I come to you, pick up your photos and tapes, digitize everything with care, and bring them back. Nothing is ever shipped away.
Local Photo Scanning & Video Digitizing — Iowa City, Coralville & North Liberty
The Process
You'll always know exactly where your originals are.
Call, text, or email. Text a photo of your box for an instant quote.
I come to you. No shipping, no drop-off. Your originals stay local.
Photos scanned, tapes captured. AI enhancement available for faded or old footage.
Originals returned on an engraved flash drive in a keepsake tin. No app, no subscription.
Optional: I stay and get everything playing — on your TV, computer, or a digital frame.
Memory Lane →How You Receive Your Files
Files arrive on an engraved Memories flash drive in a keepsake tin — something you can hold, share, and use on your own terms. No cloud subscription. No app. No ongoing anything.
For smaller projects a short-term download link is available. The flash drive also makes a thoughtful standalone gift for family members who may not be comfortable with technology.
Start My Project
Services & Pricing
No surprises. Text a photo of what you have and I’ll give you a rough estimate based on what I see.
📦 $99 minimum per project. Combine photos, albums & tapes to reach it. Oversized boxes and unusual formats quoted individually — just send a photo.
Not sure what you have? Reach out and I'll help you figure it out.
AI Photo Restoration
Drag the slider to compare an original scan to our AI-enhanced version.
Premium Add-On
Your photos are digitized and ready — now let’s make sure you can actually see and enjoy them. Add this to any order and I’ll stick around at drop-off, help get your files set up, and make sure everything is working before I leave. No tech knowledge required.
```Know someone with boxes of old photos gathering dust? We work directly with them — pickup, digitizing, and in-home setup. They get their photos on their TV, their computer, or playing in a frame on their shelf. You take care of the invoice.
“The gift they didn’t know to ask for.”
Give This Gift
About
Photal Recall is a local Iowa City area business run by me — Troy Ferring. When you hand me your memories, you’re not sending them to a warehouse or a stranger across the country. You’re handing them to a neighbor.
With over 25 years of experience in insurance and information technology, I understand what trust, security, and attention to detail really mean — especially when handling one-of-a-kind originals. After two years as a stay-at-home dad, I’m returning to the workforce and bringing that same care and patience to every project.
Have questions before you start? Just call or text. I pick up.
What Customers Say
Trusted by Iowa City area families to handle their most irreplaceable originals.
Working with Troy to scan old family photos was a fantastic experience. The quality of his work exceeded my expectations. Thanks to Troy I was able to rescue old photos from the closet and share them with family across the country. Now I don’t have to be concerned the family photos will be lost to history. Troy is trustworthy, dependable and communicates well. He has my highest recommendation!
So happy to have found Photal Recall! He was so nice and easy to work with. He was able to digitize our negative so we can now order a print. He also enhanced the quality so the photo will look better too. Thanks Troy for a great experience.
5.0 ★ 2 Google reviews · Leave a review
FAQ
Still wondering? Just text me — I respond quickly.
No — everything is handled locally. I coordinate pickup and delivery directly with you, whether you’re in Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, Solon, Mount Vernon, West Branch, or anywhere else in the area. Your originals never leave the region.
Absolutely not. Your originals are kept together and handled as a single project from pickup to return. They never touch another customer’s collection.
Most photo projects are completed within 1–2 weeks depending on volume. After I see what you have, I’ll give you a realistic timeline and keep you updated.
Not at all. Hand me a shoebox, a stack of albums, or a mix of everything. If you have a preference for how files are named or organized, just let me know.
You get your originals back plus organized digital files on an engraved flash drive in a keepsake tin. For smaller projects a short-term download link is available. No cloud service, no app, no subscription.
Standard captures the photo exactly as it is — the archival record. Enhanced adds AI-assisted correction for color, contrast, and brightness; you receive both versions. For serious damage (tears, water stains, heavy fading) Manual Restoration involves careful hand-editing plus AI enhancement.
A VHS tape runs in real time — a 2-hour tape takes 2 hours to capture. Most tape orders of 1–5 tapes are completed within a week.
VHS, Hi8, 8mm, Digital8, and MiniDV camcorder tapes — all digitized locally. Not sure what format your tape is? Send me a photo and I’ll identify it instantly.
Yes — $99 project minimum. A single shoebox or standard album gets you there. Combining a few tapes with photos is another easy way to reach it.
You reach out and tell us who the gift is for. We coordinate pickup directly with them, do the digitizing, and then set everything up in their home — photos playing on their TV, organized on their computer, or loaded onto a digital frame. Invoice goes to you. They just get to enjoy it.