Gifts for grandparents from their own photos

Every one of them starts with something the family already owns. A damaged portrait is restored and reprinted. A favourite picture is printed and framed, or put on canvas. Home movies and video tapes go onto a USB stick so they can be watched again.

People are often emotional when they collect these jobs. Some of them haven't seen the faces for decades.

Bring the photos in as they are, still in the album or the envelope. There's no need for an appointment, and we do all the labelling. Every job gets a unique four digit sticker when it comes in, so nothing gets mixed up, and the originals stay here in the shop until they go home with you.

We look at each photo with you at the counter and you're told the expected outcome, the time frame and the cost before any work starts. Prices are fixed and agreed at the counter. No hidden fees.

We're at 605-607 High Street, Kew East, opposite the Harp Hotel, and tram 48 stops right out the front at stop 39.

The usual starting point is a wedding photo with a crease across it, or a portrait that has faded to orange in a frame on the hallway wall. We scan the original on an Epson flatbed scanner, most photos at 600dpi, or higher if you ask, and the restoration is worked from that scan.

Before the new print is made we individually colour adjust the image, as we do for every image we print. Prints up to 8x12 inches (20x30 cm) go through our Fujifilm Frontier printers on genuine Fujifilm paper. Larger prints come off our wide format printers with a lustre finish.

How long a restoration takes depends on how many photos there are, how busy we are and the state they're in. We'll give you a time frame at the counter once we've seen it.

Sometimes the photo is fine and just wants to be bigger. For a framed print, choose one of our ready-made frames, or have it framed to order, which the Custom Picture Framing page explains.

Canvas suits a big family. A canvas collage lays several photos out on one canvas, handy when there are too many grandchildren for a single picture.

Two more are made online from photos you upload, and each comes as a poster, a canvas or a framed print. A family tree print lays the family's faces and names out as a tree. A photomosaic builds one large picture out of hundreds of small ones. If the faces only exist on old prints, we can scan them first so you have files to upload.

An online print order that reaches us before 11.00am is usually ready a few hours later. For canvas and framing, ask us for a time frame when you order.

Video tapes are charged per tape, with cleaning included, and you're welcome to bring your own USB. Tapes often turn up broken. We usually fix them for a small fee. Mould is normally picked up at the counter and talked through with you, and when it's minor the result is usually good anyway.

Cine film is scanned frame by frame, roughly 3,600 individual frames from every 50 feet of 8mm film, and it's quoted on the reels once we've seen them. If the family films already sit on old DVDs or CDs, we can put those onto a USB too.

How long a transfer takes depends on how many tapes or reels there are and what condition they're in. Bring them in early.

Of all the gift ideas for grandparents old photos give you, a print is the one you can leave until the last morning. Digital print orders received by 9.00am on Thursday 24 December are ready to collect at 1.00pm that day.

Canvas orders close on Thursday 10 December. Ready-made frames depend on what we have in stock, so in the last few days before Christmas ring us to check before you make the trip. Restorations and tape transfers are case by case, depending on our workload.

We close at 2.00pm on Thursday 24 December and reopen on Monday 18 January. December brings us so much work that larger jobs are usually ready towards the end of January. The Christmas order deadlines page has every date in one list, and Christmas at PhotoQ has more ideas for the season.

We take orders Australia-wide by post, and we have many repeat interstate customers who send their work to us that way. Ring us before you post anything so we can talk about timing. When you're ready, tell us online what you're sending, print the slip and put it in the parcel with the photos or tapes. Then send it by Registered or Express Post, as early as you can. We ring you when it arrives and agree the price before any work starts.

Finished work goes back by post or express post, which we send every day. We never charge extra for a rush job.