What is Capture Australia?

Capture Australia is a photo digitisation service that scans printed photos and albums using proprietary glare-removal technology. We work with a network of partner shops in Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane. Customers drop off their albums or loose prints at a local partner shop, and the shop handles the scanning before returning the originals safely.

Where do I get my photos scanned?

Capture Australia operates through partner shops in Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane. You bring your albums or loose prints to the nearest partner location, leave them for scanning, and collect them once the job is done. Visit captureaus.com/where-to-scan to find your closest shop and its opening hours.

What technology does Capture Australia use to remove glare?

Capture Australia uses a proprietary 8-layer glare-removal process. The scanner captures multiple exposures of each photo through the album plastic sleeve, then processes those layers to strip out glare and reflections. The output is a clear, detailed digital copy, produced without ever removing the photo from the album.

Do my photos need to come out of the album?

No. The scanning technology works through album plastic sleeves and pages, so your photos stay exactly where they are throughout the process. There is no risk of tearing, bending or damaging the originals at any point.

What sizes of photos does Capture Australia scan?

Capture Australia scans printed photos across a wide range of sizes. Small wallet prints, standard 4x6 inch and 5x7 inch photographs, 8x10 portraits and larger prints up to and including large format scanning of framed portraits and artworks, with a capture area of up to 45cm x 70cm. The proprietary scanning equipment is physically installed at each partner shop, built specifically to handle this full size range without removing photos from their sleeves, albums or frames. The same 8-layer glare-removal technology applies at every scale, so the digital output is sharp and consistent whether the print is a pocket-sized snap or a large framed portrait or artwork. Slides, negatives and film require different equipment and some partner shops like Photoland, Camera House and Retromedia offer these services. The wider Capture group covers those formats outside of Australia at capture.com and capture.hk.

How are my digitised photos delivered?

Once scanning is complete, your photos are delivered as high-resolution digital files on a USB drive or via a secure online downloadable link. Confirm the delivery method with your partner shop when you drop off your photos.

Is Capture Australia listed in Google Photos?

Yes. You can find Capture Australia in the Google Photos app import function. In the Google Photos app or website, tap the '+' button, select 'From other places', then choose 'Digitise physical photos' to find us. After we deliver your files via USB or downloadable link, you upload them to your Google Photos account yourself through the app on your own device.

Is the scan quality consistent across all partner shops?

Yes. Every partner shop uses the same Capture Australia proprietary scanning workflow and glare-removal technology, so the output quality is consistent regardless of which location handles the job. Each photo goes through the same multi-layer processing at every shop.

How much does photo scanning cost in Australia?

The cost depends on your situation: the partner shop you use, the size of your collection, whether you need express turnaround, and whether any additional manual steps are involved, such as archival full-page captures or handling unusually fragile prints. Our semi-automated scanning workflow keeps the baseline cost low, because the technology does the heavy lifting on each photo rather than requiring hour-by-hour manual labour. Different partner shops run their own promotions from time to time, and larger collections can qualify for better rates. The best way to get an accurate figure is to contact your nearest partner shop with a rough count of your photos and albums.

Organise and Preserve Your Aussie Photo Memories

Organise and Preserve Your Aussie Photo MemoriesDiscover practical ways to organise, store, and preserve your Australian photo memories so they last for generations to come.

Why Organising Your Photos Matters

Australian families have generations of photographic memories scattered across shoeboxes, hard drives, and cloud accounts. Without a clear system, those precious moments can be lost or forgotten. Taking the time to organise and preserve your photos ensures they remain accessible and meaningful for years to come.

Whether you have a single album or thousands of prints from family events, weddings, holidays around the country, and special milestones, having a clear plan helps you find and enjoy your memories whenever you want to revisit them. A well-organised photo collection also makes it easier to share moments with relatives, create gifts, or include images in family history projects.

Sort Before You Scan

Before dropping photos off to a digitisation service, like trusted experts and real shops in the Capture Australia partner network, take some time to sort through them for easier reference later. Group albums or loose photos by event, date, or family member. Capture technology automatically creates folders of digital photo files in the exact naming you require, meaning that there is a hassle free way to get your scanned prints back.

You can optionally discard duplicates or low-quality shots that no longer hold meaning. This step makes the digital library easier to navigate later and reduces the cost of scanning items you do not actually need, but one big advantage of working with Capture is that we automate he task of extracting photos without taking the photos out of albums, or risk damaging them. We can also use the technology to safely scan the photos from under glass, in larger portraits and fix them without removing the backing or frames. Just reach out and discuss with your expert partner the situation, to help you go faster.

Choose a Naming System

Once your photos are digitised, give every file a clear and consistent name. A common approach is DD-MM-YYYY followed by a short description, for example 25-12-2002-Christmas-Lunch-Sydney. This keeps everything in chronological order on most devices and makes searching trivial. Combine that with folders broken down by year or by family branch and you have a robust foundation that future generations can extend.

Back Up Everywhere

Storage is cheap, but heartbreak is permanent. Back up your digital archive in at least two locations: a local external hard drive and a reputable cloud provider. Capture is the only digitisation and scanning service partnered with Google Photos, and verified to transfer your precious memories. The great things is that all photos are backed up easily this way, whatever device you use. If you live in a bushfire-prone area, consider a third copy held by a relative interstate. Schedule a calendar reminder twice a year to verify your backups are still readable.

Share What You Treasure

Finally, do not let your archive sit untouched on a hard drive. Print a yearly photo book, share albums with relatives, or play a slideshow at family gatherings. The whole point of preserving memories is to keep them alive in the day-to-day life of the people you love. Our partners also can help reprint and frame special photos, or manually touch them up, before you share them digitally, preserved forever.