Shoot RAW
Preserve the greatest practical development latitude.
Practical capture standard
Give restoration usable information.
This is not a certification course. It is a compact standard for producing consistent digital captures that the restoration lab can work with.
Minimum standard
A submitted capture should be:
- Sharp enough for the intended output
- Properly exposed with severe clipping avoided
- Evenly illuminated without glare or reflections
- Captured from film that is clean of visible loose dust and debris
- Complete, without important image areas cropped away
- One slide or frame per capture
- Submitted in a supported RAW format
- Sequentially or consistently named
Recommended camera workflow
Use manual exposure
Avoid unpredictable frame-to-frame automation.
Fix the setup
Keep alignment, light, aperture, and orientation consistent.
Check often
Review focus, framing, clipping, and cleanliness throughout.
The Heritage preferred portable path
VALOI easy35 v2 Slide Scanning Kit
Our easy35-based workflow keeps the camera, macro lens, slide holder, and light in one aligned capture path. The v2 Slide Scanning Kit is the specific portable setup we recommend for mounted slides; it is optional, and any setup that meets the capture standard is welcome.
Before a large customer collection
Remove dust before capture
Use appropriate non-damaging tools on the physical film. Base Restoration is non-destructive; Enhanced Dust & Debris Cleanup is a separately scoped service.
Preserve source files
Keep the original RAW captures and your own backups. BurlyMingo Heritage applies Base Restoration to working derivatives without overwriting the submitted source.
Run a representative sample
For an unfamiliar setup, submit a small mix of easy and difficult frames before committing to thousands. This is guidance, not certification.
Negative capture guidance
Detailed negative instructions will follow production validation.
Black-and-white and color-negative work may require strip holders, visible film-base reference, consistent backlight, dense-region exposure checks, emulsion-side orientation, and roll or strip grouping. BurlyMingo Heritage will not publish those details as settled production guidance until the conversion and restoration workflows are validated.