Christmas at PhotoQ

Most of the presents we make at Christmas start as one of three jobs. A damaged photograph is restored, a box of home movies or tapes is transferred so the whole family can watch it again, or a favourite picture is printed and framed or put on canvas. Each one begins with something you already own. Anything you hand in or post to us stays in the shop at 605-607 High Street, Kew East, until it comes back to you.

Every job is labelled with a unique four digit sticker when it comes in. Nothing gets mixed up.

Customers are often emotional when they collect a finished job, having not seen the faces in it for decades. If you're after a Christmas gift photo Melbourne grandparents will keep out on the sideboard, start with whichever of those three jobs fits the photo or tape you have.

Bring the print in as it is. Torn or faded is fine, and so is the envelope it's been living in. It's assessed at the counter with you, and you're told the expected outcome, time frame and cost before any work starts. Prices are fixed and agreed at the counter, with no hidden fees.

When the restored picture goes to print, we colour adjust every single image before printing, as we do for every print we make. From there it can go into a frame, which is where the Custom Picture Framing page picks up.

A shoebox of VHS or camcorder tapes becomes a USB or a set of digital files the family can watch. Tapes are charged per tape, with cleaning included, and you're welcome to bring your own USB. They often arrive broken. We usually fix them for a small fee, and mould is usually spotted at the counter and talked through with you.

Cine film is scanned frame by frame and quoted on the reels once we've seen them. The VHS to digital in Melbourne page and the 16mm, 8mm & Super 8mm Transfer and Conversions page go into each in more detail.

We won't put a Christmas date on a transfer before we've seen it. How long one takes depends on how many items there are, how busy we are and the condition they're in, so bring them in early and we'll give you a time frame at the counter.

Sometimes the best present is just a good print of a photo they love. Prints up to 8x12 inches (20x30 cm) go through our Fujifilm Frontier printers on genuine Fujifilm paper, and anything larger is printed on our wide format printers with a lustre finish.

That print can be framed, or the photo can go onto canvas instead. A canvas collage lays several photos out on one canvas, which helps when a family can't agree on a single favourite. The Canvas prints in Melbourne page shows what's involved.

For online photo printing, order before 11.00am and your prints are usually ready a few hours later.

Some people would rather pick their own photo. A PhotoQ gift card is emailed the moment you order it, or on a morning you choose, so there's nothing to post. It can be spent on prints, enlargements, canvas, framing and anything else we make, and it's good for three years. You'll find it on our Digital gift cards page.

We close at 2.00pm on Thursday 24 December and reopen on Monday 18 January. Until we close we keep our usual hours, Monday to Thursday 10.00am to 5.00pm and Friday 10.00am to 4.00pm, closed weekends. The Christmas and January trading hours page has the holiday hours as well.

December brings us so much work that larger jobs are usually ready towards the end of January. If a box of tapes or a restoration is meant for Christmas Day, bring it in as early as you can and ask at the counter how long it'll take before you plan around it. You don't need an appointment. We're opposite the Harp Hotel on High Street.

These are the last days to order for Christmas:

We take orders Australia-wide by post. Start on our Post your tapes, film or photos to us page: tell us what you're sending, print the slip and put it in the parcel. We ring you when it arrives to agree the price.

We post all around the country, and we have many repeat interstate customers who order by post. We post and express post every day. If it's for Christmas, post it to us as early as you can and give us a ring first so we can talk about timing. A gift card needs no parcel at all, because it's emailed.