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Are all census CD's the same?

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ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Sam

Sam Report 15 Jan 2005 00:04

I have the 1851 Stafs census but have found that most of the particular parish I am most interested in is unreadable due to it being too faint. Is this because the original pages are in good enough condition to be filmed? Are all CD's the same or if I ask for a lookup on a CD from a different supplier will it be any different? Sam

Geoff

Geoff Report 15 Jan 2005 00:11

Some of them claim to be using "grey scale scanning" now, so some future ones ought to be better.

Steven

Steven Report 15 Jan 2005 07:06

Archive CD Books have done amazing things with their scanning of census, just Google the name and see if they are selling the cd you want. I bought the same set of the 1851 Nottingam census from Notinghamshire Family History Society and it wasn't very good so when Archive CD Books brought the same set out i got that one and it was much better. Steve.

Walter

Walter Report 15 Jan 2005 14:38

Sam have you considered running the 'difficult to read images' through an Image Manipulation Programme? There is a FREE programme called 'The GIMP' available for download at http://www.gimp.org/ that may help you. WALTER

}((((*> Jeanette The Haddock <*)))){

}((((*> Jeanette The Haddock <*)))){ Report 15 Jan 2005 14:53

Hi Sam My Mum bought me the 1841 census for Yorkshire for Christmas from Stepping Stones. I couldn't understand how when I did a look up for another member why I couldn't read my images but somebody else could on theirs. It turned out that she had bought hers from S & N Genealogy. In future I will probably order from S & N. I also do a bit of transcribing for FreeCen and they use discs from Archive CD Books. I have never had any trouble with the images on there - just the handwriting! lol Jeanette x

Joy

Joy Report 15 Jan 2005 15:20

Ours from Stepping Stones are fine, and from Archive CD books. If they are not right they should be returned ... having said that, they are only as good as the originals anyway. Joy

}((((*> Jeanette The Haddock <*)))){

}((((*> Jeanette The Haddock <*)))){ Report 15 Jan 2005 15:32

Joy On my 1841 disc the parish I was searching was totally unreadable yet the other member had no difficulty reading hers. I think this says something about the quality of copying rather than the quality of the original. Jeanette x

BobClayton

BobClayton Report 15 Jan 2005 16:23

The CDs are not scans of the books. They are scans of copies of films taken by the PRO at best as I understand it. Bob

Researching:
Clayton

Joy

Joy Report 15 Jan 2005 16:56

Just to say that I had a problem, and returned it and it was exchanged for a better one. Joy

Anne

Anne Report 15 Jan 2005 17:06

I had some bad pages on my Stepping Stones 1841. I told them which village I couldn't read and they re-scanned it. It was then perfectly readable. Which makes you wonder why it wasn't in the first place!! To be fair, I think there are some censuses which are just too far 'gone' to read at all. Anne

Benjamin

Benjamin Report 15 Jan 2005 18:15

I have the 1851 London census and it says in the instruction book that they do scan the films several times to get the best quality from the PRO material but the books that are filmed and often in poor condition and written in pencil. It might be best to check the originals on microfilm at the FRC or your local record office if you live near the area you are interested in once you have located your ancestors and cannot make out all the info.