Hi Gary,
How long has it been since you looked at your slides on the lightbox?
Yesterday evening
🙂.
I am shooting slide film on a regular basis. I send my film for development to a professsinal lab via mail, two days later the developed film is back.
And then I look at my slides on a daylight lighttable with an excellent slide loupe.
The quality with an excellent slide loupe is outstanding:
Excellent sharpness and resolution, no distortion, the full tonality the slide offers (in contrast to computer monitors), and an almost three-dimensional effect.
I am using the Schneider 4x (for 35mm) and 3x (for medium format 4,5x6, 6x6, 6x7 and even 6x9: the image field is 8cm x 8cm, so with 6x9 you only loose some millimeters left and right, which is irrelevant).
I am very satiesfied and can highly recommend them. You can also use them for negatives and prints (there is a transparent foot for prints and a dark one for slides included, the foot is changeable).
http://www.schneider-kreuznach.com/foto_e/zubehoer_lupen.htm
The Rodenstock loupes are also very good:
http://www.rodenstock-photo.com/en/main/products/magnifiers/aspherical-magnifiers/
I was trying to get some old ones into sleeves and noticed how wonderful they looked while held up to a window (so I could label them).
So I grabbed a glass of wine and headed to the basement and put them on the LB. WOW it has been a couple years since I have used it, it's so convenient to look at the scan on the screen.
From my experience (in my environment) it is much easier and convenient to use the lightbox and loupe instead of the computer:
- no need to scan (saves lots of time)
- much faster: To look at the slide I just have to take the slide and the lightbox. It's just a few seconds.
With computer monitor I first have to boot my computer, which takes much more time.
- much better quality with the loupe and lighttable: The computer monitor only delivers an extremely low resolution of 1-2 MP, with the original slide you have the full package.
And you have the full color brillance and tonality with the slide on the lighttable. No losses like with the monitor.
I would guess the projector would be 2nd best, hard to find one in medium format.
With a little patience you will find a good one. We've recently discussed exactly this topic here, you may have a look at it:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119669
Projection is not 2nd best, it is first best. That's what slides are made for. Slides on a lighttable with a very good loupe are excellent, but slide projection on a screen is even much more impressive. Outstanding brillance, sharpness, resolution, tonality. It is like you are back in the scene just at the moment you've made the shot.
Also doesn't the intense light damage the film?
No, not with modern projectors (well, modern, all those younger than 30-35 years
😉). They all have effective heat filters and cooling systems. And before colors start to fade you can project them about more than 1500x, if you calculate a time of 30 seconds projection time per slide if you run a magazine through your projector.
Modern slide films are very robust.
Even my several decades old slides which have often been projected didn't fade.
Anyway step away from those damn computers and dust off your LB !
+1.
In my daily job I have to sit in front of a computer monitor several hours a day.
I don't want to have also my spare leisure time dominated by computers.
It is so much more relaxing and enjoyable to use real, tangible stuff: Real pictures / slides on a lightbox, impressive slides projected on a screen and parallel listening to good music; looking at the real prints I've made with my own hands in my darkroom.
Leave the digital grind behind.
Cheers, Jan
