31 Jan
2002
31 Jan
'02
2:11 a.m.
On Thu, 31 Jan 2002, Andreas Freiherr wrote:
Even if you were using a true 1200dpi device, you
would end up with
less than 30dpi after blowing up the image 1:42 back to it's original
size. Sure, that's not what we want.
Right. The optics of the original fiche photographing machine reduce stuff
way too small to scan directly.
But maybe there are devices or even companies
specialized on scanning
microfiche? - How would you load this information into an electronic
archive on MO disks, for example?
Some years ago, a friend of mine managed to get a couple of frames
printed off these fiches, but the results weren't too good: poor
contrast was the main problem. If you'd scan these prints, the results
would certainly be unreadable.
I've researched it, but I found no affordable solution other than buying a
fiche printer. These are not small units, but still are of a manageable
size. They average about 30-40" deep, 16-24" high, and 18-24" wide. The
better quality ones (not the cheap mimeograph type you'll see in some
public libraries) use a printing system similar much like that of a laser
printer or good xerox machine. The trick to getting good output from
anything optical is keeping it *clean* and getting the image focused
properly. The average used price on a good quality unit can range from
anywhere from $500-7000. I'm looking for a production quality one more in
the $1000-2000 range, but I can't afford it right now.
-Toth