Warbird Information Exchange

Has anyone transfered orginal drawings by putting them in a microfilm reader then taking a digtital picture then taking it to the computer?Iam thinking of the dukane type reader as it projects the image, down on to a white viewing area.

You would get far better results using a drum scanner. There's a lot of opportunity for unwanted variation introduced with the digital photo part of the solution path - unless you were considering a major capture run, in which case you would be best to project onto a large vertical screen in a highly controlled light environment and shoot with a mounted DSLR.

Chris

Not sure what you have access to however I had some microfilm transferred directly to CD. A computer imaging company was able to do this work for me at around 50cents per image. If i may ask what drawings are you transferring They wouldn'g be for a Spitfire perchance?
HH Mulder
Y2-K Spitfire Restoration

Hi,
I have used a digital camera to photograph frames from the mirofilm viewers at the NA, It's great.
I got something I couldn't afford to get copied and the info I got in one trip was fantastic, I got the equivalent research of about four normal visits, still going through it months later, just had to play with the images in photshop to get it right for printing.
Un doubtably if you can afford it , copy properly, but if it just for personal use I'd use a digital, and tweek the images , I will be using a digital on microfilm again next visit, it makes my hobby affordable, the kids can still eat.......
Cheers
Jerry

Thanks brewerjerry, I think thats what I will do, I had checked around bu tthe images I want are scattered over 5 rolls, all the places I went to would only do a whole roll, I was think about taking the pic,s then bring them up on the computer , and draw them by hand for working drawings[after I copied those]they are also fairly dirty and hard to read. Thanks again

I've tried doing it on a microfiche reader... but it was not practical. Also, the images get a little skewed if you are not shooting directly orthogonal to the image screen. In the end I just got a flat bed negative scanner, you need about 4000 dpi to get the tiniest writing clearly. These scanners don't cost so much now... probably under US$500 for a simple one. Oh... one problem you might have is that the microfilm drawings often occupy more space on the roll of film than is allocated to a standard 35mm film, so that if you used a conventional dedicated 35mm negative scanner you might miss the information on the edges of the film, since the scan area is too narrow! Just some things to think about.

Best of luck!

Richard

Hello helinut,

I do this quite often with my Microfilm reader. I looked into having the frames duplicated on CD but there are about 12,000 frames on the set I use and it would get a little expensive not to mention that you would probably not really need about 11,000 of the frames! I then looked at 35MM reader/printers, and to get one that would be dependable would cost about as much as having them put on CD. I tried a 35MM scanner and ended up with an Image that was basically illegible when enlarged. I was at my desk pondering this dilemma and came up with the idea of using my Digital Camera as you have. I brought up a frame in my reader, snapped an image, took it over to my Computer, edited the image using the photo enhancing software that came with the camera, and viola, I had a drawing I could view on the monitor and zoom in and out where necessary, and easily printed to work off of. It's been working great for me! I have a Recordak viewer which is slightly different than a Dukane, but the Dukane may work as well or maybe better!

Glenn