Hi Denise, I was having a blank moment when I resorted to 'thingy'. A better word may be spindle. A simple devise made from pine for base, and the uprights to hold the spindles. What has set me back is how to manage the spindle and handle in one. They invariably fall apart so mine had a very short operating life. A handier person could make a success of it I imagine. And yes, I've never worked out how to avoid getting a tired arm winding it back on to the left spindle. Have any of the handier listers worked out how to successfully attach a turning arm to the spindle? Denise when you say you cut yours and put them in pockets are we talking A4 clear protector sort of pockets? And while we're on the subject, has anyone worked out a way to successfully digitise newspaper film? I have a new whizz bang scanner that is supposed to do this but haven't mastered it yet. Jenny -----Original Message----- From: Denise <denisem@powerup.com.au> To: AUS-VIC-HIGH-COUNTRY-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 17:22:20 +1000 Subject: Re: [HC] Off Topic - 35mm Newspaper reader Jenny hi I use a fiche reader to read film and I have had no trouble whatsoever with the quality of the film even after reading each film several times plus the times I have loaned these films to others. I was interested to read of the 'thingys' idea, have you tried this? This would surely mean that you would have to re-wind the film from the right hand side of the reader back to the original reel so that the film would be at the beginning of each year. Not a bad idea, but it doesn't take much time to re-wind it by hand. Not trying to put your idea down by any means in fact I would be interested in hearing how other people tackle this. As for the lens size I've never had any trouble reading the size of the print, it is much larger than the newspapers today. The only problem would be that the film itself is poor quality - which the manufacturer actually says on the roll from time to time. And then the bulb will blow in the midst of a wonderful piece (g). One idea I tried is cutting the film so that it fits into pockets. I get two pieces into a pocket, date it and put into a card box. It is very easy to find a date should you have to go back to the film for a check up at any time. However the initial couple of hours required to cut and slip into pockets may not appeal to everyone. I now just use the roll method. Whatever method, or what ever machine you use, it's well worth it. Denise ----- Original Message ----- From: <jnnyb@aol.com> To: <AUS-VIC-HIGH-COUNTRY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, January 05, 2006 5:07 PM Subject: Re: [HC] Off Topic - 35mm Newspaper reader > Hi Anthony & Ronda, > > Have you considered just making a simple frame from timber with two > turning thingys at each end that sit at either side of your fiche reader > in the style of a 'real' film reader? > Then run the film through your microfiche reader. Wouldn't recommend it > for fast rewind though! And too much use of the film will eventually > damage it using this method as there aren't nice soft rollers to guide it > but if you are careful it should work. Of course the lens size on your > fiche reader may need to be changed (or use a dual lens reader) to enable > you to view the film. > > Jenny > > -----Original Message----- > From: Anthony Bigelow. <anthonybigelow@hotmail.com> > To: AUS-VIC-HIGH-COUNTRY-L@rootsweb.com > Sent: Thu, 05 Jan 2006 00:15:49 +0000 > Subject: Re: [HC] Off Topic - 35mm Newspaper reader > > Hi Ronda, > > Very quiet actually, I'll send you some info off list. > > Anthony > > >Hi Anthony, > >Have you had any replies? > >Ronda > >----- Original Message ----- From: "Anthony Bigelow" >><anthonybigelow@hotmail.com> > >To: <AUS-VIC-HIGH-COUNTRY-L@rootsweb.com> > >Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2006 9:08 AM > >Subject: [HC] Off Topic - 35mm Newspaper reader > > > > > >>Would anyone know where I could pickup a cheap 35mm newspaper reader - > >>please contact me off list. > >> > >>Thanks, Anthony > >> > >>_________________________________________________________________ > >>Buy now @ Tradingpost.com.au > >>http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fad%2Eau%2Edoubleclick%2 > Enet%2Fclk%3B24875379%3B12369854%3Ba%3Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Etradingpost%2Ec > om%2Eau%3Freferrer%3DnmsnHMetagv1&_t=752643439&_r=hotmailtagline&_m=EXT > >> > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > ASUS M5 Ultra-slim lightweight is Now $1999 (was $2,999) > http://a.ninemsn.com.au/b.aspx?URL=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Easus%2Ecom%2Eau%2F& > _t=752129232&_r=Hotmail_tagline_23Nov05&_m=EXT > > >

Jenny- > Denise when you say you cut yours and put them in pockets are we > talking A4 clear protector sort of pockets? I have in the past bought FICHE pockets from MacBeth or the like - very very cheap. > And while we're on the subject, has anyone worked out a way to > successfully digitise newspaper film? Jenny I too have a scanner which scans film and slides - I have tried to scan film, have been only mildly successful but I think that is my own fault. However be careful of copyright if you are going to scan and use in a publication. Copyright can still exist and you must seek permission of the paper concerned, be it owned by the same company or another after a take over. Chris and I had to seek permission of a couple of newspapers two years ago when we did a book on the Upper Murray - which still lingers completed in our files but will be released soon. The pros and Cons of cutting up or not cutting up the film for consideration of those interested - Fiche Pockets - Cutting is time consuming but only the once (g). Put a sticker on the pocket so you know the date of the film inside. The beauty of cutting is that you can refer to any given date in a minute and have the information you want. HOWEVER, never ever drop the lot on the floor if you have not dated! I have 3 years of the Federal Standard undated, and which at some time were dropped on the floor. What a mess, no date, so I have not sorted them out. to do so would mean insert the fiche pocket into the reader, then date, then sort. Hundreds of the things! Film on rolls - simple way to go or so it seems. I merely let the film I"ve read drop over the back of my desk onto the floor as it comes out of the reader and where it stays out of the way until I have finished and need to re-roll manually. This takes maybe 3 minutes to do. HOWEVER, as soon as you have re-rolled the film you always have to unroll it, check something or go back for something missed. Unroll the film all over the floor until you get to the date. Get your information and then start to re-roll. Untangled the dog, unwrap the chair legs, don't trip yourself and make sure no one walks on it. Then re-roll - 3 minutes for a small item you needed. HOWEVER - every single minute is worth it in the long run for your own research. Chris - the Federal Standard is one also where you need to stand on your head, on the desk, sideways , twisting your neck with your arms between your legs and type at the same time....tad tiring. One must call for help after an hour to be untangled and dropped on the floor then ironed out flat. No, not the film, me. Thankfully the OMA is up the right way. D

Denise, Jenny and interested others, I have been watching this thread unravel for a while but have not said anything yet because I was still experimenting. I am still experimenting but the story goes:- The new fiche/film readers at the National Library are connected to either a printer or a scanner. From the scanner the image can be printed or saved as jpeg, bmp, tif or pdf. I have done the trick of trying to copy and print small parts of a half page article then take home 17 or 18 A4 pages to read a small section in the middle and type into a word document. I next tried the scanner and emailed the results to myself - cheaper, less copied pages but the typing still remained and I waited ages for a mail download. Next I got a USB memory drive - this certainly made getting the scanned image home but still the typing. [I go all the way back to the typing of telegrams etc. in the post office in the early sixties, through various computers starting with ones where I would have been writing this in single line format (EDLIN or similar earlier editors) and by now looking like running out of memory. I still hate typing long documents and the arthritis can be a bitch] . The next project involved playing with some OCR programmes, I am still doing this, the best yet can only get about 20%, the programmes I have tried require black & white images to work best, the best image of a scanned document is greyscale. Therefore I was not really ready to say anything yet as the experimentation goes on with many interruptions (like now, have to pick up one of the kids (24 and no car) in a few minutes) but I am ever hopeful. If I can get it to work then long articles can be scanned in sections and converted to a document type format that does not require typing the whole thing. Brian Rhynehart. ----- Original Message ----- > > > And while we're on the subject, has anyone worked out a way to > > successfully digitise newspaper film? >