IWM photo ordering

Discussion in 'Research Material' started by Chris C, Jun 24, 2021.

  1. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Hi all,

    I'm currently livid about what IWM charges. No, NOT their regular license fees.

    Have you seen how many photos have been digitized but the images are lower resolution and may be somewhat askew?

    Well don't worry, the IWM can scan that for you at high resolution. For only £50!!!!

    When I had photos digitized by Libraries and Archives Canada, which was done by an outside commercial firm, they charged me half as much AND IN CANADIAN DOLLARS.

    And... how much time would it have taken for them to just scan the images at high resolution in the first place?

    Here endeth the rant.
     
    Last edited: Jun 24, 2021
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  2. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    I noted the two I bought as this:

    Digitisation fee: £30
    For an A3 digital file: £20
    VAT @ 20% (not charged on overseas orders): £10
    Total: £60 per image.
     
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  3. JimHerriot

    JimHerriot Ready for Anything

    I "like" your post CF (and Chris C's too) by way of the fact that you've provided the information, but I absolutely do not like the cost that both you and Chris C have incurred.

    Bleedin' scandalous.

    Kind regards, always,

    Jim.
     
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  4. JDKR

    JDKR Member

    Don’t get me started…:reallymad:
     
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  5. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

    Well in that case do not order them ... may they price themselves out of the market
     
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  6. m kenny

    m kenny Senior Member

    Do they then upload a higher res copy to the online collection and if someone else wants the same photo later do they deduct the £30 'first time' charge?
     
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  7. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    That is the theory, but only one of the prints I paid for has appeared online after two and a half years (roughly), and the one that has appeared is at a very good but not as good a resolution as my large digital file.
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2023
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  8. Richard Lewis

    Richard Lewis Member

    Not photos, but for photocopies of a 63 page booklet in 2017 the IWM charged me £0.40 per page for black and white photocopies, plus a handling charge of £2.50 (total £27.70 inc VAT). They sent the copies of the booklet in pdf form.
     
  9. idler

    idler GeneralList

    The smaller ones might be the contact(?) prints out of the catalogues.

    Anyway, make the most of it as I'm sure they'll be putting up the prices soon to cover the losses from people not buying them because they're too expensive. It's only logical.
     
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  10. Andreas

    Andreas Working on two books

    At this point I'd pay somebody else more rather than use IWM.

    All the best

    Andreas
     
  11. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    I'm so glad that I bought copies of all the BEF motorcycle images back when prices were reasonable. Not cheap, but not impossible for the size and quality involved.
     
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  12. High Wood

    High Wood Well-Known Member

    I can remember having a conversation a few years ago with the man who ran one of the local pubs. He had put the price of a pint up by quite a large amount because, as he said, "We are not getting the customers through the door the way we used to and we have got to cover our costs".

    I suggested that perhaps if he was to lower the price he might get more people in. He said that he couldn't do that because the brewery set the minimum price that he could sell their beer.

    To cut a long story short, less people came, he went bust and it was over 18 months before someone else was brave enough to take the pub on again, The new people lasted just over a year until the pandemic killed their business, The brewers have now sold the pub.
     
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  13. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Hmm... I don't want to get you started but now that I think about it, I wonder what the existing coverage of digitization is across the timespan of the war. Is the end of the war neglected?

    The photo I was considering is from the timeframe of your book, albeit it's 43 Div infantry and Archers before an attack on Cloppenburg. I'm still actually thinking about it because you can see some details not apparent in other photographs...
     
  14. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

    Do they give refunds if they "inadvertently" sell a picture as one thing and it turns out through painstaking, frustrating research to be something else? ;-)

    One of those reasons to want to see more detail is surely just to verify something, or for example to help to figure out where a picture might have been taken and who, for example some of the individuals in it might have been...

    On the other hand, however one can see familiar IWM pictures reproduced constantly, and discussed in very considerable depth to the exclusion of much else and to the extent that they almost get to be "expected" to appear... i.e. 24th Lancers "being at St.Leger" on a certain date etc...

    Nr. Bayeux or Tilly Sur Seulles - could anyone help further identify where these Sherman tanks are?

    It's interesting - especially since in my own experience I've seen lots of pictures emerge that people have in their own or their family's collections, that show really interesting and fascinating things so it's not merely an IWM monopoly - that has to be used, and "must haves" - it's perhaps though a "stamp" that one expects to see reproduced on several pages in a ww2 book - and they do get a lot of attention that other pictures that can appear from other sources seem not to receive.
     
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  15. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Yes, just look at the mountain of 3RTR photos of Comets that have been posted here!
     
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  16. EmpireUmpire

    EmpireUmpire .........

    IWM Photo - Ordering Copies - How?

    Hi all,

    I've had a look but still cannot find an answer on how to go about purchasing a High Res digital copy of a photo from the IWM archive for private use. This photo specifically:-

    THE BRITISH ARMY IN THE NORMANDY CAMPAIGN 1944

    Does anyone have any experience in this?

    Cheers
    Emps
     
  17. Richelieu

    Richelieu Well-Known Member

    I’ve not done this myself but I would suggest following the succession of links.
    upload_2023-5-1_11-18-44.png
    upload_2023-5-1_11-19-14.png
    upload_2023-5-1_11-19-38.png
     
  18. EmpireUmpire

    EmpireUmpire .........

    Right, I see - not cheap!

    I wonder how much sharper the "high res" scan will be compared to the one that appears on the IWM site?

    Cheers
     
  19. EmpireUmpire

    EmpireUmpire .........

    Hi, Thanks for the info - I've sent them an email!
     
  20. Charley Fortnum

    Charley Fortnum Dreaming of Red Eagles

    It rather depends on the quality of the original. For the three I ordered, the quality was significantly better—hard to quantify, but in a couple of places it turned generic figures into recognisable people.

    They also claim to 'improve' the image using some arcane process, but as far as I can see they just tidy it up a bit using widely available commercial software.
     

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