If you’ve been doing genealogical research for any length of time, you probably have collected a few microfilm rolls and/or microfiche of interest to your research. You might also have wished that you could get copies of some of the pages from those microform into your computer for use on the Web or in your publications.

Well, your wish may have come true, although you’ll need to shell out a few bucks to use the new ImageMouse Plus by Datagraphix (or find a library that owns one). I have taken the ImageMouse Plus for a test drive and was somewhat disappointed with its limitations, although it has great potential.

The ImageMouse is a digital image-capturing system that, according to the user’s manual, copies from 24X, 28X, 42X, 48X microfiche or jacket, original negative or positive film, diazo or vesicular duplicate file, and roll film (ImageMouse Plus only). There are actually two versions of the ImageMouse, one that comes only with a scanning pad and the ImageMouse Plus that comes with a roll attachment. The unit I tested had a manual roll attachment, not the automatic unit pictured on Anacomp’s Web page. (Datagraphix is a business unit of Anacomp, Inc.)

I was anxious to use this exciting new technology because I have a roll of microfilm that was sent to me by the National Library of Ireland that contains a book I plan to index. I thought this unit might help with the indexing project and might keep me from having to sit with my microfilm reader on my desk so I can read and index at the same time. I didn’t do enough background reading, though, because the ImageMouse is not a scanner per se, but is instead a digital copier that makes graphic images of the pages it sees. This can still be very useful for some purposes, but wasn’t what I had in mind. Anyway, I decided to see how it handled digital images.

Installation of the software is very straightforward, and installing the hardware was just as easy. The ImageMouse uses a USB connection, so my computer recognized the unit as soon as I attached it. The manual is on the CD, so for any questions you need to either copy the manual to your hard drive or leave the CD in and use Adobe Acrobat Reader to read it.

The unit comes with a 35mm take-up reel, so I assumed it would read my roll of 35mm film adequately. In fact, the ImageMouse is currently not able to capture the entire page of a 35mm image, but you can see the page in parts and copy and print what you need. This was probably my biggest disappointment, because I couldn’t even capture the whole pages of the book I want to index. But Datagraphix Vice President Dan Donaldson assures me that when the technology gets better, within a year, the ImageMouse will be able to read the whole page of a 35mm image at the same time. As it currently stands, you can see about 80 percent of a page, copy it, save it as a bitmap, TIFF, or JPG, and print it. You can also manipulate the image in your graphics program, if necessary. I must say that the images I did get were wonderful—time will only improve this product.

If you only need part of a page, you can zoom in up to three times to see the object better, but the zoom process makes the image fuzzier. The controls in the software allow you to adjust the gray level of the image, invert the image (depending on whether you have a negative or positive image), and change the exposure to lighten or darken as needed. You can change the reduction down to 24X, which still isn’t enough to see the entire image, and you can change the image between portrait and landscape modes. If you use the landscape mode, you swivel the mouse in its holder so it is aligned in landscape mode, which will allow you to capture images onto legal-size paper.

In addition to the microfilm, I tried a microfiche index and discovered that in order to read the index, I had to change the zoom level to 3X, which eliminates pixels and makes the image difficult to read. If you want to capture a portion of a microfiche index, you need to find the spot where your information is and center it in the window. Then change to full resolution, which will take your window out of zoom and the letters become unreadable. In order to make a copy, though, you change from Live Image mode to Freeze mode, which opens another zoom window in which you can use the zoom slider to bring your information back to viewability. If you need to copy and print that information, realize that until the technology gets better, the image will be somewhat fuzzy.

The ImageMouse holds a lot of promise for genealogists, but I don’t recommend that you go out and buy one now. Wait until the technology improves, which should be within the next year. Maybe the prices will come down some as well by then. If you’re interested in testing the ImageMouse and you’ll be in either San Diego or Salt Lake City, visit the Mission Valley Family History Center in San Diego or the Family History Library. Both libraries have evaluation copies of the ImageMouse that patrons are allowed to use.

The ImageMouse currently sells for $1,095; the microfiche-only ImageMouse Plus sells for $1,995; the ImageMouse Plus with a motorized universal carrier for fiche and roll film sells for $2,995; and the manual ImageMouse Plus with universal carrier for fiche and roll film sells for $2,395. If you’re interested in purchasing one, visit the Datagraphx Web site for more information and a list of resellers.

Elizabeth Kelley Kerstens, CGRS, is the managing editor of Genealogical Computing, editor of the Board for Certification of Genealogists’ newsletter OnBoard, the creator of Clooz—the electronic filing cabinet for genealogical records, and a frequent contributor to Ancestry Magazine. She can be reached via e-mail at liz@ancestordetective.com or at gceditor@ancestry.com.