Microfilm scanning techniques, part 2

When considering a microfilm scanning conversion, there are some key facts that should be analyzed.

Let's first start with your film. There are variations of film types. For example, your microfilm may be a silver original or a diazo duplicate 16mm roll film or 35mm roll film. There are other film types, like duplex film and continuous form COM reels. They all have their purpose. You also need to understand how the film was produced so that your newly created digital image can be brought back to the correct magnification and aspect ratio. Microfilm scanning price is somewhat affected by the type of film that will be scanned.

Secondly, let's touch a bit on digital imaging. This is the term used for the document file in its digital format. Images are stored in computer drives and can be manipulated in many different ways with the proper imaging software. Images may be measured in height, width, and also pixels. The size of the images will affect its quality, and can also affect the transfer speed between you and your customer, and how long you need to wait to view the image. Consider a good microfilm conversion firm to help you through this process.

Microfiche scanning techniques, part 1

Billions of paper documents have been converted to some type of microfiche or microfilm over the years . This process has served the industry well for various reasons. For one, it serves to protect the documents from loss due to paper damage. It also helps to store large quantities of information in an organized fashion.

Over the past few years however, organizations around the world have taken advantage of newer technology and have converted previously microfilmed documents to digital images by performing a process called microfilm conversion or microfilm scanning. The advantages of eliminating storage cost, instant retrieval of information, ability to transfer data anywhere, etc. have made it easy for such organizations to make this microfiche conversion decision.

If you are an individual with one 35mm roll, 16mm roll film,aperture cards, or microfiche, or an organization with thousand of rolls of microfilm or microfiche cards, or other film format, you also stand to benefit from this technology. To begin this process you first need to understand some concepts of microfilm scanning, imaging, and microfilm.

Microfilm scanning techniques, part 1

Billions of paper documents have been converted to some type of microfilm over the years. This process has served the industry well for various reasons. For one, it serves to protect the documents from loss due to paper damage. It also helps to store large quantities of information in an organized fashion.

Over the past few years however, organizations around the world have taken advantage of newer technology and have converted previously microfilmed documents to digital images. The advantages of eliminating storage cost, instant retrieval of information, ability to transfer data anywhere, etc. have made it easy for such organizations to make this microfilm conversion decision.

If you are an individual with one 16mm roll or microfiche, or an organization with thousands of reels of microfilm or fiche cards, or other film format, you also stand to benefit from this technology. To begin this process you first need to understand some concepts of microfilm scanning, imaging, and microfilm.

Microfiche scanning and indexing

Many times governments or organizations request CSV or XML files after we convert a microfiche scanning project or do a microfiche conversion project. They need those type of indexing files to import into their electronic document management system (EDMS). This is one of many processes that may be used in a microfilm conversion project

Depending on their existing software and database, the format has to be exact otherwise importing will not work. For us at Scanning Depot, it's not an issue at all. We have created an indexing program that uses an SQL database, so it is easy to export to comma delimited text files, with any column heading order needed.

XML files are just as simple. Our clients will e-mail us a copy of the format they currently use for their EDMS, and we can match that format. After we perform the microfilm conversion process, we can reformat the files to meet the requirements of the system.

Everything we do is customized to fit our clients' needs and to ensure a seamless system once you get our images and data files back. Our microfilm scanning prices are also the best out there so you know you will get the best service for the best price.

Microfilm digital conversion

Why should a company outsource their microfilm scanning instead of scanning in-house?

"The reasons for sending microfilm scanning work outside are the obvious –cost, time and expertise – plus not so obvious ones. Production scanners for roll film scanning, microfiche scanning, aperture card scanning, and so on,are getting better and more advanced and you pay for the improvements, but it's not just the cost of the equipment. You also have to factor in the overhead, training and expertise that operators gain after years of scanning microfilm. In a new installation, by the time you would have the equipment set up, an operator(s) trained, and the necessary QC work done, you'd have spent 3-4 months and have affected the the microfilm conversion price. If something goes wrong, what do you do? What about downtime? When you handle the volume we do, you have more flexibility and you develop expertise in-house users rarely achieve, even big title companies and insurance companies or government agencies."
And this is true. In terms of cost, a one million image 16 mm conversion job ca cost thousands, but is considerably less than what it would take a company to buy microfilm scanners and attempt to convert roll film to digital images in-house. The microfilm scanning price can be thousands less if you select the right company to do it for you.

Microfiche scanning jobs

My first day as a microfiche scanning operator, I was taught how to set up a COM fiche grid on a Mekel scanner. I was thankfully taught by someone who already had years of experience under his belt scanning COM microfiche and COM fiche scanning of many types. I say thankfully because the official manual had nothing- and I mean nothing- on how to run the software for actual scanning microfiche. The manuals themselves were more about optics, reduction ration, and hardware, with definitions of the detection parameters. Actual technique and steps for scanning microfiche were missing.

I picked up COM fiche scanning very quickly, and the next week I was taught how to scan a jacket fiche conversion on the Mekels.

In the months ahead, I went through the steps for Sunrise microfiche setups to scan 16mm roll film and 35 mm roll film, and got all of the internal steps, tips, and instructions.

I kinda pity a microfilm scanning company that doesn't have experienced trainers, scanner operators, or managers. Learning how to scan microfilm or scanning microfiche on your own can be a huge mess. Good scanning companies have plenty of microfilm scanning experience.

Microfilm scanner

The first microfilm scanner I ever used was an old DOS Sunrise microfilm scanner. There was no Windows GUI- it was all keyboard, and mouse commands were limited. As cumbersome as all of this sounds, it was a great way to learn the fundamentals of microfilm scanning 16 mm and 35 mm roll film.

As technology advanced, so did the scanner displays and microfilm scanning; instead of just typing numbers in DOS, the microfilm scanner operators were able to see visual graphs of the microfilm roll frames, edge detection parameters, re-arm distance, reduction ratio, and quality enhancements, in real time.

Perhaps the biggest leap was from Sunrise DOS to Sunrise NT microfilm scanners for 16 mm microfilm rolls and 35 mm microfilm rolls.

Older Wicks & Wilson roll film scanners had a very user friendly software interface, as well. But they also had their share of issues for microfilm scanning 16 rollfilm and 35mm rollfilm.

With so many leaps and bounds, it's natural for NextScan to kinda rewrite the book on roll film digitizing. With their NextStar software, the operator simply scans strip ribbons of the roll, an another worker confirms that the individual frames separated correctly, after the detection settings are created. Microfilm scanning is now faster and better for operators and customers.

In general, 16mm roll scanners and 35mm roll scanners are better, faster and the service is better also.

Microfilm preparation

Many organizations and companies handle 16 mm or 35 mm microfilm,and microfilm scanning on a daily basis to access their information. Although microfilm conversion has been a common practice for many years, microfilm scanning technologies has been changing these business rules. Whether you have 16mm roll film, 35mm roll film, COM fiche cards, or aperture cards that store your documents, you are probably thinking there has to be a way to digitize microfilm.

The process of microfilm conversion has been around for some time now, and only a few well established microfilm scanning organizations- like Scanning Depot, have the required equipment and knowledge to safeguard your roll film and to achieve the best possible digital conversion results. Microfilm digitizing companies will transfer the information you have on your 16mm roll film and 35mm reels to a digital format, such as TIFF, JPEG, PDF, etc. Digital imaging is ideal for storing and retrieving documents.

In the meantime, while you are still using your roll film as your document source, make sure you do all you can to conserve the integrity of the microfilm. This is the first step in roll film preparation. Keep the reels in a temperature and humidity control environment. The reels also have a very sensitive side which is called the emulsion side. This is what makes up the image on the film. It is very sensitive to scratches.

Lastly, there is the issue of time. If your microfilm reels are beginning to smell like vinegar, you need to consider document imaging as a way to preserve the information. The smell you sense may be the natural process of your fiche decomposing. If you do nothing, you may lose all, your data.

Digital imaging is ideal for storing and retrieving documents from computer systems.

Microfiche scanning

One obstacle that many companies encounter is that they do not feel comfortable or are unable to function without the microfiche cards during the conversion process. A company such as Scanning Depot has resolved this issue for many large and small companies throughout the years. They will first learn and understand the work-flow and the need of the clients so that they minimize distractions or interruptions to the client. They can also set up an uninterrupted flow to give the client access to the documents they need. This may include an Internet connection and an on-demand request process. Whatever the case may be, Scanning Depot assures the client an efficient solution.

There are multiple types of microfiche cards. Your cards may be COM fiche, jackets, step and repeat, and they may contain 16mm or 35mm images. There are even other variations of these types of formats. In addition, the documents were reduced in the process of filming. All this information is important for the conversion process, and a professional with the skills and the equipment is best suited to convert your microfiche.

16 mm film

16 mm film is used generally to record 8.5x11 and 11x14 documents. Documents, especially ones that have signatures such as employment records, contracts, hospital records, mortgages, liens, county records, criminal records, and more have been committed to film due to archival or government requirements. 16 mm roll film contain roughly 2000 to 5000 images, they can be simplex (one document per frame) or duplex (two documents per frame). 16mm roll film can be positive or negative, and thick or thin.

The County Recorder or Clerk of Courts offices have the responsibility to maintain all Official Records indefinitely. It makes sense to digitize microfilm via microfilm scanning. In a digital format, agencies, organizations, or companies can retrieve data much more efficiently. Find out more from Scanning Depot.

A better way to view microfiche

If your organization uses microfiche cards and a light viewer because that’s your most efficient way to operate, or because that’s just the way things were set up in the old days and it still works, you may want to consider a microfiche conversion process. Many organizations have never looked into a conversion process, or looked into it some time ago, and did not think it was cost effective then. It may be time you look again.

A conversion process involves scanning your microfiche cards so that each frame or document within each card is converted into an image that can be stored in your computer. This digital microfiche conversion process should be done by a qualified microfiche conversion service company equipped with professional experts and the latest technology and scanning equipment available. With state-of-the-art technology and efficient systems, the cost and quality of a microfiche conversion process is extremely inexpensive, fast, and with incomparable quality.

Types of Microfiche - COM Fiche, 16mm Jackets, 35mm Jackets, and More

Because microfiche is used in a wide variety of industries, many users or sales representatives don't realize that there are so many  types of microfiche. Many times when an organization wants to consider a microfiche scanning conversion, they do not know the exact type of fiche they are working with, and just refer to it as a generic "microfiche" or "fiche card".

Here's a listing of some of the major types of microfiche:

COM fiche (Computer Output Microfiche)- they usually contain accounting reports, payroll records, tax rolls, and most any computer generated report that requires an archival retention period. Standard microfiche are either 42 or 48X - 207 or 269 pages of data respectively, plus an index page located at the last frame, to make it 208 and 270 digital images. (Please note that some columns may not be full).  There are also super dense COM fiche (sometimes called ultra fiche) that can store 400+ images. COM fiche's main characteristic besides its number of frames is that the images are equidistant and line up. Columns and rows that are skewed are due to COM hardware  being improperly set or, more likely, the COM was incorrectly duplicated.

16mm or 35mm Jacketed fiche (jackets) are actually 4x6 inch plastic sleeves designed to hold strips of microfilm- so yes, at one point rolls of film were cut and inserted into the sleeves to make "jackets". This allowed the grouping of related data into one logical record, such as payroll, mortgages, school records, maps, and human resource departments. Many clients or sales representatives get confused when identifying jacketed fiche when there are no visible sleeves. This occurs where the microfiche had been duplicated. Duplicated jacketed fiche that have a purplish or bluish tint to them. Although these duplicates no longer have plastic sleeves, you can still see the horizontal lines where the sleeves were. Jacketed fiche have a wide range of images stored on a card, from 1 to 70, or more.

Step-and-repeat fiche are not manually inserted into plastic sleeves. The images contained on step-and-repeat cards are generally equidistant and straight, except when some frames are orientated differently. These fiche usually contain owner manuals or operational handbooks. The cards have a header at the top, which contains detailed information. These types of fiche can contain hundreds of images. Many motorcycle manuals or car manuals are on step and repeat fiche.

Rewritable microfiche (Microx or AB Dick) contain positive images that can be erased or have a new record added. These cards are utilized in a filing system, usually under a name or social security number. Daily use and exposure to light mean these fiche generally do not have a long lifespan, which means they should be converted to digital images as soon as possible.

All of these type of different types of microfiche (and more) can be converted to digital format by Scanning Depot's microfiche scanners.

Microfiche scanning: Digitize microfiche to PDF

Do you need a microfiche scanning partner regardless of your location? Consider Scanning Depot as a microfiche scanning service company. Scanning Depot's managers and scanner operators have worked with organizations in the U.S., U.K., Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and other countries. Using the best microfiche scanners from NextScan, Mekel, and Sunrise, digital imaging processes include digitizing COM fiche, 16mm and 35mm jacketed microfiche, step-and-repeat cards, and rewritable microfiche.

Fun question of the day: What is the difference between microfiche and microfilm?

Microfiche are created on small cards, around the size of index cards. Microfilm is generally 16mm or 35mm and looks like movie film to the untrained eye. The process of digitization of microfiche is much different than microfilm scanning, but the end result is exactly the same: microfilm conversions and digitizing microfiche have the same output- digital images.

Contact Scanning Depot today for microfiche scanning pricing or microfiche questions.

Outsource Microfilm scanning Partnership

Scanning Depot works closely with each of our partners on an ongoing basis -- we not only provide you with the service you need to fill your customer's microfilm scanning needs, but they also work with you to help you build your business, answer RFP government bids that include microfilm scanning services, win contracts, and make presentations to your clients.

Scanning Depot Partners enjoy the following benefits:

• Partners can add a no-cost profit center and back office for microfilm conversions
• Scanning Depot can be invisible to your customers
• Partnership makes you bigger, more powerful
• No investment is required
• Volume based microfilm scanning pricing is available 
• Scanning Depot is cost-effective, provides fast turnaround and high quality services

Microfiche

There is no doubt that many microfiche definitions online and everyday usage of "fiche" is just wrong. When it comes to microfiche scanning and actually converting the microfiche to digital images (TIFF, JPEG, PDF, etc.) the differences are paramount.

COM fiche

COM fiche uses a grid set up with coordinates, such as A1, A2, B1, B2, and so on. The majority of microfiche scanners, such as Mekel, Sunrise, Wicks & Wilson, and others use the fixed grid overlay, and it is up to the scanner operator to "center" the grid overlay over the microfiche card.

Some scanners boast that there are different methods to scan COM fiche but it should be noted that those methods are still in the testing stages, and require deep post-processing to create a final product, while scanning COM in the traditional grid set-up is still the industry norm, and quite effective.

Jacketed fiche

Jackets are scanned using edge detection, with the same detection algorithms as roll film scanning. That means that the scanner "sees" white and black pixels and analyzes the edge of a white document to see if that is where an image begins and ends. 16mm and 35mm fiche use the same edge detection parameters, the only difference is the reduction ratio and document size.

Step-and-repeat fiche

One might be inclined to scan step-and-repeat fiche using a fixed grid, however, if there are different size documents on a card or improper spacing, edge detection is the way to go.

AB/Dick or Microx fiche

These rewritable fiche may look like positive duplicated jacket fiche, but have fun trying to get them to edge detect. These fiche are usually faded and beat up, with little edge to work on. Thankfully, Scanning Depot has the hardware and technical experience to scan rewritable microfiche using advanced settings.

Transfer images to 35mm roll film with 35mm archive writer

If you are in the micrographics, document, or information technology industry sometimes you may encounter microfilm government RFP bid asking for 35mm archive writing. What the 35mm archive writing process entails is it creates a reel of film from digital images. It's kind of like reverse engineering from microfilm scanning! There's only one problem- creating 35mm from images with a 35mm archive writer is very expensive because there are only a few 35mm archive writers on the market, and they run close to $100,000.

The good news is that Scanning Depot can create 35mm rolls from G4 TIFFs or PDFs. Each roll of 35mm 100′ archive microfilm meets all ANSI standards of quality, and is great for backups for federal, local, or state government RFP bids. Converting TIFF and PDF images to microfilm is a requirement for many governments, so it must get done. Send us your Group IV TIFF or PDF document images on DVD, CD, or external USB drive and we can transfer them onto 35mm microfilm.

Microfiche preparation

Many organizations and private individuals handle microfiche on a daily basis to access their information. Although this has been a common practice for many years, microfiche scanning technologies has been changing this dynamic. Whether you have 16mm film, 35mm film, COM fiche cards, or aperture cards that store your documents, you are probably thinking there has to be a better way.

The process of microfiche scanning has been around for some time now, only a few well established microfiche conversion organizations- like Scanning Depot- have the required equipment and knowledge to safeguard your film and to achieve the best possible digital conversion results. Microfiche scanning companies will transfer the information you have on your microfiche to a digital format, such as TIFF, JPEG, PDF, etc. Digital imaging is ideal for storing and retrieving documents.

In the meantime, while you are still using your microfiche as your document source, make sure you do all you can to conserve the integrity of the fiche. This is the first step in microfiche preparation. Keep the fiche cards in a temperature and humidity control environment. The fiche also has a very sensitive side which is called the emulsion side. This is what makes up the image on the film. It is very sensitive to scratches.

Lastly, there is the issue of time. If your microfiche is beginning to smell like vinegar, you need to consider document imaging as a way to preserve the information. The smell you sense may be the natural process of your fiche decomposing. If you do nothing, you may lose all, your data.

Digital imaging is ideal for storing and retrieving documents.

Microfilm Scanning

With 16mm and 35 mm microfilm scanning, price, speed, and quality are the three key factors in making a decision to choose a company to perform a microfilm conversion. New scanners on the market cost around $75,000 or more. Used cheap scanners can be bought second hand with no warranty-in other words, at your own risk. Of course, training and maintenance are major components of running a microfilm scanner. Factor in the labor, overhead, network setup, management, and quality control, and you can see that meeting the deadline in cost-effective matter will not be achieved if you try to do this on your own.

That's why if you are a company, organization, or individual looking for a digital microfilm conversion, the experience and reputation of a microfilm scanning company is paramount in your choice.

How Do I Transfer Microfilm to Digital Format? Roll film Scanning

"How do I transfer microfilm to digital format?" is a question that comes up a lot. The answer is that a only a roll film scanner can convert microfilm to digital image. The good news is that 16mm and 35mm roll film scanning costs have dropped dramatically in the last five years in the microfilm scanning industry due to advanced technology, competition between microfilm scanning companies, and the recession.

Scanning Depot is a top microfilm scanning service company in terms of pricing, quality, and turnaround time. Scanning Depot can digitally convert all types of microform, such as 16mm roll film, 35mm roll film, 16mm 3M or Kodak cartridges, 16mm COM film, duplex film, aperture cards, Kodak color slides, 35mm jacket microfiche, duo roll film, and much more.

There are many microfilm scanning companies, but Scanning Depot is focused on customer satisfaction.

Microfiche Scanning Service

Scanning Depot works closely with each of our partners on an ongoing basis -- we not only provide you with the microfiche scanning service you need to fill your customer's microfiche scanning requirements, but we also work with you to build your business, respond to microfiche conversion RFPs, and make presentations to your clients.

Scanning Depot partners and associates enjoy the following benefits:

• You add a no-cost profit center and back office microfiche conversion
• Scanning Depot can be your knowledgebase about all things related to microfiche, such as jacketed microfiche, COM fiche, rewritable microfiche, duplicated jacket fiche, step and repeat microfiche cards, 35mm microfiche sleeves, and much more
• If need be, Scanning Depot can be invisible to your customers or have an open subcontracting relationship
• Partnership with a microfiche scanning company makes your organization more powerful
• There is no investment is required
• Volume based microfiche pricing (the higher the microfiche volume, the lower the microfiche scanning price)
• Scanning Depot is cost-effective, provides fast turnaround and high quality services
• Scanning Depot partners receive lower minimum job sizes and discounts on large scale conversions