Low quality images
Hi again!
I've noticed that the digital images for some microfilms are of unusually low quality. Specifically, this is very noticeable on film 1328740 (starting at Item 3) and film 1328441 (Items 8-10).
It seems to be an issue with the digital files rather than the original microfilms, as the file sizes and image dimensions are much smaller than comparable films from the same town and time period.
Could this be an upload error where a lower-resolution version or thumbnail was accidentally published? Or are these the only digital copies available, meaning the films would need to be re-digitized to improve the quality? (though I've read microfilms can't be re-scanned)
Thanks for your help!
Answers
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@OmarBudesca Could you link more examples? The one link you gave seems pretty ok, but I only lightly perused the images.
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https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/623205#Comment_623205
I don't have many additional examples offhand, as this issue doesn't appear frequently in the records I usually work with, but I can provide a comparison.
The records in question are not entirely unreadable, but they are noticeably blurry. Here is one of the affected images (this particular microfilm is locked), shown at 200% zoom:
For comparison, here is another record from the same town and time period (but marriages, a different book and microfilm altogether), shown at 125% zoom:
As you can see, even though the first image is displayed at a higher zoom level, it still appears smaller and significantly less sharp than the second. The difference in overall resolution is quite noticeable.
To clarify, the first image is not illegible, but the entire volume is considerably harder to read unless you are already accustomed to this type of record.
If this is simply the quality of the original images and nothing can be improved, that's perfectly fine. I just wanted to confirm whether this might be the result of an upload issue or a similar problem.
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