Generation Imaging » Microfiche Scanning

2012 Microfilm Scanning Update

GenerationImaging — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:43:58 +0000

Microfilm scanning has been transferring microfilm documents to digital images for many years and chances are that we have all benefited in one way or another. After all, microfilm scanning has been used to convert microfilms from libraries, banks, hospitals and many other common organizations. This process has allowed these and many organizations to better service their customers and this could include you and me at one point or another. Since we are accustomed to a fast paced life style, we tend to demand faster response from our service providers, and microfilm scanning has help close the gap that existed and still exists in many cases. Microfilm scanning is the efficient and safe way to store and quickly retrieve document and this is precisely what allows providers to service customers quickly.

Although this has become a standard, there are many countries that somewhat lag in this technology advancements. Microfilm scanning requires very expensive equipment to be done well and in a timely manner. In addition to microfilm scanning which is used to create digital files from documents stored on microfilm, a good network and system is needed to transfer and process a large number of digital images. This is especially true if additional data processing and indexing is required after the microfilm scanning is complete. These and other obstacles has hindered many companies from advancing into the digital world and continue to operate using hard copy documents or microfilm.

Recently I interviewed a representative from a South America publishing company, who was looking into the possibility of using a microfilm scanning process to convert their large archive of newspaper document stored on 35mm microfilm. In addition, other publishing companies across South America had similar opportunities. The chances to apply microfilm scanning across many organizations and multiple countries with similar needs and similar information is very interesting. Microfilm scanning opens the door for creating a very large data bank that can be shared over the internet and provided to the general public.

Microfilm scanning has become more accessible to everyone thanks to the used of very fast microfilm scanning equipment and reliable delivery sources. A good microfilm scanning service provider can now provide these services at prices that are attainable to just about every organization. When looking for such microfilm scanning vendor, make sure that they can accomplish all your needs at the right price. The best way to do this is to request samples of the deliverable and a written statement with the price commitment. Some microfilm scanning vendors used inferior scanning equipment that can compromise quality. By requesting samples, you will see what your final project will look like upfront and can prevent future issues.

A Microfiche Machine Instead of Microfiche Viewer

GenerationImaging — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 18:33:17 +0000

The difference between a microfiche viewer and a microfiche machine that scans microfiche cards is in the resulting file. A microfiche viewer lets you view an image by projecting the information on a screen. If you want to view a second image, you move the microfiche to a different position. This type of microfiche machine is totally manual and can not store any information for later use. A microfiche machine that scans has many advantages. These microfiche machines are called microfiche scanners. This microfiche machine is designed to create a digital file of the images. When a microfiche machine creates a pdf or jpeg image, you can store the resulting image on a computer for viewing and for later use.

A Microfiche machine is very expensive and I don’t recommend you go buy a microfiche scanner for scanning a few microfiche cards. Instead, you can contact a company that has a microfiche machine for scanning microfiche cards, and have them convert your microfiche. Companies that have a microfiche machine can make whatever type file you like from your microfiche. Since they already have a microfiche machine, they can charge you a very low microfiche scanning cost to convert your microfiche. This is the most economical method to convert your microfiche cards.

It is recommended that you find the right company with a microfiche machine but also with reputation and integrity. The microfiche machine should be high quality and the operators need to be experts. You can read more about this services in related article or you can give us a call. Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

Reselling Microfiche Scanning Services

GenerationImaging — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:24:01 +0000

Reselling microfiche scanning services is an excellent way for your company, organization, or you to have access to a stream of revenue without investing in equipment, labor, office space, training, or liabilities. For example, let us say you work for a litigation company and one of your clients- in addition to needing documents converted to PDF- also has a collection of microfiche containing payroll records. Let us also assume that the set of fiche contains 1,000 cards.

It doesn’t make sense to perform the microfiche scanning on your own for the following reasons:

Cost. Why buy a new microfiche scanner for $65,000 to digitize something worth around $4,000?
Inferior scanners. There are scanners that are cheap (like $10,000) but what type of quality would you expect from low level camera technology?
Labor, training, workflow. Do you really want to incur money up front costs to expand your company just to handle 1000 COM fiche?

Anyway, after you spend some time investigating all of these options and have meetings about the feasibility of your company doing the microfiche scanning, you will realize that it is more efficient to outsource the microfiche scanning.

Since Generation Imaging is a wholesale service bureau you will get a below market conversion price, which will give you room to add on to the price to your end client, i.e. reselling the microfiche scanning service. After all you are the one responsible for taking care of your end client, you are taking the risk, and you will be the one servicing the end client.

Generation Imaging can be your silent partner for reselling microfiche scanning services, or if you totally don’t want to get involved you could simply have us go direct and we’ll give you a commission- it’s your choice. Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

Digitize Negatives Could Help The National Archives

GenerationImaging — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 17:35:13 +0000

The National Archives hold information military service, family information, a personal history questionnaire, affidavits of comrades-in-arms, relatives, neighbors and medical, just to name some. Many of these files are in some form of negative microfilm. To digitize negatives and create digital files from this information will require a microfilm scanning conversion. Why would you want to digitize negatives? Well, by doing so, you can create an digital system that could hols all the information on computers. Organizations like these would like to digitize negatives but have not done so, in many cases, for monetary reasons.

Historians also like to digitize negatives because they spend a great deal of time researching records in libraries and going through books. When we digitize negatives, we create a file that is much more accessible than a hardcopy book. We Like helping historians and other people that like to look for old records, like people looking for ancestor’s information. After we digitize negatives from microfiche cards of microfilm rolls, their work becomes much easier and they appreciate it so much that they let you know about it.

After we digitize negatives, the digital files that are created can be viewed on one computer or multiple computers at the same time, depending on the network setup. Another benefit to digitize negatives is that digital images can be e-mail and shared through the internet just like any other digital picture. This really helps people that are interested in working on the same project but are not in the same location. If you an interest to digitize negatives for your own work, microfilm scanning can really help you. Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

Microfiche To Digital Plus OCR

GenerationImaging — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:20:13 +0000

Recent trends in the Microfiche to Digital imaging has included an additional process called OCR. This process adds significant value to a microfiche to digital conversion because of the increased functionality of the final product. OCR refers to the Optical Character Recognition and involves the process of reading information from an image after the microfiche to digital conversion has taken place. The software that is designed to perform the OCR then creates a text layer of the information it gathers from the image.

After the microfilm to digital and the OCR process has completed, you should be able to work with the file just as if the image had been created using a text editor. This means that the microfiche to digital process creates a picture of the image and the OCR creates a text version of the same image. The benefits from this conversion are immense. For example, if you where interested in finding information about a person listed in the document, you could do an automated search and a text editor would locate the name for you. This would not be possible without an efficient microfiche to digital conversion.

Consider the following, Last year, a historian approached us for a microfiche to digital conversion. He had been working with a local library gathering information from old newspaper that had been microfilmed years earlier. Without a microfilm to digital conversion, he was limited to viewing a frame at a time on a viewer and looking for information by reading off the screen. Needless to say, he was wasting lots of time. After performing a microfiche to digital and OCR process, he was able to work from his own computer and perform searches instantly. Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

Convert Microfiche

GenerationImaging — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 16:37:09 +0000

Although there are technically several ways to convert microfiche to PDF, TIFF, or JPEG, only one of them will deliver to you a high quality product, in a fast amount of time, at a low price. That method, of course, would be to send your microfiche to Generation Imaging in Davie, Florida via USPS, Fed-Ex, UPS, DHL, or via courier. But let us quickly go through the other methods to convert microfiche and see why they aren’t truly options:

Buy your own scanner. Sure you can get a ScanPro 2000 for a few thousand dollars. We have one of those- but we wouldn’t dare use them to convert microfiche for you. The reason why the ScanPro is inexpensive compared to the high production microfiche scanners is because the optics are poor for scanning microfiche; the high reduction ratio of microfiche (24x to 48x), lack of advanced quality filters, and rudimentary camera optics are all factors that are obstacles for creating a quality image. I didn’t even mention that you have to load one card at a time for the ScanPro. Although the ScanPro has its uses for other media, and it does come in handy for us for odd microform we may come across (it’s our business to receive all types of weird film) it’s not suitable for producing an acceptable quality to convert microfiche.
Buy high-end scanners. High production/high optics microfiche scanners (what Generation Imaging uses) can run you anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 each depending on make and model. In addition to maintenance costs, you must consider training, managing labor, workflow, and technical support.
Flat-bed scanner. PC scanners are unable to convert microfiche (the magnification is too low).
Reader printer. Reader printers cost around $3000 to $8000. The manual labor is very time consuming to convert microfiche to digital image (one frame at a time).
Used scanners, used reader printers, etc. Although used scanning equipment sounds good on paper because the prices are cut by thousands of dollars, they don’t come with any warranties. When you consider that reader printers are known to break down and parts are needed, and the same can be said of microfiche scanners.

Ultimately, it is more cost effective and safer to allow Generation Imaging to convert microfiche for your project. You can plug the numbers yourself and weight the risk factors. If you have a small volume project which requires you to convert microfiche, it’s a no-brainer to use Generation Imaging.

Convert Microfiche vs Convert Microfilm

GenerationImaging — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:26:00 +0000

A mistake that occurs from clients or organizations who are not familiar with micrographics is mixing up microfiche and microfilm. Every industry or niche has its own lexicon, and in the micrographics industry there are major differences between microfiche and microfilm. The purpose of this article is to describe the differences between microfilm and microfiche.

Microfilm- It’s rolled.

In the most simplest terms, microfilm is rolled and microfiche is flat. Microfilm is also called roll film, and microfilm reels, microfilm rolls. Sometimes the width of the film is used to describe the types, such as 16mm roll film or 35mm microfilm.

Microfilm is usually stored in plastic or metal spools. Some old microfilm is stored in metal pans. Yes, microfilm generally looks like small versions of movie reel film, except without the classic sprockets.

Microfilm cartridges look different that the standard reel spools- but only on the outside. The film is enclosed in a hard metal square casing to protect it. Kodak and 3M were innovators in producing microfilm cartridges.

There is no such thing as a 35mm roll film cartridge; there are only 16mm microfilm cartridges.

The actual microfilm frame placement and types vary, such as duplex film, positive, negative, duo, fixed, blipped, variable, etc, however that is a different topic and is unrelated to identifying microfilm vs microfiche.

Microfiche- It’s flat.

A jacketed microfiche

Microfiche are flat “cards”, usually 4.13 x 5.83 inches, containing a few frames on them. Whereas a microfilm may hold 500 (35mm) to 20,000 frames (duplex), a microfiche card may hold as many one one frame to a couple of hundred (COM fiche).

Jacketed microfiche are simply roll film cut up into strips and inserted into plastic sleeves. Some people get confused if they don’t see the jacket sleeves, but it could be that the microfiche was duplicated. If it was duplicated, the copy may still have faint lines highlighting the border of the jackets. Since jackets are created from microfilm strips, they can come in the 16mm microfiche or 35mm microfiche varieties. A 16mm jacket has more rows and columns, and thus can hold more frames that a 35mm jacket (1-6 frames).

COM microfiche is computer generated and contain very small frames (usually with a 42x or 48x reduction ratio).

Step-and-repeat microfiche were created with a step-and-repeat camera. Many times they contain manuals or books and can hold hundreds of frames. Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

Microfiche Scanning- How To Scan Microfiche

GenerationImaging — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 19:26:31 +0000

Microfiche scanning is the process of converting microfiche to digital images. Scanning microfiche and microfilm scanning are two of Generation Imaging’s main specialties- from quality to price, and to fun. As you could imagine, G.I. gets a lot of questions from callers and e-mails from potential clients that are new to the world of digital conversions. Also, many industries and organizations use different terminologies, so let me clear up some things up:

The difference between microfilm and microfiche is that fiche contain small images on flat sheets. Microfilm is roll film, usually spooled on a 16mm or 35mm or inside a Kodak or 3M cartridge. It gets kind of confusing for some people trying to identify media when they see cut strips of roll film inside clear plastic jackets. But the strong definition is that microfiche is contained on transparent flat sheets (around 4 inches x 6 inches, or 105 x 148 mm).

I used the word transparent for a reason; an image on an opaque sheet (like cardboard or index card) will only work if the material is has a cut-out rectangle. In that case, the “microfiche” is really an aperture card (an old PC card). The aperture card usually has a 35mm drawing, blueprint, or map in the cut-out. There are other scenarios where 16mm strips were cut and pasted in the rectangular cut-off. Either way, Generation Imaging can convert aperture cards to digital image.

There are a few different types of microfiche:

Jacketed microfiche (aka jacket fiche, jackets, jacket microfiche, microfiche jackets, jacketed microfilm sheets) generally contain around 5 rows of cut 16mm microfilm strips. However, 35mm jacketed microfiche have around up to 3 rows. Jacket fiche are perhaps the most varied type of microfiche: some only have a few frames on them, while others have around 60-90 images. Some jackets may contain unusual records, such as EKG, old school dot matrix computer printouts, or earthquake seismographs.

Jacket fiche can be duplicated, which ads to some people’s confusion when identifying microfiche. A diazo microfiche would not have physical sleeves anymore; instead you may see horizontal lines for each row.

COM microfiche have been around for a long time. COM = Computer Output Media. These microfiche are computer generated and usually line up perfectly, in addition to having rows/columns or 16 x 13 or 18 x 15. Occasionally, not all the frames are filled with data, so there are blank spaces instead of a packed microfiche. COM fiche usually contain accounting records.

Step-and-repeat microfiche were created with a special camera (also called 105mm film). They are more straight and even than jacket fiche. These microfiche have a varied image count, I’ve seen some have 100-300 images. They mostly contain manuals: airplanes, motorcycles, automobiles, jetski’s, scientific notebooks, etc.

Other rare types of microfiche include ultrafiche (350-500+ tiny images) and rewritable microfiche, sometimes called Microx or AB Dick microfiche.

Microfiche Scanning

Where Generation Imaging comes in is that G.I. Partners, LLC can convert microfiche to digital images, such as TIFF, PDF, or JPEG at a very low price. Microfiche scanning with NextScan scanners is a specialty of G.I. G.I. also has years of experience with microfiche scanning using Sunrise, Mekel, and Wicks & Wilson microfiche scanners, and has handled all types of microfiche scanning projects. Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

Converting Microfiche to Digital Image

GenerationImaging — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:45:18 +0000

Converting microfiche to digital image, such as PDF, TIFF, or JPEG is one of our specialties. If you have no experience with microfiche scanners, don’t have $70,000 to invest in one, or don’t have the time or money to print out one microfiche image at a time with a microfiche reader printer, then you should be pleased to know that Generation Imaging (G.I. Partners, LLC) can convert microfiche to digital image quickly and efficiently.

Microfiche is still used in many different scenarios, such as large insurance companies, genealogy records, military records, County records, engineering drawings and blueprints, sewer maps, and literally hundreds of different of industries. Many times a company or organization gets used to running a microfiche filing system and either doesn’t know about microfiche scanning or believes converting microfiche is cost prohibitive. Perhaps they inquire about buying a microfiche scanner and realize how much money, labor, and maintenance goes into microfiche scanning production. Perhaps they had purchased a cheaper alternative like a Scanpro, and realized how slow it takes. In almost all cases subcontracting microfiche digitizing to Generation Imaging is more cost-effective and quicker, not to mention microfiche conversion experts are running the project instead of newly trained laborers.

For hobbyists and researchers, sending Generation Imaging a batch of cards, or even one or two microfiche is an easy solution. With a low minimum fee for microfiche scanning, G.I. Partners takes pride in helping the so-called “civilians” in the scanning industry, as well as giving low microfiche scanning prices for high volume projects. Heck, in this new economy, the low microfiche scanning price is necessary. When you combine quality of work with the low scanning pricing, you can see why G.I. Partners is the number one choice to convert microfiche to digital image.

G.I. Partners is located in South Florida, but accepts projects from all over the world. Contact Dan or Damian for an industry-best quick response. Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

Need to Scan Microfiche (Just One or a Batch?)

GenerationImaging — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:08:41 +0000

Generation Imaging will scan a handful of microfiche for a low cost.

Do you have a genealogical microfiche, a motorcycle manual on step-and-repeat, or accounting COM fiche? Perhaps you have a historical microfiche sheet containing engineering drawings or want to digitize your military records? Whatever the case may be, Generation Imaging can help you view the microfiche images on your computer by converting them into digital images. You have found the place that can scan from one microfiche card up to any amount of microfiche cards. We can scan any quantity of microfiche that you may need scanned. Unlike some bigger corporations who charge $250 minimum fees or simply won’t even scan two fiche from a hobbyist or 20 microfiche from a small business, Generation Imaging is more than happy to assist you.

We recognize that many people will encounter the need to convert their few microfiche. Many companies find it annoying to service someone with only one card because scanning service bureaus do not like to stop production to scan a handful of microfiche cards. Most companies prefer not to bother with very small microfiche scanning jobs. Our most common request is to convert microfiche to PDF or microfiche to TIFF. After you contact Damian or Dan and get your flat rate quote, simply enclose your check to G.I. PARTNERS, LLC with the microfiche.

It makes no difference to Generation Imaging if you have a very small amount of microfiche to scan, as we give all jobs equally high awareness. To our customers, their job is essential. We also make sure that the small microfiche scanning job does not fall to the back of the priority list. Small microfiche scanning jobs are not as profitable as big scanning jobs but we make sure that this fact does not interfere with job priority.

Our priority is customer satisfaction. For this reason we will scan your one or two microfiche cards with great proficiency. Furthermore, we can also index the images we scan if you wish. Regardless of how many microfiche you have, we can provide high service.

A small microfiche conversion job of just a few microfiche cards may need to be processed in a very short amount of time. There are electronic means available to us that will allow delivery of small jobs quickly. This process is easy and can be very secure. Therefore, you don’t have to worry because we will take care of you job.

Give us a call or shoot us an e-mail the next time you need a handful of microfiche to scan. We will scan the microfiche and return your project promptly. Our goal will be your satisfaction. Although we a large capacity company that scans millions microfilm images, we also can take care of a very small microfiche job; this separates us from the rest of the scanning bureaus that throw big money around with Google AdWords. We will take care of your project so fast that you will be thankful you sent it to us. Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC