Convert Photo Negatives
Over 100 Five-star Reviews • 20+ Years of Experience • Serving the San Francisco Bay Area, California
At eRecordsUSA, we specialize in the preservation-grade digitization of fragile glass plate negatives, serving institutions across San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, and the greater Bay Area. Whether you’re curating a museum exhibit, safeguarding a university archive, or cataloging a private collection, our ISO-certified facility delivers accurate, metadata-rich digital reproductions tailored to long-term access and archival compliance.
Glass plates require specialized handling, controlled environments, and non-contact imaging workflows. Our in-house team uses calibrated scanners to capture up to 2400 DPI, producing archival TIFF masters, access copies, and optional finding aids.
As a women- and minority-owned business, eRecordsUSA combines archival-grade protocols with responsive service, multilingual support, and a 5-star reputation—making us the Bay Area’s trusted partner for historical image preservation at scale.
Call us to speak with a digitization expert, or request a free institutional quote tailored to your glass plate collection.
Film Negative to Digital Scanning Service
Glass plate negatives represent some of the earliest and most precise photographic records — often containing image detail and contextual authenticity that secondary paper prints simply cannot preserve. Unlike prints, which degrade over time due to chemical processing, fading, or compression, glass plates capture first-generation exposure data, making them essential assets for accurate historical reproduction and scholarly research.
At eRecordsUSA, we specialize in scanning glass plates using conservation-informed imaging workflows designed for archival preservation, institutional compliance, and access control. Whether you are digitizing 19th-century ambrotypes, dry gelatin negatives, or industrial documentation on glass, our process ensures each frame is rendered with precision, integrity, and context preservation.
eRecordsUSA — Trusted Choice for Archival Glass Plate Digitization
1. Preserve Original Exposure Fidelity
Glass plates retain native tonal and density information from silver-based emulsions — enabling digital captures that reproduce the full dynamic range lost in printed copies.
2. Achieve Higher Detail Resolution
Annotations, surface textures, and photographic edge information are preserved through 16-bit, up to 4000 DPI non-contact scanning, supporting institutional-grade reproduction, exhibition, and digital curation.
3. Ensure Accurate Tonal Rendering and Grayscale Integrity
Our calibrated workflows retain the authenticity of early photographic processes without overcorrection or artificial enhancement, preserving contrast and grayscale accuracy from the source emulsion.
4. Enable Secure Access Without Handling Risk
Digitized collections can be viewed, cataloged, and shared without re-exposing fragile materials to environmental stress. We embed Dublin Core metadata and deliver TIFF masters with access JPEGs or JP2 derivatives — fully prepared for digital asset management (DAM) systems or institutional archives.
Negative Scanning Service – SF Bay Area
How Does Our Glass Plate Negative Digitization Process Work?
At eRecordsUSA, our digitization process for glass plate negatives is specifically designed for fragile, irreplaceable photographic materials. We follow conservation-aligned workflows to ensure minimal risk during handling, maximum fidelity during capture, and reliable output for long-term institutional use.
1. Intake & Inspection
2. Cleaning & Preparation
3. Non-Contact Scanning
4. Quality Assurance & Metadata
5. Secure Delivery & Archival Return
Negative Scanning to Digital
Who We Serve — Institutional Use Cases for Glass Plate Digitization
eRecordsUSA partners with organizations across the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond to preserve at-risk photographic heritage collections. Our services are trusted by institutions with demanding requirements for digital preservation, scholarly access, and compliance.
We Support:
- Museums & Historical Societies – Digitizing ethnographic, industrial, or early photographic plates with full metadata for public exhibition, digital archives, and research portals.
- Academic & Research Libraries – Supporting digitization of departmental archives, donor collections, and rare photographic series—aligned with FADGI-informed workflows and catalog-ready output.
- Government Archives & Special Collections – Compliant with access control protocols for glass plate collections documenting infrastructure, geography, or civic records. Metadata delivery supports FOIA or internal archiving platforms.
- Private Collections, Estates & Foundations – Digitization of artist archives, personal fonds, or family legacies housed in estate collections or philanthropic foundations—delivered with confidentiality and archival accuracy.
Digitizing Negatives is What We Do Best
Technical Specifications for Glass Plate Negative Digitization
At eRecordsUSA, we digitize glass plate negatives using conservation-aligned imaging standards that prioritize fidelity, stability, and metadata-rich outputs suitable for long-term preservation and research access.
Preserve Your Memories Digitally Forever. Start Scanning Today!
Handling Protocols & Compliance for Fragile Glass Plate Collections
Glass plate negatives require rigorous protection due to their fragility, historical value, and chemical volatility. At eRecordsUSA, we’ve built a digitization environment centered on safe handling, standards compliance, and end-to-end accountability for every archival project.
1. Controlled Handling & Preparation
- Plates are unpacked and re-sleeved in a clean, climate-stabilized environment
- Emulsion sides are identified and supported with non-abrasive mounts or holders
- Nitrate and other chemically sensitive formats are flagged for isolation workflows
2. Conservation-Grade Protocols
- Staff trained in photographic material handling and glass-based artifact care
- No-touch scanning with cool, diffused light sources
- Dedicated flat workstations with anti-static, cushioned surfaces
3. Standards-Aligned Digitization
- Workflows informed by FADGI, ISO 9001, and Library of Congress guidelines
- Custom metadata tagging supports archivist and special collections requirements
- Documentation includes intake logs, scanner calibration records, and QA sign-offs
4. Secure Chain-of-Custody
- Projects logged from pickup to return, with barcode tracking and restricted access
- Digitized files encrypted at rest and in transit, returned via secure digital delivery
- Originals re-housed in archival packaging with labels, spacers, and silica packs
Glass Plate Negative Digitization FAQS
1. How are glass plates transported and stored during the project?
We offer secure pickup and return, using cushioned, archival-grade boxes with silica desiccants and anti-shock padding. Internally, plates are stored in climate-stabilized environments with limited access and chain-of-custody tracking.
2. What kind of metadata do you embed with each scan?
We include Dublin Core, EXIF, or custom schemas, depending on your cataloging needs. Metadata can be delivered as sidecar XML, CSV inventories, or directly embedded in TIFF/JPEG2000 headers for compatibility with DAMs or archival platforms.
3. Can you handle large glass plate formats or panoramic plates?
Yes. Our flatbed and overhead systems accommodate oversized plates, including 8×10″, panoramic formats, or irregular dimensions. We ensure full edge-to-edge capture with calibration specific to large-format photography.
4. Do you provide support for archive-level ingestion and delivery?
Absolutely. We deliver TIFF masters, access derivatives, and metadata in formats compatible with your existing systems — including PDF/A, JP2, CSV, and naming conventions suitable for upload into digital libraries or archival CMS.
Digitize Negatives With Our Renowned Scanning Team
Use Cases & Institutional Applications for Glass Plate Digitization
Our glass plate negative scanning services support a range of institutional mandates — from digital preservation to public engagement and compliance. We work closely with archivists, curators, and collection managers to align every project with its intended use, ensuring both technical accuracy and historical integrity.
1. Digital Preservation – Create long-term digital surrogates for fragile or deteriorating glass negatives. Our outputs meet the requirements of institutional repositories, ensuring redundancy, authenticity, and future-proof access.
2. Online Exhibitions & Virtual Access – Make rare historical images accessible via digital libraries, exhibitions, or educational platforms — without risking damage to the originals.
3. Collection Cataloging & Discovery – Support archival description, finding aids, and linked data initiatives with high-resolution scans embedded with collection-level and item-level metadata.
4. Research & Scholarly Access – Enable historians, researchers, and scholars to view and analyze original photographic data with full tonal fidelity, even in restricted-access or offsite settings.
5. Compliance with Institutional Protocols – Align your digitization initiative with grant requirements, internal policies, or records retention mandates. We support structured workflows and output formats that integrate into DAMs, CMS platforms, and archive management systems.
Top Scanning & Conversion Services
⭐ What Our Clients Are Saying: Real Results, Real Reliability
Rated 5 Starts For Our Document and Book Scanning Services
At eRecordsUSA, clients across libraries, museums, archives, academic institutions, and government agencies trust us with their most fragile and valuable collections. We don’t just scan—we preserve history. From non-contact scanning to metadata-rich indexing, we deliver digital archives that are as accurate as they are accessible.
Want to See How We Compare? Let us quote your next digitization project and show you why we’re trusted by leading institutions nationwide.