Capture Australia digitises physical photo albums using proprietary glare-removal technology. Photos stay in the album throughout the process. No postage is required, and your originals never leave the partner shop. The service is available at trusted partner shops across Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane, plus the Capture Service Centre at 82 Waterloo Road, Macquarie Park, Sydney NSW 2113.
Colour prints begin to fade and yellow within 15 to 25 years. Albums stored in hot, humid or sun-exposed conditions deteriorate faster. Every year you wait, fine detail is lost permanently. Photos scanned with a phone typically suffer from glare, distortion and low resolution, making them unsuitable for reprinting, photobooks or long-term archiving.
Capture Australia's proprietary scanning technology removes the glare, reflections and distortion that ruin phone-scanned photos. The result is sharp, colour-accurate digital files that meet the resolution requirements of professional print labs and photobook services. No phone camera or flatbed scanner can replicate this process.
Phone scanning apps capture a flat image and often produce glare, lens distortion and low resolution. That is fine for quick social sharing but not for reprints or archiving. Flatbed scanners require removing photos from albums one by one, which risks tearing or stretching decades-old prints. Capture Australia scans through the album sleeve without removal. Proprietary processing removes glare and restores colour accuracy. The final files are ready for reprints, photobooks, sharing and long-term digital storage, with no photo handling and no damage risk.
Every scanned photo is delivered as a high-resolution JPEG file, organised by album or collection. Files arrive via a secure cloud link. They work directly with Google Photos, so you can import your collection in a few clicks and access your memories on any device. iCloud and other photo storage services are also compatible. A USB drive is available on request. Your original albums come back exactly as you handed them in. Photos stay in their sleeves. Pages remain in the same order. Covers are intact. Nothing is reordered, trimmed or altered.
Pricing depends on your partner shop and the size and type of your collection. Each partner sets their own rates for intake, scanning, storage and customer handling. The final photo count is confirmed before any work begins, so there are no surprise charges. Enhanced output files with glare removed and colour corrected are included as standard. For large collections of 500 photos or more, scanning can often work out to around one dollar per photo or less. Ask your partner shop about scanning your whole collection.
Turnaround is typically one to two weeks for a standard collection, depending on total photo count and the current queue at the partner shop. Small collections of one or two albums can sometimes be ready within a few days. Larger collections of 10 or more albums may take a little longer. Your partner shop will give you an estimated timeline at drop-off and will contact you directly when your order is ready for collection. Turnaround times may vary during busy periods such as Christmas and school holidays.
You can also visit the Capture Service Centre directly at 82 Waterloo Road, Macquarie Park, Sydney NSW 2113.
Common questions include pricing and turnaround time, what happens to your original albums during scanning, whether we can scan loose photos and damaged albums, how delivery works, and how the technology compares to scanning photos with a phone. Visit the full FAQs page for detailed answers.