Film-based Imaging

Gosford Micrographics and Scanning has earned a first class reputation for its high standards in producing 16mm microfilm, 35 mm microfilm,105mm microfilm or microfiche and aperture cards with over 35 years experience within the Australian marketplace.

16mm roll film

All documents up to A3 size are microfilmed on high-resolution planetary cameras, with a 16mm roll of microfilm containing up to 3000 frames. The advantage to our clients microfilming with planetary cameras is increased cost-effective conversion of film to digital images should this be required in the future.

35mm roll film

Engineering drawings, drainage plans, maps and architectural plans up to A0 size are microfilmed onto to 35mm roll film. For plans and drawings,  the 35mm roll film can then be either inserted into microfilm jackets or mounted onto microfilm aperture cards where each drawing can be individually indexed. The microfilm jackets (originals) can be duplicated onto diazo microfiche for every day use and distribution to other offices.

Newspapers, Council Rate and Valuation books, old Minutes, Hansard, Manuscripts, and many large bound documents are microfilmed onto 35mm roll film. The 35mm film (original) is then duplicated onto either vesicular (positive or negative) or silver halide film that is used for every day use and distributed to other offices.

35mm film has a superior reproduction quality when it is being converted to electronic images over both 16mm and 105mm for handwriting and photographs.

Aperture Cards

An aperture card is like on old punched card but with a 2″x2″ piece of 35mm film set on one side. Aperture cards are generally used for the storage of large format documents, for example plans, drawings and blueprints. The microfilm portion holds an A3 to 2AA0 size document. Normally the title and other identifying indexes are typed onto the card, usually across the top. This information is what is used for indexing.

The process of creating aperture cards is same as for 35mm roll film — preparation of the documents, filming onto 35mm roll film (dependent on the size of the document depends what camera and table is utilised), processing the film and checking the film. The indexing information is typed onto the card in the sequence the film was taken. The frame that matches the title on the card, is cut from the roll of film and inserted into the slot in the aperture card. The frame is quality checked to ensure it matches the card title.

105mm Film or Microfiche

Normal usage for 105mm film (step and repeat microfiche) is for technical manuals, operation handbooks, troubleshooting flow diagrams, loose council minutes, etc. The images are arranged permanently in a grid pattern. The 105mm film usually has a coloured header that contains identification information (title). Step and Repeat microfiche can hold up to 300 frames.

Jacket Microfiche

Microfiche Jackets are 4″x6″ plastic sleeves designed to hold either 16mm and/or 35mm film. This allows the grouping of related data in a single logical record. Council Minutes, HR files and Council Building & Development Applications use these microfiche jackets to facilitate filing and easy retrieval of related documents. There are duplicated microfiche jackets that have a purplish/bluish tint to them for everyday use.

Film Type

16 mm
35 mm
105 mm