Happy 2012 From Generation Imaging

The staff at Generation Imaging in Davie, Florida wants to wish you a Happy New Year for 2012. Initial surveys are showing that more people are  hopeful this year than 2008-2011, so let’s hope that translates into happiness and more work for everyone. It’s been survival mode for the majority of people in the world.

Generation Imaging thankfully did well in 2011. It could be due to co-founder Dan Gandul constant praying. The upstart Florida microfilm scanning company has posted increased revenues and profits every year since it has started thanks to excellent pricing, no corporate waste, and quality work.

Generation Imaging would like to thank all of its clients for using its microfilm, microfiche, aperture card, color slides, and document scanning services, in addition to 16mm archive writing services. Generation Imaging realizes that the client is always right, that prices need to be low in this current economy, that deadlines need to be met, and that if you are a reseller confidentiality will be respected.Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

Types of Microfilm Scanning Services

Microfilm scanning services have many components and options. In addition to straight 16mm and 35mm roll film conversions, microfilm scanning services also include:

Quality control. Generation Imaging practices four phases of quality control: at the scanner operator level, a post-scanning audit, an intense quality control, and a final media check.

Indexing. The sky is the limit when it comes to naming images at Generation Imaging. Using proprietary software designed by Dan Gandul and Damian Hospital, and coded by a programmer who has over 10 years experience in the micrographics industry, your images can be outputted in any format. From breaking rolls by start pages or data entry by names, SSN, drawing numbers, dates, or account numbers, anything is possible. G.I.’s indexing program has multiple modules, including a QC program, which enables the modification of individual images.

OCR (Object Character Recognition). Using propriety OCR software, Generation Imaging can create OCR searchable PDFs, text files, or spreadsheets with the extracted data. Recommended settings: 300 DPI for typed text.

Image processing. From autocropping to duplex image splitting to quality enhancements to changing file formats, a microfilm scanning services company must offer all in one solutions.

Output. CD, DVD, USB stick, USB external drive, FTP, or filesharing are all possibilities.

If you require microfilm scanning services of any kind, please contact Generation Imaging for an estimate. Information needed: how many reels, their type, how many frames are on a reel on the average, file format, naming, and any optional processes. It’s okay if you don’t have detailed preferences:  Generation Imaging can help you decide which microfilm scanning services are best for you.Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

Your Microfilm Scanning Company Is Available Today

This is the best time of the year to scan your microfilm. Generation Imaging is the scanning company that provides microfilm scanning services at reduced prices. There are times during the year when we get super busy and our scanning resources are at capacity. If you have been planning to convert you microfilm to digital, our scanning company can make room for your scanning project before the year ends. Our scanning company works around the clock to meet all of our customers needs and we have completed many of our projects. This is an opportunity for you to schedule your microfilm conversion with our scanning company.

The production manager at our scanning company has about a dozen projects penciled in but no real commitment to start as of now. This can change at a moments time and as always, there is no way to tell what tomorrow will bring. My recommendation is to call and reserve your spot as soon as you can. Topically, our scanning company will get busy near the end of the year. This is due to budgetary reasons]  and customers wanting to use the funding that was allocated for the project within the fiscal year. Our scanning company anticipates this process to start soon.

Our scanning company will guarantee you a priority spot in the production line if you notify us. Our goal is to keep our commitments to you. Therefore, we will not over-commit.  First come works well for our scanning company and makes it fair to our customers also. We do understand that last minute needs are part of the system. Our scanning company has the capacity to adjust to some degree, to meet your last minute need, but is best to schedule with time.Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

Microfilm Conversion

A microfilm conversion is another term for microfilm scanning, roll film scanning, and microfilm digitizing. Using a roll film scanner, 16mm or 35mm roll film is transferred from analog to digital. The scanner must be set up to blow the small frame back up to its original document size. Therefore the scanner operator must know the reduction ratio (similar to aspect ratio). Some scanners have auto-detect reduction ratio parameters, but nothing beats the careful supervision and instincts of an experienced scanner operator.

The other factors that a scanner operator must consider with a roll film conversion are frame detection parameters, quality settings, and output naming conventions. Each element requires a combination of technical skill, experience, and creativity. If the detection settings are not properly configured, the microfilm conversion would result in missing images and cut-off images. If the quality settings are not carefully created, the resulting images may be blurry, out of focus, too dark, too light, plugged, or improperly sized. Finally, incorrect scanner output naming settings will ruin the final product by misnaming the files, putting them out of order, or not meeting the client’s specification.

Generation Imaging has the experience, latest technology, and talent to perform any microfilm conversion project that comes our way. No microfilm conversion is too big or too small for us to process. The employees at Generation Imaging have performed thousands of microfilm conversion jobs over the decades, and know the correct way to set up and monitor the scanners. Contact us today for your microfilm conversion quote.Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

How to Convert Computer Output Microfilm to Digital Image

Computer Output Microfilm (COM) is the most tricky type of 16mm roll film to convert to digital image. Computer Output Microfiche is not problematic, but its roll film version creates numerous issues for roll film scanners not manned by an experienced scanner operator.

The true professional and experienced scanner operator relishes in the challenge of scanning Computer Output Microfilm to digital images because it truly pushes his or her level of technical expertise.

Why is Computer Output Microfilm is different than tradition roll film? Regular roll film has frames containing documents with a clear separation/space in-between each frame. The edges are nice and contrasted from the background of the film. Scanners can be set up to detect on these edges and separate each frame to create individual images.

However, Computer Output Microfilm usually has very thin edges between frames and almost no space in-between them. This is due to how they were created: they were electronic data stored on a PC and were transferred to 16mm roll film.

Depending on the layout of the Computer Output Microfilm, the experienced scanner operator can attempt to detect frames by carefully choosing multiple sense areas, and modifying edge detection filters, but the operator is at the mercy of the nature of COM, and this usually results in missed detection.

Another aspect that is film dependent is if the COM has blips or not. If the COM has small markers on the outside of the frame, it may be possible to detect each image. However even this may not be an exact science due to the nature of COM.

The final method would be to scan strips of several images with a backup over-scan to guarantee that all frames are captured in these ribbons. Then these giant images must be manually split and cropped to create individual frames from the strips.

If you have Computer Output Microfilm to convert, please contact Generation Imaging today,Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

Florida Microfilm Scanning Services

Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

Scanning Microfilm Helps Genealogists

Scanning microfilm to digital image has helped numerous genealogists, families, researchers, and hobbyists bring the past to life. From personal diaries to church records to birth records to military records to small town newspapers, roll film conversion is the process used to breathe new life into archaic media like roll film.

Generation Imaging has provided this scanning microfilm service to many independent researchers and they have benefited from having the ability to:

- Print images from CD/DVD

- Copy discs to their home computer, other PCs, a network, and even make duplicate copies

- Upload images to the internet

- E-mail images

- Edit and enhance images

Preserving your family’s heritage as never been easier- but only if you can get a hold of the 16mm or 35mm reels so G.I. can commence scanning microfilm to digital image. Almost every library has a heritage room or microfilm/microfiche archive. It’s important to establish a good relationship with your local library and hopefully you could check out media for G.I. to digitize it. Otherwise you would have to implore The Friends of the Library to rely on donations to get your local library to necessary funding to begin scanning microfilm with Generation Imaging.

The cost of scanning microfilm is not expensive with G.I., since we understand the social importance of such a service. G.I. keeps its overhead low in this new economy so you can benefit from the savings.

Let us be realistic: it we are now in the second decade of the 2000s; there is no practical reason to still be using roll film for genealogy if you can digitize the images to PDF, TIFF, or JPEG by scanning microfilm.

 Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

Microfiche Scanning Process

We get a lot of questions about the microfiche scanning process because scanning microfiche is a niche industry to so many people. Here is an outline of the microfiche digitization process. The first steps have to do with identifying your microfiche scanning needs:

1. What type of microfiche do you have: jacket fiche (16mm or 35mm), COM microfiche, step-and-repeat, or rare types? How many microfiche sheets do you need to convert?
2. Do you have a file format preference (microfiche to PDF, microfiche to TIFF, microfiche to JPG) for this microfiche conversion? If not, Generation Imaging will recommend a file format that will fit your project needs.
3. Do you have any DPI resolution preferences (like 200, 300, or 400 DPI)?
4. Do you have an existing microfiche retrieval system? Would you like the microfiche to be indexed by information from the headers or from the frames themselves? Or are you just archiving the microfiche records, and the fiche could be named in sequential folders?
5. Get a  microfiche scanning quote with payment terms from Generation Imaging by calling or e-mail.
6. Pack the microfiche and send it or drop it by Generation Imaging’s production office in Davie, Florida. UPS, Fed-Ex, and USPS are fine.
7. G.I. will inventory the microfiche.
8. The microfiche scanning project will be set-up and G.I. will communicate any quality issues with you.
9. Using our NextScan microfiche scanners, we will output the microfiche to digital image. Naming could be done on the scanner or performed in our proprietary indexing software.
10. The microfiche images are validated for quality.
11. Depending on filesize and your needs, we can burn to CDs, DVDs, or copy to external hardrives or USBs. Smaller projects could be e-mailed or fileshared. FTP is also an option.
12. An invoice is e-mailed to you.
13. Microfiche will be packed and sent back to you.

Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

Scanning Bureau

Looking for a scanning bureau that handles microfilm conversion services, microfilming, microfilm duplication, 35mm or 16mm archive writing, micrographics equipment, data entry indexing, digital image OCR, and other roll film services?

Generation Imaging is a Florida scanning bureau that provides that can convert 16mm and 35mm roll film to PDF, TIFF, JPEG and other file formats. Generation imaging can scan different microfilm types, like continuous COM roll film, duplex roll film, duo microfilm, dual blipped microfilm, duplicated microfilm, and many other microfilm types.

Generation offers competitive scanning prices for RFP government bids, and also provides excellent microfilm scanning and microfilm services pricing.

As the experts in microfilm conversions and microfilming, Dan Gandul and Damian Hospital, the founders of Generation Imaging have experience from hundreds of the world’s largest and most notable organizations who subcontract microfilm scanning or need in-house digital conversions.  This microfilm scanning bureau is ready to assist you with your microfilm scanning price quote, and would be ready to begin conversion right away.

Using the best microfilm equipment and proprietary indexing , Quality Control, and image processing software, our digital imaging processes make us the ideal scanning bureau partner in the microfilm industry.Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC

The Truth About a Microfilm Scanner

What is a microfilm scanner and how do they work? Some ideas are similar between a digital picture camera and a microfilm scanner. Microfilm scanners also use a digital camera to produce an image from the roll film frame. A microfilm scanner also has a lens system to project an image to the camera. Light from a light source passes through the microfilmed image. The image that reaches the lens is transfered to the camera .

So from this point of view, a microfilm scanner is straightforward. Frames from a microfilm card are digitized with a microfilm scanner. Once the digital camera collects the image, it generates a digital image that can be viewed and stored in a computer. The microfilm scanner is a high speed camera that results in digital images from microfilm frames.

One of the primary steps in setting up a microfilm scanner is frame detection .Digital images of each frame are formed by the microfilm scanner as it locates the edges of frames on the microfilm. The light that passes through the microfilm and reaches the microfilm scanner camera, is transformed to produce a digital image. Scanning systems should allow operators to make alterations to maximize the quality of digital image produce. The best possible quality can be achieve by an experienced operator that has the skills needed to operate a good microfilm scanner.

If you are researching to buy a microfilm scanner (a used microfilm scanner or a new one from NextScan, Sunrise, Mekel, Wicks & Wilson, or Ristech), you can confirm with us for more significant information. If you are comparing the options between buying a microfilm scanner and outsourcing the project, Generation Imaging can assist you with critical information. Take advantage of our experience converting millions of images and ask us about it. Buying a microfilm scanner is a giant investment and you may want to get informed as much as possible before you make the final decision. The understanding that we have gained, having used some of the most advanced systems in the market to convert many microfilm projects, is information we can share with you to help you make the best decision.Copyright G.I. Partners, LLC