Scope and purpose

This standard specifies the procedures, dimensions, and quality values governing the microrecording of engineering documentation on 35 mm microfilm. This includes procedures, dimensions, and quality values for:

- microform physical characteristics that are related to engineering source document microfilming (characteristics such as curl, durabilities, and orientation)

- microimages created by placement of engineering source documents on the copyboards of 35 mm planetary cameras

- the duplication of the original microimage

The scope of this standard does not include microrecording of cartographic and architectural material, or other engineering graphics that do not conform to requirements of pertinent standards under ANSI/ASME Y14, Drafting Practice.

This standard assumes that source documents are of satisfactory quality for conversion to a film medium and that the user is applying photographic properties of an original drawing or high quality copy. The character and line sizes are assumed to comply with ANSI/AIIM Standard Y14.2M Line Conventions and Lettering and the distinction between the data and background is high-contrast black and white.

ANSI/AIIM MS23 Standard Recommended Practice for operational procedures/inspection and quality control of first-generation, silver microfilm of documents (the latest version of that publication) should be used to establish the resolution and background density requirements if the source material is of lesser quality.