Digital images have found a home among technology-savvy genealogists. We use scanners and digital cameras to capture documents and photos to include in our genealogy programs or to share with others. But until now, there has been a gap in the technology coverage between microform products and computers. If you wanted to digitize something found on microfilm, you needed to make a paper print and then either scan the document or take a picture of it with your digital camera.

 I have been allowed to test a ScanPro for the past few weeks and have been very impressed with its capabilities and applicability to the genealogical market.

 The ScanPro is a completely different product and with the genealogy package that ScanPro is offering, it may be time to rob the piggy bank and invest in a good-quality microfilm/fiche reader/scanner (or convince your library to purchase one).

The Microfilm ScanPro is very similar in appearance to the small microfilm readers that many of us have purchased for home use. I have the unit sitting on my desk to the left of my monitor. Its dimensions are 16" wide by 20" deep by 22" high. You can connect your parallel printer to the back of the ScanPro and then connect the ScanPro to the parallel port on your computer. I had some trouble with this on my computer, but after working with the company to try to resolve the issue, we feel that this problem is probably unique to my computer. With the printer connected to the ScanPro, you should be able to print fine even with the ScanPro turned off.

The genealogy package being offered  includes the ScanPro, dual 12X and 24X lenses, manual microfilm roll attachment, software, and cable and retails for $2,495. This combination of equipment would usually sell for $3,050. This may sound like a lot of money, but you need to consider the equipment you'd be getting along with the breakthrough technology offered.

The machine I tested had all of the options mentioned above in the genealogy package. The software included is Paperport and installation is very straightforward. Within minutes of setting up the ScanPro I was looking at microfilm images I wanted to capture and add to my genealogical collection.

The inclusion of the two lenses with 12X and 24X magnifications is crucial to genealogists because many of the items we're interested in capturing from microfilm/fiche were filmed at 7X magnification. This means that if you want to capture the whole page of a book or census record, you'll need to use the 12X lens; but if you only want to capture a portion of a page, or if the item needs less magnification, you can use the 24X lens. This was the biggest shortfall of the Image Mouse system that I tested last year. I was unable to scan a full page and in fact could only get a small portion of the page that I was interested in. With the two lenses that come with the ScanPro, you should be able to successfully scan almost any document.

The roll film attachment connects easily to the fiche carrier. I loaded some microfilm, moved to the frame I was interested in, and selected "Twain" from the toolbar in Paperport. That opens up the scanner software for the ScanPro. This software works like most scanning software-you can preview the image, adjust the settings, and then scan the image. Once the image is scanned it is sent to Paperport for viewing. You double click on the image to make further refinements, such as contrast, brightness, or cropping. You can save the image anywhere on your hard drive or removable media.

The scanned image is as good as the microfilm/fiche you're scanning from. If you have a poor quality film, you'll get the same image on your scan. You may be able to assist the image with some touching up, but don't expect Paperport to do miracles with a bad image.

Overall, I was very pleased with ScanPro and will be purchasing the machine that I tested. I'm convinced that this type of scanner is essential for libraries with a large quantity of microform products, such as the Family History Library, the DAR Library, or the Allen County Public Library. Hopefully we'll be able to convince these libraries that they need to purchase the ScanPro. Then you'll just need to bring your floppies with you researching so you can copy the images and take them with you.

ScanPro representatives plan to be at the major genealogical conferences so stop by the booth and test drive the Microfilm ScanPro for yourself! I'm sure you'll be impressed.