generation imaging

Discounted Microfilm Scanning, Microfiche Scanning, Aperture Card Scanning, and Imaging Services

Generation Imaging’s Microfilm Scanning Workflow

Microfilm Scanning Steps

Generation Imaging has years of experience handling microfilm scanning projects. Here is a brief outline of our microfilm scanning workflow process.

microfilm scanning

-Gather Information: We will confirm the client’s requirements (DPI, file format, naming structure, delivery media, shipping, price, etc.) Suggestion: A greyscale PDF would probably eliminate the need to worry about poor quality documents. If the film is good, a bi-tonal tiff will do fine.
-Location: Generation Imaging will perform the microfilm conversion at our Florida office. There will be no subcontracting.
-Receive the microfilm. Either ship or drop off the microfilm to our office.
-Scan and name the microfilm by roll number.
-Quality Control, where we verify the project was scanned correctly.
-Creating an index is an optional step if the client needs images to be named by fields.
-Perform a Final QC Check so verify that the images were indexed correctly.
-Upload the completed images to an external hard drive, USB, burn to DVDs, or transfer via filesharing.
-Return the media via shipping company or pickup.

Utilizing high production/high quality scanners, Generation Imaging will convert the microfiilm to digital images in sequence order and name them by the roll labels. Each roll be checked to guarantee all images are captured using Nextscan’s Auditor software. Basically, a ribbon is created which contains a snapshot of the entire microfilm in a image. The experienced operator will then verify the frames detected and separated properly- and if they did not- the operator will manually select them. This guarantees no missing or duplicated images.

Regarding optional indexing: Generation Imaging can index specific fields from the images, if required. We can go over the specific details during the initial test.
The roll film will remain in our custody at all times. At no time will the microfilm be unattended during transport. We have a secured storage location area within their facility where the film will be stored when not being processed. Our office has an alarm system, password to enter the office, and video surveillance.

Contact Generation Imaging for a free quote, you will not regret it.

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Your One-Stop Microfiche Scanning Services Solution

High Quality Microfiche Scanning Services

Generation Imaging is a microfiche scanning company located in South Florida. It has serviced hundreds of clients, including imaging resellers, financial institutions, schools, insurance companies, colleges, engineers, homeowners associations, government agencies, researchers, military veterans, libraries, and many others.

scanning microfiche

Does Your Microfiche Reader Need Repair?

As we march on into the 21st century, there are still remnants of an analog tech industry: you, your institution or your office may still be using microfiche on a daily basis, for an occasional request, or just as an archive. Part of the archaic method is to use a reader printer to read or print individual images.

That process can best be described as a band-aid and the general mentality is that it’s less expensive compared to digitizing the entire microfiche collection. However, a true cost benefit analysis must be considered before disregarding a microfiche conversion possibility.

Those microfiche readers were not built to last, and more and more users are reporting a lack of technical support, a need for spare parts, upgrades, or replacements. All of these searches may come up short in today’s economic times and advanced technological leaps.

What is Microfiche Scanning?

Microfiche scanning is the act of converting microfiche to digital images. Your entire fiche card or collection can be transferred to an output media such as CD, DVD, or external hard drive, or uploaded to a server, PCs, or internet. The benefits of converting an analogue media to digital media are numerous.

The resulting images can be in any image format; some common ones are TIFF, PDF, or JPEG. The frames of a microfiche may be outputted as individual files (called “single page”) or wrapped up into one file containing a fiche or name (called “multi-page”).

Microfiche Scanner Price vs Microfiche Scanning Price

Microfiche scanning is a specialized skill, and requires the correct equipment, experienced management, trained employees, a rigid set of procedures, the proper network configuration, parts and maintenance, insurance, office space, and many other factors. Microfiche scanning is a niche industry and although it is logical to presume that it would be cheaper to buy a microfiche scanner than to subcontract scanning services, that is actually not true in most cases.

A new high-quality, high-production microfiche scanner can run around $55,000 each depending on the make and model. Consider a mandatory maintenance plan and labor as well. A used microfiche scanner is slightly cheaper, of course, but understand that most are sold “as is” with no warranty or guarantees after a 30-day period (if that).

Generation Imaging offers very low microfiche scanning prices. Depending on how many microfiche cards in your collection it could a small flat rate fee for a small project or a tiny charge per image on large volume microfiche projects. Generation Imaging provides professional experience: microfiche scanning is both an art and science, and G.I. Partners has the high-end equipment, expert employees, and workflow procedure all ready right now.

The Benefits of Microfiche Scanning Conversion

Subcontracting the microfiche conversion to Generation Imaging is a relatively quick and painless process. Here are some benefits.

Microfiche to digital image saves space.
Microfiche scanning saves the time and labor of searching through file cabinets or using reader printers.
A microfiche conversion will save money for you in the long run.
Having a digital copy allows unlimited duplication, copying, emailing, uploading, and sharing.
With a microfiche’s images in your possession, you know have two copies: an analog and a digital; you can use the originals as an emergency backup if you wish.

The Different Types of Microfiche

The term microfiche can apply to various types of media. The basic characteristic that links microfiche is that they contain frames on a flat plastic sheet (as opposed to a spool of film, color slide, paper document, or cut-out cardboard aperture card). Here is a brief description of the different types of microfiche:

16mm jackets: These were originally contained on roll film strips and have been cut down and inserted into open jacket sleeves. May contain anywhere from 1 to 90 frames, although there are always exceptions to any rule regarding generalizing microfiche properties.

16mm duplicate jackets: These no longer contain the open sleeves; copies of jackets. May be black, blue, purple, or other colors depending on the duplication process.

35mm jackets: Usually very large frames (like blueprints or drawings), containing around 1-6 frames.

35mm duplicate jackets: A copy of a jacket with no open sleeves.

COM fiche: Computer generated microfiche, theoretically with perfectly aligned rows and columns. Usually packed with 208-270 images, unless some columns are not full.

Duplicated COM fiche: Same as COM fiche, but usually blue, purple, or another color. One issue that may arise is that the duplication method was wrong, so the COM fiche becomes skewed (crooked) or out of focus (rare).

Rewritable microfiche: Sometimes referred to as AB Dick or Microx, these are generally very light, and may look like duped jackets, but are evenly spaced, and contain “blank” frames.

Step and repeat microfiche: “Step-and-repeat” fiche were created with a special camera (also called 105mm film). They are more straight and even than jacket fiche, but have a varied image count, usually 60-300 images. They mostly contain manuals from Yahama, Suzuki, Ford, GM, Harley, Kawasaki, lab notebooks, books, etc.

Ultrafiche: These are like “super COM fiche” or “giant step-and-repeat” microfiche. There may be up to 500 very tiny frames on ultrafiche.

How To Start Your Microfiche Conversion

Please contact a representative from Generation Imaging today for a free, no-obligation microfiche scanning price quote.

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School Records Scanning (Microfiche and Paper)

Ocala County has inked a deal to hire a scanning company to convert school records to digital image. The district will spend $212,500 the first year to hire a company to scan in 997 boxes employee files and 1,251 boxes of current student files. These boxes have around 4.5 million documents. The district will pay $206,600 for computer hardware for online storage, $10,658 for pickup, delivery and shredding, and an annual system maintenance cost of $45,350. The district will also spend $135,674 to scan in 22,500 microfiche and 500 more boxes of student records in Year Two. This second year cost will be $185,024.

Without knowing the details of the school records and requirements, these prices seem like a large corporation won this bid. Such corporations have a large overhead, pay tens of thousands on insurance, and are well-connected. If you work for a school or school district and are looking for a microfiche or paper scanning price quote, feel free to contact Generation Imaging for a more realistic pricing structure, i.e. a much lower cost and simpler solutions.

Generation Imaging has converted numerous records from various schools around America, and references are available upon request. From microfiche to microfilm to documents, your school records- whether they be student, employee, building, or financial records- will be taken care of by Generation Imaging.

school microfiche

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Florida Microfilm Scanning Service

florida microfilm scanning

Generation Imaging, a Broward County microfilm scanning company located in Florida, can handle projects from all around the world. However, local federal, state, county, city, or town governments should be aware that we can handle their projects with ease. Individuals in the following areas should also know that Generation Imaging is their local microfilm scanning service bureau:

Broward County Microfilm Scanning
City of Sunrise
Coconut Creek
Cooper City
Coral Springs
Dania
Davie
Deerfield Beach
Fort Lauderdale
Hallandale
Hollywood
Inverrary
Lauderdale Lakes
Lauderdale-by-the-Sea
Lauderhill
Lighthouse Point
Margate
Miramar
North Lauderdale
North Ridge Annex
Oakland Park
Parkland
Pembroke Park
Pembroke Pines
Plantation
Pompano Beach
Port Everglades
South Florida
Sunrise
Tamarac
West Hollywood
Weston
Westside Branch
Wilton Manors
Dade County Microfilm Scannning
Aventura
Bal Harbour
Bay Harbor Islands
Brickell
Carl Fisher
Carol City
Coconut Grove
Coral Gables
Flamingo Lodge
Florida City
Goulds
Hialeah
Hialeah Gardens
Homestead
Kendall
Key Biscayne
Ludlam
Medley
Miami
Miami Beach
Miami Gardens
Miami Lakes
Miami Shores
Miami Springs
Normandy
North Bay Village
North Miami
North Miami Beach
Ojus
Olympia Heights
Opa Locka
Perrine
Pinecrest
Princeton
Quail Heights
Seybold
Snapper Creek
South Miami
Sunny Isles Beach
Sunset
Surfside
Sweetwater
Trail Annex
Uleta
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Florida Microfilm Scanning

Things have been extremely busy here at Generation Imaging these last two years- so busy that we haven’t been able to write many articles here. We are currently expanding due to the sheet volume of projects, and that is a good thing for potential clients because it means we have more scanners and more professionals to serve your microfilm scanning needs.

microfilm scanning

Generation Imaging has been Florida’s fastest growing microfilm scanning service bureau this decade. Our team is comprised of technicians who could handle the hardest type of microfilm. In fact we currently are converting many eclectic Florida microfilm scanning projects, such as:

16mm cartridges: These rolls are contained in a hard plastic. We utilize a special adapter to digitize this microfilm to digital images. Some companies are incapable of loading these rolls. These cartridges also contain 16mm reels with thick hard plastic, but we were able to actually convert this type whereas other companies would be forced to create out-of-focus images. A major reason why Generation Imaging is able to overcome such challenges is due to our expertise and enthusiasm to solve potential problems. Generation Imaging has a “never give up” attitude.

16mm/35mm combo microfiche: A potential nightmare for amateurs, Generation Imaging is currently converting combo microfiche. These infamous microfiche cards have both 35mm and 16mm strips on them. It may seem impossible, but we are able to convert them and keep the original order and group.

Aperture cards: Generation Imaging has doubled aperture card capacity this year due to demand. We are currently digitizing aperture cards with different sizes, odd Hollerith code structure, and variable quality. The quality has been outstanding.

In addition to those projects, Generation Imaging handles the “standard” projects with ease, and continues to service clients- new and old- who have “small jobs”, such as a batch of microfiche or a handful of rolls.

Although we are located in Broward County, Florida our in-house projects are from all over Florida, the United States, and other countries as well (we just finished some UK work).

We are sure you will be satisfied with our image quality and customer service and provide free microfilm scanning quotes. We know how hard it is to trust a microfilm scanning provider. We’ve heard the stories about companies working out of their basement and closing up after a few months, individual internet marketing gurus working on commission luring you in and then turning you over to someone else, and even established scanning companies not being able to meet deadlines because they aren’t organized. We assure you that if you give us a chance you will be satisfied. We are real microfilm scanning wholesalers with no subcontracting or sending film abroad.

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