US Imaging’s conversion and indexing of our Land Records from microfiche resulted in exceptional images. We had contracted another company in the past and the images from US Imaging’s process far exceeded our previous results. We are pleased with the overall quality and professionalism exhibited by US Imaging.
Digitizing your historical land records for current and future generations to access forever
SOLVING CHALLENGES ASSOCIATED WITH MICROFILM SCANNING
Disparate formatting issues and the inevitable aging process create complications for microfilm scanning that can affect your project's budget and timeline. Using state of the art equipment, our team of scanning experts quickly and efficiently transfers hard copies of your film to digital without losing important information or damaging your media.
16mm & 35mm Roll Film
Microfilm became the primary recording technology for counties in the 1960s for current and historical documents and books, until scanning the original documents as TIFF images became popular in the 1990s. Though microfilming was the most economical way to make a backup of books at the time, far superior images can be created by scanning the original books instead of microfilm copies of the books. Original Silver Rolls of 16mm or 35mm film were commonly duplicated, and the duplicate copies were utilized as the working copy, while the originals were typically stored off-site for backup and future duplication. Small counties would process film on a daily basis and splice rolls together to fill an entire roll. Because small desktop processors were utilized, each splice can contain different densities and scanning an entire roll at a single setting can result in entire splices being too dark or too light to read.
The Challenge
It can be difficult to determine which rolls are original vs. duplicates.
The Solution
We will inspect and sample multiple rolls to determine which will yield the best quality image.
Jackets/Fiche
Microfilm rolls were typically duplicated, and these duplicate rolls were difficult to access because motorized roll-film attachments on reader printers were expensive and difficult for the public to thread. The jacket solution was to cut the film into smaller strips and load those strips into microfilm jackets that could be viewed on less expensive fiche readers. 16mm microfilm jackets are most commonly 4″ x 6″ with five channels or rows of film with a title bar at the top, storing 60-70 images per jacket. 35mm microfilm jackets are typically 5″ x 8″ with three channels or rows of film with a title bar at the top, storing 27-30 images per jacket.
The Challenge
Typically jackets are heavily used, so they are scratched and dirty.
The Solution
Prior to digitizing your images, we can re-load the microfilm into brand new jackets to provide a clean, legible image.
Aperture Cards
Many counties utilized a 35mm camera to microfilm all document sizes – from letter to drawings – with a single camera. Letter- and legal-size pages were often filmed two or three at time within a single 35mm frame. In some cases, there are as many as eight images per frame. Aperture cards typically contain the Book-Page Number but in some cases, they contain Index data and Release of Lien data on the front and back of the cards. Therefore, the cards themselves must be scanned and appended to the images of documents stored in the microfilm frame of the card.
The Challenge
Cameras manufactured by 3M processed microfilm in the head of the camera that occasionally processed individual cards incorrectly. As a result, these images now suffer from large light and dark circles in the middle of the 35mm frame.
The Solution
Close inspection by film lab experts utilizing sophisticated image enhancement software quickly isolates discolored areas in your film for immediate correction.
Robert Dixon
Recorder (2002 - 2018, Retired)
Taney County
