We have seen significant changes in film scanning the last couple of years. Consider the following:
- Record Managers in the corporate world now want their film scanned even faster and more accurately to minimize confusion and interruptions in document accessibility.
- The Library of Congress has set up a program called the National Digital Newspaper Project to have all the newspapers from 1836 to 1922 be available on line to preserve our heritage.
- Special Libraries and educational institutions at all levels are on the move to preserve important/historical documents.
- OCR is now in most cases expected to be part of the total conversion to make it easier for their employees, clients, patrons or customers to access data.
The question is how are we supposed to meet these expectations and do it economically? You may already have a number of older film scanners in your facility or have access to them but because they have older/slower technology, the labor costs alone make it very expensive for scanning and then Quality Control. In some cases, the scanning project becomes cost prohibitive.
Imagine if new scanners could offer you the following:
- Faster cameras that make it possible to scan up to 1,000 images per minute accurately while producing even higher quality images.
- Replace old technology lamp light systems with the latest in high tech LED Light Illuminating Systems that gives a more consistent light while running cooler and requiring less power.
- Advanced lenses that allows for better quality is small type such as small print in contracts, notary public seals and small print in newspapers.
- 12K cameras that give you 4,096 levels of gray scale versus 256 levels of gray scale on 8K cameras. Imagine how important this would be for capturing written data on genealogical documents, written signatures and dates on important business documents, photographs and the potential of higher OCR success!
Well I’m here to tell you that all of this is now available in the newest film scanners.
- Film scanning can be done quicker and more accurately without additional labor.
- QC time is reduced as these tools scan higher quality images.
- OCR time can be reduced because of higher accuracy.
The advances in film scanners make it possible to revisit those projects that once were cost prohibitive. Not only is it now economically feasible to scan this film but also offer even more spectacular results in image quality. The future is here!
