Types of microfilm are various. There is 16mm roll film, 35mm roll film, which both can be positive film or negative film; duplex, simplex, duo, 16mm continuous form COM reels, and duplicate microfilm.
If you want to digitize microfilm, you must be aware that scanning microfilm technology includes operating microfilm scanners such as NextStar, Sunrise, Mekel, Wicks and Wilson, Cannon, or other name brands.
You can't just scan microfilm records into your computer without these microfilm scanners, and without having the expertise and training to run them. Digitizing microfilm is a highly specialized field. When you factor the time and cost of training and labor (not to mention mistakes and rescans) it is best to leave microfilm scanning to experts. After all, it is a lot less expensive to just send your microfilm to Scanning Depot than to buy one $65,000 microfilm scanner and hire or train new employees.
The cost of a microfilm digital conversion is much less than you would expect. Scanning Depot also will scan one roll of film for hobbyists or researchers, something many other microfilm scanning companies will pass up.
The question of: is it better to convert microfilm to TIFF or convert microfilm to PDF all depends on your needs. TIFFs are much easier to work with an modify and do not require Adobe Acrobat or similar PDF viewing program. Either way is no problem for Scanning Depot.
