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Pricing Guide
How Much Does Photo Restoration Cost?
Pinnacle Edits restores photos for $3.50 to $10 each, depending on the damage. Basic restoration (minor tears and fading) runs $3.50–$5.00, advanced work $5.00–$8.00, and severe damage (tears, water, or mould) $8.00–$10.00 — against a published market that runs $20 to $350 per photo.
Turnaround ranges from 2 to 7 days based on complexity. Restoration also covers black-and-white to colour conversion, colour correction, and hand-colouring.
Comparing services? See photo editing costs across every service.
Key takeaways
- Pinnacle Edits restores photos for $3.50 to $10 each, depending on the extent of the damage — against published market rates of $20 to $350 per photo.
- Basic restoration at Pinnacle Edits — minor tears, dust and light fading — is $3.50 to $5.00 per photo and takes 2 to 3 days.
- Advanced restoration at Pinnacle Edits, covering face and detail work on moderate damage, is $5.00 to $8.00 and takes 3 to 5 days.
- Severe restoration for torn, water-damaged or mould-damaged photos is $8.00 to $10.00 at Pinnacle Edits and takes 5 to 7 days.
- Restoration also covers black-and-white to colour conversion, hand-colouring and colour correction.
Last reviewed by the Pinnacle Edits editing team.
Photo Restoration Prices
| Level | Price | Turnaround | Typical damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic restoration | $3.50 – $5.00 / photo | 2–3 days | Minor tears, dust, scratches, and light fading |
| Advanced restoration | $5.00 – $8.00 / photo | 3–5 days | Face and detail restoration, moderate damage |
| Severe restoration | $8.00 – $10.00 / photo | 5–7 days | Severe, torn, or water/mould damage; multiple subjects |
Pricing is per photo; the final quote depends on the extent of the damage.
What Photo Restoration Costs Across the Market
Published prices from freelance marketplaces, agency rate cards and industry sources, so you can see where any quote sits against the going rate.
| Provider | Typical rate | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Digi-Texx (industry guide) | $20 – $150+ / image | 2026 pricing guide range for professional photo restoration. (source) |
| Damaged Photo Restoration (editing agency) | $30 / picture (standard), $45 / picture (premium), $60 / picture (extreme) | Published three-tier rate card by damage severity. (source) |
| All Media Restoration (editing agency) | from $125 / photo (mild B&W damage) to $350 / photo (severely damaged) | Published per-photo pricing packages for black & white and severely damaged prints. (source) |
| Pinnacle Edits | $3.50 – $10.00 / photo | Damage repair, colourisation and detail recovery for old or damaged photographs. |
Market figures were last verified on 2026-08-18. Rates change; follow the source links for current pricing.
Three Ways Editing Is Priced
The same work can look cheap or expensive depending purely on how it is billed. Comparing prices means comparing models first.
Per image
You pay a fixed rate for each photo edited.
Cheaper for irregular work and small batches, where you would not use up a package.
Per package
A flat fee covers a gallery up to a set image count.
Best value once a single job passes roughly 300–400 images — the effective per-image rate drops sharply.
Monthly retainer
A dedicated editor works to your style for an agreed monthly fee.
Breaks even against per-image pricing at steady high volume, and buys consistency plus reserved capacity in peak season.
A Worked Example
A family archive: 12 photographs, most lightly faded, two with tears across a subject.
10 photos basic restoration @ $3.50$35.00
2 photos severe restoration @ $9.00 (mid-range of our $8–$10 tier)$18.00
Total$53.00
Batch pricing applies from around 10 photos. Colourisation of black-and-white originals is quoted separately.
What Moves the Price Up or Down
- Damage severity
- This is the dominant factor. Light fading and dust sit at the bottom of the range; tears across a face, water damage and mould sit at the top, because the missing detail has to be rebuilt by hand.
- Number of subjects
- Every face in a damaged photo is separate reconstruction work. A group portrait costs more than a single subject at the same damage level.
- Source quality
- A high-resolution scan of the original costs less to restore than a photograph of a print, which adds glare, moiré and lens distortion before any restoration starts.
- Colourisation
- Adding colour to a black-and-white original is a separate service from repairing damage, and is quoted on top of the restoration tier.
- Batch size
- Family archives priced as a batch cost less per photo than single restorations, since setup and colour matching are shared across the set.
- Turnaround
- Standard delivery runs 2–7 days by tier. Restoration is skilled manual work, so rushing it costs more than rushing bulk editing.
What Affects Restoration Price?
- Extent of damage. Light dust and fading is quick; severe tears, missing sections, and water or mould damage take far longer.
- Number of subjects. Restoring several faces or a group photo adds detailed work.
- Colourisation. Converting black-and-white photos to colour, or hand-colouring, is a specialised add-on.
- Source quality. A clear scan restores faster than a low-resolution or badly faded original.
Photo Restoration
Cost Questions
How much does it cost to restore an old photo?
Pinnacle Edits restores photos for $3.50–$10 each depending on damage: $3.50–$5.00 for basic work, $5.00–$8.00 for advanced restoration, and $8.00–$10.00 for severe tears, water, or mould damage. Published market rates for the same work run $20–$350 per photo.
What are typical photo restoration prices?
Across the market, photo restoration prices typically run from about $20 per image up to $350 for severely damaged photos, with one published rate card citing $30–$60 per photo across standard-to-severe damage tiers. Pinnacle Edits’ own rates sit well below that range: $3.50–$5.00 for basic restoration, $5.00–$8.00 for advanced work, and $8.00–$10.00 for severe damage.
How long does photo restoration take?
Turnaround is typically 2–3 days for basic restoration, 3–5 days for advanced work, and 5–7 days for severely damaged photos.
Can you restore torn or water-damaged photos?
Yes. Severe restoration covers torn, water-damaged, and mould-damaged photos, including rebuilding missing sections and restoring faces and detail.
Can you colourise black-and-white photos?
Yes. Restoration includes black-and-white to colour conversion, hand-colouring, sepia toning, and colour correction.
What do you need to restore a photo?
A clear scan of the original gives the best result. Higher-resolution source images restore faster and more accurately.
How much does digital photo restoration cost compared with a local studio?
We don’t have sourced pricing for in-person local photo studios to compare against. What published rate cards for other digital, outsourced restoration providers show is a typical range of about $20 to $350 per photo, depending on damage severity. Pinnacle Edits’ own digital restoration — done from a high-resolution scan of the original — costs $3.50–$10.00 per photo, well below that going rate for outsourced restoration work.