Since you’re looking for at a cost-effective price and happened to find yourself reading our article, we’d like to give some to help you make an informed decision. There isn’t a right or wrong answer when it comes to projects, but there are ways to execute the that are better than others.
Note: when we say “microfilm,” assume you can swap it out with and aperture cards. We’re just using “microfilm” for your reading ease and pleasure. Not sure what we’re talking about? Check out our page about the different .
Is There Such A Thing As A Low-Cost Microfilm Project?
What Does Low-Cost Mean?
“Low-cost” is a relative term. Low-cost what? If the only “cost” you’re thinking about is the check you pay once your project’s complete, beware! You may be penny wise but pound foolish. Or you may be perfectly content with a simple project. Keep reading and find out!
Quick clarification: when we say “cost,” we’re referring to your cost as the project owner and what you’ll pay to get your project done.
Low-Cost Expectations
Low-Cost Scanning Example
Starting with cheap and good, you’re willing to sacrifice speed for a lower cost and higher quality. How would this play out in the real world (if you worked with us on your project, for example)? We’d give you a scope of work and a price, and the timeline would be relative to the price; if you don’t mind us taking longer to get your project done, then we can usually accommodate your request. Just be ready to accept the fact that higher priority projects may jump in front of yours if our project capacity becomes limited.
If you’re more focused on , making sure all the on your film are framed as accurately as possible, and basically making sure that the digital from your film are captured, this is a good option for you. It may not be fast, but that’s okay with you.
With this combination, you want your microfilm done pronto, and you’re willing to give some leeway in the quality area. Of course, we don’t produce garbage when we take on a project, but there’s a difference between “this is a masterpiece” and “we did a good job, but it’s not perfect.” You want to know a real-life example of the difference?
You have student records on 500 rolls of 16mm microfilm and 5,000 sheets of and need to get them scanned and ready for import to your new system, which goes live in two months. Your dream would be to the at 400dpi (higher-quality ) and capture the index data of every student record (each student record is identified and the required fields keyed). Well, 400dpi scanning is slower than 300dpi and may not be essential if 300dpi can produce good-quality images, and it’s more expensive because it takes longer. So let’s take that away.
300dpi is the standard in the microfilm world; might not be worth trying to be too special here. And at the student record level? If you’re not willing to pay 3-4x what the scanning costs then we should take this off the requirements list. What you end up with is scanning 500 rolls and 5,000 fiche at 300dpi and at the microfilm roll and microfiche title level. It’s not perfect, but it’s low(er)-cost than your original plan and it can actually be done within your timeline. Everyone’s happy!
If you need your project done quickly and don’t mind scaling back on perfection, this is your combo.
What Does A Digital Microfilm Imaging Project Look Like?
Here’s an example scope of work for a low-priced microfilm scanning project:
- your film and at 300dpi into bi-tonal (black/white) and grayscale .
- Sometimes one is better than the other, so you get both.
- Create single-page PDF in roll-level folders.
- Each roll will be a digital folder, and the from that roll will be delivered as single-page PDFs (one PDF per image).
- PDF will be delivered as image-only files (no text search / ).
- Digital returned on an encrypted USB drive.
- will be delivered as-is; no de-speckling, de-skewing, rotating, etc. Individual will not be manipulated.
Pretty simple, right? Right, because you’re buying a Ford here, and you can have any color you want as long as it’s black. ALL projects are unique, so this may work for you, or you may need to tweak it. The main point is that it’s a good place to start if you’re cost-conscious.
Pricing
No, this isn’t a secret recipe that we can never divulge, but the reason we can’t give you a definitive answer on pricing is that we don’t know what your definitive project requires! As mentioned above, every project is unique and each variation can move the price around. With that in mind, some price ranges are below.
Microfilm scanning:
$20 – 40/roll for 100′ rolls, and up to double that for 215′ rolls.
scanning:
$0.75 – 1.25/sheet for 16mm and 35mm jacket fiche (5- and 2-channel jackets, respectively).
$3 – 5/sheet for COM fiche (the fiche with about 250-300 images on each sheet).
Aperture card scanning:
$0.25 – 0.75/card.
If you’re actually putting together a plan, get in touch with us and tell us what you’re trying to do and we’ll give you a quote that will make sense for your specifics. We can also give you pricing based on how many we , but our standard is to use rolls of microfilm, sheets of as the pricing units.
*For specific pricing information about microfilm, go here.
*For specific pricing information about microfiche, go here.
Low-cost scanning projects are a good idea because in many cases, you don’t need nothin’ fancy! If you’re not really in a bind to have some extensive database or make every single document searchable by fielded data, a simple microfilm roll-level or title-level scanning project could be up your alley.
It gets your records scanned and replicates the way you find data now, just in a digital which makes it more efficient as soon as it’s digital. If it’s not necessary, don’t overthink your project or get sold into a solution that you’ll never use.
See what I did there? I pulled a sneaky and did a little reversal so that you have a comparison. Don’t underestimate the hassle you may put yourself through if you go with the cheapest option and don’t have the professionals do the lion’s share of the work.
Yes, we know, microfilm scanning isn’t rocket surgery but it still can take a good amount of time and resources to produce quality scanned images, as well as organize the digitized records in a way that’s effective.
We recommend that you do yourself a favor and at least give us a call first. If you’re really into doing a project yourself, we can probably even give you some ideas to help.
What Are Other Options For Low-Cost Microfilm ?
- One option we often describe is checking out your local library. Most local libraries (city libraries, county libraries, community college libraries, university libraries) have microfilm scanning units, and if you call ahead and ask if you can use them you’ll be good to go. Ask a librarian for help and you can your microfilm when you have the time!
- It’s probably free or very cheap. The only downside is you have to do it yourself.
- There’re also other companies that provide
- If you’re in touch with us and we don’t seem to be the right fit, then we may even recommend a competitor who’s better suited for you.
Take Action!
Do these things:
First you’ll need to figure out how much microfilm you have. It can be a rough estimate, but at least a ballpark of how many rolls of film, how many sheets of , and how many aperture cards. Details on estimating are in our article linked here.
Then you can use our TIPs method (Triage, Inventory, Pack) to get your records ready for your project.
If you don’t have a budget, why are you worried about cost? You wouldn’t pop into a random car dealer and just start asking about all the different models without an idea of what you want or how much you want to spend.
Don’t just start calling scanning companies if you don’t know what you’re able to spend.
If you know you’re not going to start your project for a year, don’t treat it like an emergency.
However, planning ahead is always a good thing, and we’re happy to be there to work with you to sketch out the project.
We recommend reverse-engineering your project so that you can start at the end, know the time available to you, and create steps in your project working from end to beginning.
If you have an idea of what you want, that’s a great place to start and we can work with you to optimize your plan.
If you don’t have an idea of what you want, no problem. We’re experts at project, so we’re happy to discuss options and ways we’ve seen project work in the past, based on your material, how much you have, your timeline, your budget … (those 3 things that I just asked you to do, remember?)
Next Steps
Interested in chatting about microfilm scanning? Give us a call at 800.359.3456 or send an email to info@bmiimaging.com and we’ll connect you with one of our reps so that you can work out a project scope and pricing.
Further Reading
Want to know more about digital conversion projects? Below are some additional articles for you to read:
“Large-Scale Microfilm Scanning Projects” gives you some pointers about how to approach a “large” project. When you’re working with large-scale projects, pricing is usually reflected at a lower price, so it ties together with the article you just read.
“How To Choose The Right Microfilm Scanning Partner” provides you with our thoughts on researching, evaluating, and hiring a company to scan your records.
“The BMI Project Review Process” is our step-by-step approach to turn your scanning project into a reality.