During digitization, the largest cost will be the per document or per image cost. These are the same guidelines that DataBank uses when estimating a price quote. Use this guide to estimate your volume or contact us for help.

Paper & Image Estimator

150-175 Pages Per Inch

Unbound Paper

Create a preliminary volume estimate based on total pages, images, or boxes.

Standard Document Storage

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2000-2500 Pages Per Box

Standard Box File

4500-5000 Pages Per Box

Banker Style Boxes

3500-4000 Pages Per Drawer

Vertical File Cabinet

5500-6000 Pages Per Drawer

Lateral File Cabinet

1500 Pages Per Horizontal Foot

Open Shelving

100-120 Photos Per Inch

Color Photos

125-150 Sheets Per Inch

Engineering Drawing (unfolded)

Popular Bound Document Storage

1" Binder

250-275 Pages Each

2" Binder

450-480 Pages Each

3" Binder

650-670 Pages Each

4" Binder

750-780 Pages Each

5" Binder

950-1050 Pages Each

2-Hole 2" Binder

450-480 Pages Per Inch

2-Hole 1" Binder

225-240 Pages Each

Plastic Coil/
Spiral Binder

175-200 Pages Each

Velo Binder

200-300 Pages Per Each

Microfilm Types & Estimating Images

24x

9.0mm wide & 11.5mm tall

Popular Filming Reductions
Approximate Image Size

Image Reduction

7.5mm wide & 9.5mm tall

31x

42x

5.0mm wide & 6.5mm tall

There are other reductions, such as 19x, 36x, 48x, or 54x, 
but the above are the most common.

Negative Film

Positive Film

Film Polarity

105mm Duplicate Microfiche

105mm Master Microfiche

Masters or Duplicates?

Identify by: No color stripe at the top of the film images. Always B/W on clear film.

Identify by: Color stripe at the top of the film and images can be blue in color.

16mm Master Rolls

16mm Duplicate Rolls

Identify by: Images always black, thicker film, and usually in a black plastic or paper film box.

Identify by: Blue images, thin film, loaded into a C-Clip, 3M style, or other type of cartridge.

Microfiche Images Per Fiche/Jacket

Step & Repeat Microfilm

Jacketed Microfilm

COM Microfilm

Identify by: Images are cleanly spaced, straight and clean. Can contain portrait and landscape documents.

Identify by: Plastic sleeves with strips of 16mm film inserted into 5 or 7 horizontal pockets and a typewriter-style title.

Identify by: Images are perfectly straight, same size, and evenly spaced very tightly with rows.

Multiply rows and columns for an image count.

16mm Images Per Roll

24x Reduction

31x Reduction

42x Reduction

Labels usually report the number of images. Approx. 2000-2400 8.5"x11" images per 100' roll.

Labels usually report the number of images. Approx. 2500-2800 8.5"x11" images per 100' roll.

Labels usually report the number of images. Approx. 4000-4300 8.5"x11" images per 100' roll.

35mm Aperture Cards

Aperture Cards

125-135 Cards Per Inch

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