, colourise, retouch, print.
- Condition — torn photo, stains, mould, broken tape.
- Format of the result — USB drive, cloud, MP4, resolution, prints.
- Deadline — for example, before the festive season.
- City — whether you will bring them in person or send them by courier.
- Budget, for example up to HK$270.
Example: “I need 15 VHS tapes with family recordings digitised to MP4 and saved on a USB drive. Also two torn paper photos need restoring and colourising. Central, or I can send them by courier. Preferably before the festive season, budget up to HK$270.”
How to compare offers
The price can be per tape, per hour of recording, per photo or per package. Bring them to a common basis. Find out whether they digitise on professional equipment and in real time: a 2-hour tape takes two hours to record. Ask what happens if the tape is damaged: do they try to clean it, or charge extra?
For photos, ask about the scanning resolution (higher is needed for printing) and the format: TIFF keeps more, JPEG less. For restoration, ask for “before and after” examples. It is best to order colourising and retouching as a separate service with a separate price per photo.
Before you hand over the media
If you send originals by courier, pack them securely and make a list with photos so you can check everything later. Ask how your data is stored during the work, whether copies are deleted after handover and whether you will get the originals back. Put the timing in writing, and tie payment to the result.
If you want to turn the digitised material into a film, look at video editing or videography and video editing. For new pictures there is photography and photo retouching. The whole section: “Photo and video”.
