Details

Published: Monday, 13 April 2015 14:00

A Brief History of Photographs

You've been putting it off for years and letting your photos gather dust in boxes but now you want to begin the process of going digital. So, is it the right thing to do?

The first photograph was taken in 1822 but it wasn't until the 20th century that our nation's fascination with photographic images really took off. By the 1930s almost one million images were taken every year but today that number has increased to a massive 380 billion photos per year! In total, more than 3.8 TRILLION photos have been taken by humanity. Just imagine how much space those photographs will be taking up in our homes and offices.

It's almost guaranteed that you have a box full of old photographs stored somewhere in your house, probably gathering dust, but you don't want to get rid of them because of the memories they hold.

Why scan photos?

Scanning photos brings a great deal of benefits from the obvious to the surprising so it's little wonder so many people have already digitised their photos.

• You can ensure your photos are safe from loss, theft and damage.
• You can share your photos with anyone in the world at the click of a button.
• You can save space by storing your photos virtually instead.
• You can find your photos quickly through a quick search of name, date or reference number.
• You can digitally enhance your images to improved their quality.
• You can create DVD movies and slideshows.
• You can have all photos available whenever and wherever you need them.

Why now?

Since the 2000's, digital photography has overtaken film photography in use with most people now using digital cameras or even the built in cameras in their phones to capture the snaps they want. This has left film photography and everything that comes with it on the scrap heap (or up in the attic).

The longer you leave it before digitising your photos, the longer you're leaving them open to the risks of loss, theft and damage. By the time you finally decide to digitise, your photos might have been damaged too much to be able to view them as they once were.

Also with the rise of social media, particularly those with an emphasis on posting photos like Instagram and Pinterest, now seems to be the optimum time to get your photos digitised and share your old memories with friends, family and online communities.

Photo Scanning Services

Scanning photos doesn't have to be a painstaking process either because if you have a significant amount of photos you want digitised, you can outsource the project to professional services. Here at Pearl Scan we offer a bespoke photo scanning service for companies, organisations and individuals across the UK.

We can scan photos (as well as negatives and slides) to TIFF, PDF or Jpeg using high quality super fast scanners. We hold ISO accreditations for quality and security so your photos will always be in safe hands.

If you would like some more information about our photo scanning services please browse our website and blogs or complete the online form for a free quote for your project.

Details

Published: Thursday, 09 April 2015 14:00

By refusing to go digital and keeping your files stored on microfiche, you are shunning an efficient, up to date, cost effective and even more space saving solution to managing your documents.

Storing Microfiche

Microfiche are small card-like materials containing pages of information that have been significantly reduced in size and printed onto the transparent film section of the card. They have been used for alternative document storage for almost one hundred years. So let's take a look at the pros and cons of storing documents like this.

Pros

• Space Saving- In their time, microfiche offered the best space saving solution there was. Each microfiche would be stored in an open top envelope and then stored in boxes and cupboards in libraries, museums and businesses.
• Long Lifespan- Microfiche have an estimated lifespan of around 75-100 years depending on how they are stored.
• Protects Original Documents- Storing files on microfiche protects the original documents from fingerprints and manual handling damage.

Cons

• Equipment Needed- Microfiche can only be viewed using a microfiche reader which is bulky and can be expensive.
• Susceptible to Loss, Theft and Damage- Microfiche themselves can be lost, stolen or damaged just like their paper counterparts.
• Not Flexible- Because of the need for a microfiche reader to view the files, microfiche are not very flexible at all and they can't really be shared.

The Digital World

Since the invention of the computer, its development and the rise of 'smart' devices, lots of processes which were once manual have gone digital. This includes document storage with a lot of businesses storing files in shared computer networks, on multiple devices or even in the cloud. In the interest of fairness, this method also brings pros and cons so let's have a look at what they are.

Pros

• Sharing- There are lots of ways your documents can be shared digitally such as over email, shared networks or cloud platforms.
• Space Saving- Digital files are even more space saving than microfiche because they take up no actual space, only virtual, allowing you to free up valuable office space.
• Time Saving/Efficient-Digital files offer quick access, editing and sharing with quick file retrieval of fully indexed documents too.

Cons

• Managing- To fully benefit from digitised documents, you must have a system in place to enable you to manage the files efficiently.
• Security- While digital document storage is still the safest way to store documents, you have to take security seriously and implement the necessary steps to ensure data protection.
• Poor Scan Quality- Your files may have become so damaged before you decided to have them scanned that the quality of the digital image is not what you want so you have to make that decision before it's too late.

Scan Microfiche With Pearl Scan

If you have been convinced to go digital with files previously stored on microfiche then we can help. Here at Pearl Scan we offer an excellent, fully bespoke microfiche scanning service with the infrastructure to handle small to large scanning projects.

Following the scanning, you will be given fully indexed, high quality digital documents in the format you have required and they can even be OCR processed if you wish. For those companies who don't already have software in place to help them manage digital documents, we also provide our image management software, Halogen free of charge.

For more information about how we scan microfiche or for your free, no obligation quote, get in touch and speak to a member of our friendly and experienced team.