I got my computer back yesterday. With the hard drive clean and unspoiled, unsullied by things like “data” and “programs,” I’ve been dumping a lot of stuff back onto it, including drivers and whatnot. This process includes a lot of tests to make sure things are back up and running… such as making sure the scanner works again. My scanner has an adapter for slides and negatives; for giggles I tried it with some microfilm and microfiche that I have. Results were… variable. For example, here’s an example of a scan from microfilm, a diagram of the WWII German BMW 109-028 turboprop. This was a project for a very large engine appropriate for large aircraft such as bombers. Apart from some scratches due to the film itself being scratched up, it’s not too bad.
On the other hand, scanning microfiche was not as successful. The fiche images are smaller than the film images, and I guess the scanner just doesn’t have the resolving power to really get this stuff. For being approximately 11X17, this portion of a foldout drawing of a North American Aviation Space Shuttle fyback booster is a bit blurry.
5 Responses to “Fiche vs Film”
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I’ve got lots of negatives thhat I need scanned. Is the scanner a stand alone or is it for your scanner? cost? How much would you charge per scan?
I think the images are very passable from an information standpoint. I’ve had to use crappy images fromNASA tech reports to do some of my models so what you have there is pretty good
It scans slides and regular film negatives just fine… it has an adapter specifically for the purpose. Film & fiche a bit outside of what it was specifically meant for, especially fiche… the images on fiche are *really* small.
One reason why I fired up the slide scanner was becase I’ve got a small job to do just that… scan in a bunch of slides. $0.70 per slide/scan. Also, $20/hour to fix the resulting images… dust, scratches, fading, that sort of thing.
I did some more film&fiche scanning today, working out the bugs. I’ve got it dialed in about as good as this setup can get. Will post a bit later.
Why did the NAA shuttle come out in white over reddish-brownish background? All the fiche I have seen had a clear background.
I’ve got a *lot* of fiche (fished out boxes of fiche from the trash a few years back… one perecnt or so of which was data-gold), and the colors are all over the place. Some positives, some are negatives; some black, some blue, a few like this, kinda brownish.
Looking at the fiche result, my first reaction is to wonder if the media was actually flush with the platen glass. It almost looks as if the edges are clearer than the center of the image, indicating that the fiche wasn’t completely flat. Even a fraction of a centimeter can make a difference.