Microfiche, Microfilm and Aperture Card Digitization

Expert Microfilm Scanning Services for All Volume Collections

Get a Quote on Imaging Services

Crowley’s Digitization Services has proven to have one of the largest digitization capacities for microfilm, microfiche and aperture card scanning in the market. Scanning hundreds of millions of images each year, the firm has earned a positive reputation for its use of top-tier capture technology and scan operator expertise. This combination ensures that even the most troublesome microfiche and microfilm can be converted into high-quality finished images. Additionally, the Mekel Technology microfilm scanners used on the scanning floor have proven capable of achieving FADGI star ratings. Every job runs through a Crowley-built microfiche or microfilm scanner, matched to your specific film stock rather than generic factory settings.

Crowley’s microfilm scanning products and services have been utilized for archival projects, student records scanning, nuclear records management capture and more. Especially noteworthy is how Crowley’s microfilm digitization has helped preserve the legacy of George Washington and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Microform digitization capabilities include:

Aperture Card Scanning

• MIL, ISO, and DINSilver aperture cards
• Hollerith code capture with output to text
• 8-bit grayscale or bitonal images
• 100-400 dpi resolution
• Output to most data formats

Microfiche Scanning

• All standard/long jacket fiche types plus: COM; AB Dick; Ultra Fiche; Microx
• 16 mm or 35 mm (or combo)
• Positive or negative
• Diazo, Silver, Vesicular formats
• Duplicates
• Bitonal output to: TIFF (G3, G4) and PDF (all single/multi); PDF/A
• Grayscale output to: uncompressed TIFF/JPEG (true 256 shades of gray); JPEG 2000; PDF (single/multi-page); PDF/A

Beyond scanning, Crowley also handles microfilm duplication for clients who need a preservation copy, a service copy, or both. Duplicate rolls come off Crowley’s own duplicators in the same film format as your originals, so distribution copies meet archival standards without an extra conversion step.
Click here for case studies and blog posts highlighting Crowley’s microfiche scanning services.

Microfilm Scanning

• 100’, 215’ and 1,000’ rolls; ANSI, M-types and open spools
• 16 mm and 35 mm
• Positive or negative
• Silver, Diazo and Vesicular formats
• Bi-tonal output to: TIFF (G3, G4) and PDF (all single/multi); PDF/A
• Grayscale output to: uncompressed TIFF/JPEG (true 256 shades of gray); JPEG 2000; PDF (single/multi-page); PDF/A

Learn how three billion pages of Social Security Administration records were captured with Crowley microfilm scanning.

Output/Additional Services

• Delivery via FTP external drives for customer post-processing
• Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for full-text searches
• Manual indexing

The Crowley Technology Advantage: Manufacturing

The Crowley Company opened its doors in 1980 as a distributor of micrographic equipment. Soon after, Crowley Imaging was created to provide microfilm, microfiche and aperture card scanning services. In October of 2003, The Crowley Company went one step further and acquired Mekel Technology, the first and still leading manufacturer of high-speed production microfilm and microfiche scanners. In 2011, Crowley became the owner and manufacturer of the competitive Wicks and Wilson microform scanners.  Today, Crowley’s Digitization Services division and its clients are the beneficiaries of these collaborations, which pair highly talented and experienced engineering and R&D staff with Crowley imaging and film scanning professionals. As end-users of products manufactured in-house, Crowley has the unique ability to tailor hardware or software technology to a client’s specific requirements and also affect the future of microfilm scanning and processing.

System Implementation and Image Hosting

The Crowley programming staff has proven experience in managing data conversions. This expertise allows for final output integration into the wide array of document management solutions on the market today or into a custom solution engineered for a specific business application. Whether the needs are internal, external or for web distribution, Crowley has the capabilities to provide the needed solution to integrate digitized images into a workflow.

Additionally, Crowley’s IMAGEhost platform is an easy-to-integrate software package that allows end-users to search, save, copy and print images directly from a hosted digitized microfilm roll or microfiche jacket from any desktop or mobile device.

Hybrid Approach: We Scan; You Process

Crowley’s exclusive hybrid approach to microform scanning allows clients to outsource the digitization to Crowley’s Digitization Services division and process the images in-house with QuantumProcess software.

Choose Crowley for microfiche scanning services, microfilm scanning services and more.

Click here to read more about reasons to outsource and find out how Crowley can help.


Frequently Asked Questions

How fast is microfilm scanning turnaround?

Turnaround depends on volume and film condition, but Crowley’s production floor handles hundreds of millions of images a year, so even large microfilm scanning projects move faster than in-house scanning ever could.

Does Crowley offer microfilm duplication as a standalone service?

Yes. Clients send in original reels and get back duplicate rolls in the same film format, whether the goal is a preservation master, a service copy for daily use, or both.

What’s the difference between microfiche scanning and microfilm scanning?

Microfiche scanning works with flat, sometimes jacketed, film, usually 4×6 inch cards holding dozens of pages. Microfilm scanning handles continuous reels, sometimes a thousand feet long. Crowley runs both formats through purpose-built equipment, including in-house microfiche scanners and microfilm scanners, so neither format gets treated as an afterthought.