Photographing Microfiche

Hasher

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Hi Guys.

Wasn't sure which forum to to post this, so Admins feel free to move. I have many microfiche I would like to photograph so I could put on my computer and share .
For those who don't know a Microfiche is a Film card with many reduced images of pages , They used them in the past to distribute anything from manuals to genology and research papers. Normal you used a viewer which is a type of projector to access the data.

A microfiche is a sheet of flat film, 105 × 148 mm in size, the same size as the international standard for paper size ISO A6. It carries a matrix of microimages



I am looking at ways to photograph these. A flatbed scanner will not work.

One idea was to use a original viewer and photograph the screen. Something like what can be seen below in the video. I contacted the guy who made this rig and he said "fiche quality was impacted by distortions and contrast of the fiche reader screen, where the fotos where taken from"
Could I replace the original plastic with frosted glass or something ? Looking for ideas what to project it onto. From that point it would be like photographing a glass plate.

If you use a macro lens focusing seem the issue , It becomes a very time consuming task

Hoping someone has ideas on how this could be done

 
Hi Guys.

Wasn't sure which forum to to post this, so Admins feel free to move. I have many microfiche I would like to photograph so I could put on my computer and share .
For those who don't know a Microfiche is a Film card with many reduced images of pages , They used them in the past to distribute anything from manuals to genology and research papers. Normal you used a viewer which is a type of projector to access the data.

A microfiche is a sheet of flat film, 105 × 148 mm in size, the same size as the international standard for paper size ISO A6. It carries a matrix of microimages



I am looking at ways to photograph these. A flatbed scanner will not work.

One idea was to use a original viewer and photograph the screen. Something like what can be seen below in the video. I contacted the guy who made this rig and he said "fiche quality was impacted by distortions and contrast of the fiche reader screen, where the fotos where taken from"
Could I replace the original plastic with frosted glass or something ? Looking for ideas what to project it onto. From that point it would be like photographing a glass plate.

If you use a macro lens focusing seem the issue , It becomes a very time consuming task

Hoping someone has ideas on how this could be done


Copy them the same as you would any other size slide or negative.
 
Hi Guys.

Wasn't sure which forum to to post this, so Admins feel free to move. I have many microfiche I would like to photograph so I could put on my computer and share .
For those who don't know a Microfiche is a Film card with many reduced images of pages , They used them in the past to distribute anything from manuals to genology and research papers. Normal you used a viewer which is a type of projector to access the data.

A microfiche is a sheet of flat film, 105 × 148 mm in size, the same size as the international standard for paper size ISO A6. It carries a matrix of microimages



I am looking at ways to photograph these. A flatbed scanner will not work.

One idea was to use a original viewer and photograph the screen. Something like what can be seen below in the video. I contacted the guy who made this rig and he said "fiche quality was impacted by distortions and contrast of the fiche reader screen, where the fotos where taken from"
Could I replace the original plastic with frosted glass or something ? Looking for ideas what to project it onto. From that point it would be like photographing a glass plate.

If you use a macro lens focusing seem the issue , It becomes a very time consuming task

Hoping someone has ideas on how this could be done


Beats me why you think focusing at 1:1 is a PITA, so Im suggestng using a Macro lens. At 1:1 youll get one frame filling the format with m4/3. With the FF format youll get four up and with APSC youll get pairs. EZPZ.

Delending on the type of content in the fiche frames, you could shoot the entire 4x6" sheet at 1:4 on FF format at base ISO, especially if you you have 40 to 50MP and no low pass filter (Nikon Z7 etc etc). Each fiche frame would be about one MP, so again this depend on the content, the level of detail youd require for reading the result.

If the above is unpalettable, I refer you to webestang64s advice of a service bureau.
 
Last edited:
Beats me why you think focusing at 1:1 is a PITA, so Im suggestng using a Macro lens. At 1:1 youll get one frame filling the format with m4/3. With the FF format youll get four up and with APSC youll get pairs. EZPZ.

Delending on the type of content in the fiche frames, you could shoot the entire 4x6" sheet at 1:4 on FF format at base ISO, especially if you you have 40 to 50MP and no low pass filter (Nikon Z7 etc etc). Each fiche frame would be about one MP, so again this depend on the content, the level of detail youd require for reading the result.

If the above is unpalettable, I refer you to webestang64s advice of a service bureau.
Why bother? 6 month-old drive-by post...
 

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