Tag Archives: microfiche scanning company

Microfiche Scanning: Which Scanning Company is Good?

Microfiche Scanning Services

We scan microfiche into digital images and convert all different types: 16mm and 35mm jacketed microfiche- both original and duplicates, step and repeat microfiche, rewritable microfiche, and COM. Our microfiche conversion company delivers fast turnaround times at a low cost.
microfiche scanning company

Microfiche Scanning Equipment

We use NextScan microfiche scanners to digitize microfiche. These microfiche machines are high-production, high-quality scanners. These are not inexpensive microfiche scanners. Because they are much faster than a microfiche scanner you may see at a library or clerk’s office, we can offer low costs at the image or microfiche card level, when compared to you actually going out and buying a microfiche scanner.

Microfiche Experience 

With decades years of experience dating back to the 1980s, we have seen all the different types of issues and solutions relating to microfiche digital conversions. We have created a quality insurance production workflow specially for microfiche scanning. Our production, management, and customer service team have years of experience focused solely in the microfiche scanning industry.

Microfiche Indexing Services

Once the microfiche imaging is complete, we have optional microfiche services for you to consider, depending on your needs (not our needs). We can index the scanned images by keying the title bars or matching to an existing database. We can also OCR the images to generate text searchable PDF files.

Microfiche Scanning Cost Variations

In today’s global digital marketplace, anyone could set up a website or advertise microfiche scanning services without even having the microfiche scanners to back up their promises. Others do have the microfiche machines, but treat is as a part-time job or hobby, working out of their home or storage unit, and may have inferior quality scanners.

You ought to be suspicious if a microfiche scanning price is too high. This may indicate that the project is being subcontracted to another vendor or someone is making a commission. Conversely, you ought to be suspicious of a price that is too low. This may indicate that the person is a hobbyist or sending it to India for scanning.

CONTACT US

What is a Microfiche Scanning Company?

Not All Microfiche Scanning Companies are the Same

Is hard to believe that so many companies or governments still use microfiche cards for archiving. In our microfiche scanning company we transfer thousands of microfiche to digital formats all the time. It is good to know that a microfiche scanning company can transfer your microfiche to pdf, jpeg, or tiff images, and this is not very expensive if you find the right scanning company. We have helped hundred of companies and individuals that decided to transfer their archived data.

Scanning Company That Services All Your Imaging Needs

The microfiche scanning company you select to scan your microfiche cards will help you choose from the many options available for you digital scanning system. We help out customers from the very early stages of their microfiche conversion project. We believe that planning is extremely valuable for the scanning company and for the customer. Therefore, we take the time to test and inform customers at the very early stages. For example, our scanning company provides free test scanning for every project. This process gives a customer good feedback and assures that the communication good between the customer and the scanning company.

Experience and reliability are also good qualification of an efficient microfiche scanning company. You want to feel the work is guaranteed. Make sure that you can speak to your microfiche scanning company representative and the project manager. When you have a question or concern, getting quick response from your microfiche scanning company is essential.

Most micrographics companies sell hardware, software, or perform paper document scanning or microfilm services, or even sell microfiche scanners. It is rare to find a company which focuses on microfiche conversion specifically. CONTACT US

How to Digitize Microfiche to PDF

Contact a Microfiche Scanning Company Now

Microfiche cards can be very time consuming to work with. That is one reason we recommend microfiche scanning. Microfiche conversion, in general, will convert your microfiche cards into a digital storage and retrieval system. Converting microfiche can create PDF or Jpeg files. These types of digital files are commonly used in the industry and can be of great value to end users. The time that is required to operate a microfiche archival system is considerable in the present time. Before microfiche scanning, options were limited and microfiche standards were varied. Today, scanning microfiche allows is much more reliable and efficient.

Microfiche To Digital WIth Record Scanning

Taking the time to investigate and become knowledgeable in this area is also easy. You can contact a microfiche scanning expert for all kinds of information, without any commitment. A good microfiche service company can also do testing for free. You should be able to get samples of your microfiche images for free. This a very important part of any microfiche conversion project and can answer many questions for you. You should see what the end product will look like and make sure that it will serve its purpose correctly, before you start the real microfiche digitization production run.

The fact is, with the technology available today, you should not have to use microfiche cards manually as your only available choice. Microfiche scanning has been the answer to thousands of organizations and individuals with microfiche cards. The efforts needed from your side is very small but the gains can be significant. Let the experts at Generation Imaging do the work for you. CONTACT US

Myths About Transferring Microfiche to Digital Image

Microfiche Myths

There are a few misconceptions about microfiche in general and microfiche conversion. Here are some good ones:

People don’t use microfiche anymore

Do people still use microfiche? Actually, yes, they do. Schools still use 16mm microfiche files which contain your dreaded permanent record. City or country land records and blueprints are stored on 35mm microfiche. Electronic payroll records are exported to COM microfiche. The U.S. government gives veterans their service records on microfiche. Automobile and vehicle manuals exist on microfiche and are used by mechanics and part order companies.There are many industries which still use microfiche.

Microfiche scanning is expensive

Converting microfiche to digital images is not expensive if Generation Imaging is performing your project. Pricing is based on volume and larger volume microfiche projects are very cheap per image.Even if you only have one card or a one batch, the cost to convert microfiche is much lower than you would expect if you send the work to a microfiche scanning company. Now, if you buy a microfiche reader printer or scanner, you need to invest thousands of dollars in the microfiche machine alone.

Microfiche is microfilm

roll film

Microfiche means “little card”. Microfiche are flat plastic sheets with small images. Microfilm are rolls of film, which look like small movie reels. Confusing microfilm and microfiche is common. The less frequent all-encompassing term is “microform”, which covers all micrographic media. To make matters even more confusing, something microfiche was actually microfilm- cut into strips and placed in microfiche jackets.

Microfiche is not produced anymore

Believe it or not, but a quick look at government bids reveals that microfiche generation still happens today. Many states have data retention laws which require microfiche as hard copies for legal reasons and for disaster plans. (For example, imagine if one day an EMP bomb destroys our digital computer systems or the cloud.)

Microfiche lasts forever

microfiche vinegar

Although microfiche was originally created to preserve history and civilization, depending on how they are created, they can deteriorate if not stored correctly. There are many industry standard preservation techniques. The basic assumption of microfiche preservation was that they had to be stored in a climate controlled room and kept away from the elements. Unfortunately, because so many people do not follow these strict standards, microfiche can fade, smell like vinegar, become brittle, or actually lose their images. CONTACT US

COM Microfiche Scanning

What is COM Microfiche Scanning?

One of the most popular types of microfiche is COM (computer output microfiche). In fact many veterans in the microfiche conversion industry have the picture of a COM microfiche in their mind when they use the word “microfiche”.

Back in the day, the micrographic industry was all about creating microfiche and microfilm. Salespeople would sell COM machines, which would out the computer data to the microfiche cards. Accessories included COM duplicator machines. COM microfiche scanning is the process of converting those cards to digital images.

Scanning COM fiche is necessary if you are working with account records contained on the fiche and you grow weary of using a microfiche reader printer or EyeCOM fiche viewer. With the images digitized and indexed, you could search for specific accounts easier.

How Many Images are on a COM microfiche?

Generally there are 208 images (16 columns x 13 rows) or 270 images (18 columns x 15 rows) on COM fiche, with some variance in-between. For example some columns may not be filled with images and some people do not count the index frames. There is a special type of COM fiche called ultrafiche, which could have hundreds more of images!

microfiche scanning

The Microfiche Scanner

Most microfiche scanners must be set up to create a grid to line-up over the microfiche card. Other scanners can create image ribbons which can be broken down into individual images. Still other scanners could take a snapshot of the entire microfiche card, however you need special software to view that type.

For most microfiche scanners, the digital format received would be single page images or multi-page images. These types are usually PDF, PDF/A, JPEG. JPEG 2000, bi-tonal Group IV TIF, uncompressed greyscale TIF, and LZW TIFF.

There are many microfiche scanners sold online. These can be bought second hand from a microfiche equipment dealer, directly from a manufacturer, or from a reseller who makes a commission from the manufacturer. In addition to buying the microfiche scanner, you may have to get a license or maintenance plan. You must know how to operate the microfiche machine, and be able to train others.

Or, you could outsource your microfiche to a microfiche scanning company who will give you a price per image (or price per card). If you are on the fence about if you should purchase a microfiche scanner or have a company scan the microfiche for you, feel free to contact us for a free estimate and guidance to help you come to a decision.

  CONTACT US