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

Tag: microfilm conversion

Who Needs Microfilm Scanning? (Digitizing Roll Film)

Is Microfilm Still Used Today? What Is Microfilm Scanning?

roll film

It may surprise you that in the 21st century, organizations still use microfilm (also called roll film). There are a couple of reasons why microfilm is still relevant in this modern age of digitization.

Government Mandates

Many state, county, or federal government agencies demand that documents be archived on microfilm reels. It is easy to see why this is true. We have heard too many nightmare scenarios about digitized images and documents being lost due to accident. Indeed, it is a given that analogue media is “solid” and gives the impression that it could be accessed in the future easier than having the appropriate computer hardware and software to view specific file formats.

However, proponents of this philosophy ignore the inconvenient truths that microfilm actually degrades. If not stored in particular proper conditions, all microfilm could become brittle, start “melting”, smell like vinegar, fade, or become impossible to spool. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to scan your microfilm before it becomes unusable (and non-compliant with law).

It’s Always Been Done That Way

It’s possible an organization has been archiving or using their documents a certain way, dating back to the 1970s or beyond. Because things have always been done like this- and perhaps the fear of microfilm scanning costs- there could be a fear of change.

The counter argument to that is simple: having a company like Generation Imaging scanning roll film to tiff, pdf, or jpeg will save your organization time, space, and probably costs. Microfilm can become costly to store and difficult to manage and sort through. Digitizing your roll film makes your office more efficient. Indexed documents can be searched for and accessed in seconds instead of searching through hundreds of feet of roll film.

Please contact Generation Imaging today if you have:

Building Department microfilm
Police Department microfilm
Zoning and Planning microfilm
Environmental Protection microfilm
Public Works microfilm
Legal Department microfilm
Department of Health microfilm
Vital Records microfilm
Highway Department
Fire Department microfilm
Town Clerk microfilm
Student records microfilm
Social Services microfilm

and more…

Continue Reading

Microfilm Saves History

microfilm scanning

History is defined as “the study of past events, particularly in human affairs” or “a continuous, typically chronological, record of important or public events or of a particular trend or institution”. Even the definition of “oral history”, which is defined as “the collection and study of historical information using sound recordings of interviews with people having personal knowledge of past events” points to storing the information on media.

Without a way of writing, typing, or recording writing, video, audio, and art, the last thing we have is passing stories down from generation to generation, but if you’ve ever played the telephone game you know that messages get messed up. Of course, no one would want to pass down detailed financial information, detailed law, scientific data, etc. anyway, so the bottom line is that human history only exists due to saving and maintaining The Record.

The United States of America is notorious for keeping vital records and having a paper trail for everything when it comes to you and the government. If you come from the Philippines, for example, you know how hard it is to get your birth certificate. Heck, you may not even have a lease to furnish for your house.

Therefore, without The Record, history is erased- its people, events, and facts. Without the archive, there is no history and there is a sense of nihilism. In 1870 American newspaper mills switched to wood pulp, which decay rapidly. In the 1920s, the Kodak proposed that microfilm was the solution, which allowed an entire newspaper to be contained on a small roll of 35mm microfilm. Eventually libraries were transferred to microfiche and microfilm while the originals were destroyed.

Now thanks to microfilm scanning and microfiche conversion, the documents are digital and can be printed, e-mailed, saved in the cloud, local PCs, discs, and servers.

microfilm scanning

Continue Reading

Things Your Boss Expects You Know About Microfilm Scanning

So you are going about your normal workday when all of a sudden your boss has a new priority for you from left field- get pricing for microfilm scanning! You probably haven’t even heard about microfilm, your office never even uses it, but your boss has an opportunity or need to get microfilm converted- whatever that means! So you politely say “okay” and start your search online. Hopefully we can clear up some confusion with this article!

microfilm questions

Confirm and Get the Microfilm Specs

Your ultimate goal is to get a price for microfilm conversion, but the first thing you have to do is actually identify and get details about the microfilm. Now, I know this may be hard if your boss just dropped a request for a roll film quote on your desk without telling you. But you can show off your knowledge to your boss by turning the tables and asking about what type of film it is. The two main types of roll film are 16mm and 35mm roll film. These look like small versions of movie reels. 35mm reels usually have newspapers, drawings, blueprints, or maps on them, while the more common 16mm reels usually have all other types of documents, like medical records, payroll records, school records, criminal records, land and deed records, marriage certificates, lawsuits, etc. If you have any specifications, let us know: DPI resolution (200, 300, or something else), pdf or tiff, bi-tonal or greyscale, and how are the files named?

A common misnomer is to call microfilm “microfiche”. Microfiche is actually flat plastic cards which contain a few frames on them. A microfilm roll is a spool of film.

Once you get the microfilm type, you want to get an estimate of how many rolls are in the collection. The reason for all of this fact-finding is to help us give you a free microfilm scanning quote. The price varied by type and volume. Without this information, it is like contacting a car dealership and asking for a car price without saying which year, model, or spec you desire.

What is Microfilm Used For, Anyway?

As far as why microfilm is still relevant today, there are still hundreds of thousands- if not millions- of rolls that have not been converted still. Governments still produce them to store their records on them because paper takes up too much space. You would think they would just scan the paper to digital image, but it takes too long and is costly. So it is possible that your boss is helping am existing client who also has microfilm but does not know how to convert it to digital image. Your boss may be trying to respond to a bid which has microfilm scanning requirements and your office can perform all of the other tasks but not the microfilm portion. There are dozens of reasons why your boss came across the microfilm scanning opportunity.

Other Important Questions

Your boss probably wants to know if it is cheaper to buy a microfilm scanner and do it yourself vs outsourcing microfilm scanning. We can give you price ranges for both. Generally speaking, it is more inexpensive to subcontract microfilm conversions. Microfilm scanners are very expensive to buy or lease, and you have to figure in the cost to train and maintain. In many ways getting your own microfilm scanner is like setting up a new business. Regardless, we will give you numbers to work from so you can give them to your boss.

Your would probably be expected to know how much it costs to ship the microfilm back and forth. The best way to get an estimate for that is to fill a banker’s box with paper and weigh it, or look at previous UPS, Fed-Ex, or USPS shipments you’ve made and extrapolate.

Other questions include turnover time: how long does it take to finish a microfilm scanning project? What are the images delivered on: external hard drives, USB flash drives, DVDs, FTP transfer.

Continue Reading

Generation Imaging Is The Complete Microfilm Scanning Service Provider

A recent search for Microfilm Scanning Services suggests that many people are looking for some sort of microfilm to digital conversion but may be getting confused with the various naming conventions. It is easy to get lost in the lingo. The difference between microfilm to digital conversion and microfilm conversion to digital, as well as other expressions, all relate to the more general term of microfilm scanning services. However, a microfilm scanning service provider like Generation Imaging can provide many other services that all fall under the umbrella. Microfilm scanning services can also include many other microfilm conversion to digital such as 16mm microfilm to digital conversion, 35mm microfilm conversion to digital and many other microfilm types.Generation Imaging Is The Complete Microfilm Scanning Service Provider

An organization or individual searching for a microfilm scanning service does not need to be an expert in this matter, and should do the best in finding one. Finding a true microfilm scanning service provider helps eliminate some frustrations down the line. As an example, I have talked to customers that needed a microfilm to digital conversion. After further clarification, the customer actually needed a company that had various types of digital microfilm scanners. In this case, the customer identified the source as one type of microfilm when in fact, he had various types that required different microfilm to digital conversion methods. Generation Imaging is a true microfilm scanning service provider equipped with the proper digital microfilm scanners to support all of the customers need.

Microfilm scanning services in today’s age go much further than the traditional microfilm to digital conversion. There are many other things to consider before and after the microfilm conversion to a digital formats. In most instances, the end user is only interested in the end result. For example, John from the genealogical society, wants to transfer his microfilm records to digital so that he can provide all the records online to many interested users. He contacts a microfilm scanning service provider for the solution. Although he has a clear goal, the microfilm scanning service company should provide guidance to keep John out of trouble. A successful microfilm scanning service company should find out how John will be searching for the information and offer solutions like OCR (optical character recognition ), or some other type if indexing format. Also, the microfilm scanning service providers needs to be able to perform microfilm to digital conversion on all of the different types of microfilm that John has in storage so that his image library may be complete. To support this, the microfilm scanning service provider needs to be equipped with digital microfilm scanners for 16mm microfilm, 35mm microfilm, and many other microfilm types.

In addition to indexing and OCR, a microfilm scanning service company should be able to perform data processing to achieve the ultimate goal. After the microfilm to digital conversion is complete, and the data has been indexed according to specifications, the final product may required that the images get wrapped into multi-page pdf files, or some other file structure. The microfilm scanning service providers should be able to handle all of the necessary steps to achieve the best possible results that our current technology offers. Check the services at Generation Imaging for your microfilm conversion needs.

Continue Reading

Scanning Company With Low Microfilm Scanning Cost

How important is it really to scan your microfilm records? And How is this process ever going to pay for the microfilm conversion cost? These and many other question are asked by organizations all the time. Generation Imaging is a scanning company that has been scanning microfilm for years. The experts that make up the core of this scanning company have combined 30 years plus of experience helping organizations bring their microfilm scanning need to a successful completions.

More that just a scanning company, we see ourselves as advisers. When you contact our scanning company, you will meet a team ready to help you understand all you need to know about your microfilm scanning project. The importance of your scanning project is determined by your needs. Your consideration to data conservation, efficient data utilization and customer services are just some issues our scanning company looks at to determine the importance of your microfilm conversion needs. Scanning companies may not always get involved with this, but at Generation Imaging, our scanning company goes this extra step and it has proven very beneficial to our customers.

Typically, the savings associated with a  scanning project is subject to real utilization, and the value is shared with other benefits. The experts at our scanning company can look closely at some  of this factors and estimated the break even point. In Many cases your project begins to pay back soon after completion because our scanning company is very competitive with price. Our scanning company will offer you some of the lowest microfilm scanning cost ever.

Continue Reading