Microfilming
Amidst all the
high-tech digital solutions to the document management question, microfilming
remains a trusted and widely used practice.
The popularity of microfilm as an archive media is largely down to
two major factors:
- Cost - microfilm is
considerably cheaper than document scanning
- Future-proof
technology - unlike scanning which requires media specific technology,
microfilm has a life in excess of 100 years and can be read simply by a
magnification device
Despite ongoing improvements to scanning technology, microfilming
will always provide better quality images.
Whereas scanned images are
generally produced at a resolution of 2-300 pixels (dots) per inch, microfilm
typically has the equivalent of over 6000.
Microfilmed images are also
true greyscale (being analogue) whilst digital scanned images are generally
bitonal (i.e. black and white) degrading the image further.
Whilst the
resulting scanned images are perfectly good representations of most documents,
others such as drawings are far better represented as
microfilm.
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Microfilm Formats
All microfilm starts life as either 16mm or 35mm roll film but in
order to be accessible by the end user, the raw film is usually converted to
one of a number of formats, depending on preference.
Jackets/Microfiche
Rows of microfilm are fed into a 6"x4" sleeve to create a jacket.
This may be copied to give a single microfiche.
Jackets or microfiche are
viewable using small and relatively cheap equipment.
Cartridges and C-Clips
The film (either raw or copied) is wound into these
robust cartridges for secure storage and viewing.
The viewer may either
allow manual scrolling through the roll of film or be electronically controlled
allowing the reader to jump to a given frame number.
Such a viewer
may also be linked to a computerised database allowing the correct image to be
requested and displayed.
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Microfilm Scanning
If you have archives of microfilm that require regular access, why
not have them digitally scanned providing the all the speed and accessibility
benefits of an electronic archive?
Please click here for further
details.
Equipment and
Consumables
AMS are able
to supply a comprehensive range of microfilm equipment and consumables.
Please click here for further
details.
Contact
Us...
If you want to know more
about document scanning or any of our other services, please choose one of the
following methods:
or
click here to register
your interest.
A member of our sales
team will contact you as soon as possible. |
