Diazo & Silver Film

The Microfilm Shop is proud to launch its very own PS125A Silver Microfilm, in what marks a remarkable new product launch for the microfilm industry. For over 50 years there have only been 3 widely known worldwide manufacturer's of black and white Silver microfilm. Now there is a fourth with Ozaphan launching its own film, made and developed in Germany.

Many people have incorrectly assumed that the microfilm industry is declining. Whilst some historical applications have indeed declined there is a rapidly expanding new area of microfilm, that we call "Digital Microfilm" - taking digitally born images and writing them directly to microfilm for true 500 year analogue archiving. Many new hardware manufacturer's have entered this market in the last 3 years and there are new manufacturer's about to enter this market. As one of the worlds largest independent resellers of microfilm, The Microfilm Shop has been watching and helping this market change and has seen the need for a new manufacturer of microfilm to put to one side continual rumours that one of the big 3 might stop manufacturing and thus put the whole industry at risk. Not any more - The Microfilm Shop can manufacture microfilm very economically on a scale that allows it to commit to future manufacturing. As a current user of microfilm or as someone thinking of joining the digital microfilm revolution you can now be confident of the future of microfilm.

Please click here to see the Ozaphan PS125A Microfilm brochure

Please click here to see the Ozaphan Family brochure of microfilm products


A duplicating film is used to make copies of the original silver based camera film. These duplicate films are required for off-site storage, security, distribution etc. Duplicate film is available in the same formats as the original silver halide camera film ie. 16mm, 35mm, 105mm in roll or A6 sheets and aperture cards.


i) Diazo Film
This is a very low cost copying medium with up to 50 years archival life. For normal commercial purposes this is the ideal economical, very hard wearing, copying medium. Diazo film is processed using ammonia gas or liquid to produce either a blue or black image from the original film.

ii) Vesicular Film
A duplicate made with vesicular film automatically reverses the image, ie. a negative original produces a positive vesicular copy. (Vesicular film is not recommended for copying positive originals) Vesicular film produces a white image on a powder blue background from the original film. Processing of this film is completed by heat alone-no ammonia is needed. It is a low cost copying medium with 10-20 years archival life.

iii) Silver Film
Silver duplicating film is available in 2 formats;-

a) Positive Print Film - to produce a duplicate that is opposite to the original (ie. negative original changed to a positive copy).

b) Direct Duplicate Print Film - where the duplicate is the same as the original (ie. a negative original produces a negative copy).

Compared with diazo and vesicular duplicating film, this is a more expensive duplicating process but has exceptional image quality and an archival life of 100 years+ when filmed and stored properly. It is an ideal archival storage medium.

The Microfilm Shop offers a complete diazo, vesicular and silver duplicating service.

Colour Striping - diazo and vesicular only.
One of the most popular formats of diazo and vesicular duplicating film is 105mm rolls or 105mm x 148mm sheets, commonly referred to as microfiche. The Microfilm Shop has the facility to convert diazo or vesicular into rolls or sheets with colour stripe, if required. The colour stripe is used to make indexing simpler by allocating subject groups a particular colour. These stripes are available in a variety of widths and colours depending on how much eye readable information is printed on the heading stripe at the top of the microfiche.

Stripe Widths Available
2mm, 4mm, 6mm, 7mm, 8mm, 9mm, 10mm, 11mm, 12mm, 13mm, 14mm, 15mm, 17mm, 21mm, 25mm .

A=Red B=Maple Leaf Red C=Blue D=Dark Blue E=Cambridge Blue F=Yellow G=Green H=Dark Green I=Orange	J=Purple K=Dark Brown L=Black M=Chartreuse N=Light Blue O=Light Green P=Pink Q=Brown (Tan) R=Grey	S=Buff T=White U=Peach V=Gold W=Lavender X=Violet Y=Cerise

Note: The colours shown above are meant as a guide only and are not considered to be a detailed representation of the exact colours available.

105mm Rolls
These can be supplied colour striped in either 'A' or 'B' wind format depending on the set-up of your duplicating machine. Please see diagram below.

A or B wind must be specified when you order.

105 X 148mm Sheets (Microfiche) Standard Formats

Cut Corners
One corner of each diazo sheet is normally cut off. If the cut corner is positioned to the top right then the emulsion is on the reverse side of the material.

Chemicals
Diazo duplicating film uses ammonia to develop the film once it has been exposed. The Microfilm Shop can supply a full range of ammonia liquids and gases. Also available is absorber (DABSORBER) which is used to absorb excess ammonia during the development process thus avoiding unnecessary ammonia fumes.

Also available from The Microfilm Shop is a special transfer paper (DDODTP) which has ammonia crystals impregnated into it. By the use of a special heated roller machine the transfer paper is placed on top of an exposed, but undeveloped, microfiche and inserted into the machine. By a combination of pressure and heat, the ammonia is released from the paper and develops the microfiche. The use of this paper significantly reduces the amount of ammonia in the working environment. Contact us, for details of this special equipment as it does not appear in our equipment section.

Silver duplicate film requires developer and fixer.

Fiche Labels
Fiche labels are available in 127 x 11mm size (JLF) on sheets of computer stationery. These are ideal to place over old or incorrect existing headings.

Camera Films

What is a Camera Film?
Camera film or silver halide film, is the original film that is loaded into your camera when you are microfilming your documents and is therefore the basis of every microfilm system.

Types of Camera Film

i) 16mm film
Held on a spool, 16mm films are usually on a 2, 4 or 5mil thick base and many lengths are available to suit particular applications. The most commonly used are 30.5m (100ft) and 61m (200ft).

ii) Specialised Cartridge films
In these applications the unexposed 16mm film is pre-loaded into a cartridge. Although this makes loading film into the camera easier it usually ties you to a single supplier. In Europe Bell and Howell's cartridge PAK film is usually Fuji and the 3M G01 film has varied between Kodak and Agfa (and back again) over the last few years. The Microfilm Shop is able to supply both types of cartridge loaded with any of the three makes of film.

iii) 35mm film
These are usually used in 30.5m (100ft) rolls for flatbed cameras or cut into frames and mounted onto aperture card/camera cards.

iv) 105mm film
105mm film is normally cut into sheets, 105mm x 148mm, for use in a variety of microfiche cameras.

v) COM film (Computer Output Microfilm)
A specialist product, which has different emulsions to the conventional films included in this section.

Types of Emulsion
Most films are available with a choice of two types of emulsion.

i) High Speed Emulsion
As a general rule these films are used in Rotary Cameras. This type of camera has an exposure time whose duration is dictated by the constant speed at which the camera physically transports the document past the film. Therefore, to ensure quick filming a high speed emulsion is needed.

ii) Medium Speed Emulsion
As a general rule these films are used in Flatbed Cameras. This type of camera usually controls the exposure time to suit the document and light source whilst the document lies on the camera bed without moving. Medium speed emulsions have a smaller grain size thereby tending to give better quality images at the expense of the speed of filming.

Film Brands
The Microfilm Shop is able to supply every make of film available i.e. Agfa, Fuji, Kodak or our very own Microfilm Shop film.

Chemistry
Once your documents have been microfilmed (photographed) onto the roll of camera film, the film will need processing using developer and fixing chemicals in a darkroom environment. This can be achieved using your own processing equipment or The Microfilm Shop offers a processing service.

The Microfilm Shop supplies a full range of developing and fixing chemicals including Agfa, Fuji, Kodak and The Microfilm Shop branded chemicals.

Both the developer and fixer can be supplied in concentrate or ready-to-use format. Also available are The Microfilm Shop mini kits which provide all the chemicals required for smaller desktop processors.

Processing Supplies
We can provide all of the consumable items required for a processing department including film handling gloves, processor leaders, control strips, test wedges, self-threaders, self-adhesive processing tape and postal return bags.

Resolution Test Charts
Resolution Test Charts can, and should be filmed onto your roll of microfilm alongside your documents. Once the film is processed the Resolution Test Charts can be viewed on the microfilm to evaluate the quality of resolution of the roll of microfilm. Resolution Test Charts are essential for high quality microfilm production. A full range of these test charts and density patches are available from The Microfilm Shop depending on your camera type.

Endorser Plates and Ink Rollers
The Microfilm Shop can provide various endorser plates and ink rollers for the following camera makes:- Banktec, Buic, Bell and Howell, Brandt, Canon, IBM, Kodak, NCR, Billcon, Maverick, Minolta and Unisys.


Densitometers
Essential for quality control checking of the density of your finished microfilms. The Microfilm Shop can provide a complete range. Click here to see details of the HE610 projection-densitometer.