Microfilm/microfiche…is it still relevant?

Microfilm / microfiche has been around for a number of years.  You can still find it in libraries around the country.  It was an admirable idea when it was first created.  But the times are changing.  New developments in technology allow for massive amounts of data to be stored in tiny receptacles you can fit in your pocket.

Microfilm got it’s start much longer ago than you may think.  The first use of microphotography to capture text was in 1839.  We have come a long way since then.

Today, many industries still use microfilm because of the headaches involved with converting it to another format.  You can find this media in universities, libraries, and all over corporate America.  Corporate companies are the most likely to need microfilm conversions.  This may be due to the need to access more information in a timely manner.  Who wants to have to break out the old film reader machine and dig through boxes or cabinets of films or fiche?

That is why we do what we do.  At TDG we can help turn those films or fiche into jpg, pdf, tiff, or any other picture format you need.   We use the newest equipment to quickly and accurately capture those images.  Each type of media is different and calls for different equipment to handle the conversions.  While there are multifunction scanners out there, any device with multiple uses is bound to be slower than that of an automatic scanner.

However, having a multifunction scanner (like we do at TDG) allows you to capture film negatives, slides, microfilm, microfiche, and any other media too small or thick to go through traditional scanners.  While most manual multifunction machines are definitely slower, they have advantages in other areas.