The scanner is a rather small device that easily fits on a desktop. It has a desktop footprint the size of a piece of letter-sized paper and can easily fit into almost any location. It is made of heavy gauge steel and is intended for heavy duty usage, such as in public libraries. Yet it only weighs 19 pounds (9Kg).
The ScanPro 2000 connects to any Windows PC. You load the microfilm manually and then never touch the microfilm scanner again during operation. All controls are provided by the PC. By simply using the computer's keyboard and mouse you can advance the film, reverse the film, zoom in or out on an image, focus, save the image to disk, save the image to a jump drive, or print the image on a local or network printer.
The microfilm's images can be saved as a computer file on any device accessible to the computer. You can save to the computer's hard drive, but I suspect the more popular option is to save to the customer's thumb drive that is plugged into the computer's USB connector. If the computer is connected to a network and the Internet, it is also possible to save images across the network to distant devices or even to send the image(s) via email. For instance, you can find an image you want to save and email it to yourself. If the proper software is loaded into the Windows computer, you can even FAX directly from microfilm.
All of the above capabilities are under the control of the administrator, typically an employee of the organization that purchased the microfilm scanner. Most of these are options that can be enabled or disabled, as the owners wish. For instance, if the owners do not want customers to be able to save to a jump drive, that option can be disabled. Likewise, most all of the options I have already described can be enabled or disabled by the owners. Individual patrons (users) then have access only to the features selected by the scanner's owners. However, anyone who possesses the proper passwords, such as the librarian or other employee, can override that and use any of the advanced options.
The software included with the ScanPro 2000 not only controls the scanner but also adds a lot of intelligence of its own. It can de-speckle images and perform other image "clean-up" tasks. It also will scan the image being displayed, looking for any word or phrase on the page, which can save a lot of manual reading when looking for specific information. It also supports touch screens if installed on the PC. Best of all, very large screens are supported, such as 30-inch monitors. A large monitor is a great device when magnifying the text.
The ScanPro 2000 also includes a remote-access feature, standard on all units, making information accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world, using a PC with an Internet connection. A human must first load the microfilm; then he or she can turn control operation over to a remote user anywhere in the world who is connected via the Internet. That remote user can then move film forward or backward, zoom in or out, and perform all other functions from the remote location. If the remote user finds something to be saved, he or she can file transfer the image(s) across the Internet or simply email it to any valid email address as an attached file. I have never seen remote operation in use before, but I suspect it could be handy for microfilms that are not supposed to leave the premises.
The ScanPro 2000 Microfilm-to-Computer Scanner is a great tool for any genealogy library or society that owns microfilms and wishes to make them available electronically, assuming that copyright laws allow.
For more information about the ScanPro 2000 Microfilm-to-Computer Scanner, go to http://www.e-imagedata.com/ScanPro_2000.html or click on the image below to watch a video.
