I think I finally understand...

[DougK]

... what the big deal is with slide film. Just for fun I ran a roll of Elitechrome 100 through one of my new toys (a Yashica Samurai X3.0 half-frame) at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo to check it out. I did it mostly to eliminate bad print developing from marring my test shots and get a true picture of how the camera really performs. I got the slides back tonight and all I can say is WOW! Even at the half-frame size under a low-mag loupe the fall colors just jumped off the lightbox at me. For the first time ever outside of the digital realm, I actually saw on the film what I remember seeing through the viewfinder, a truly remarkable experience for me. On a side note, the sharpness of that lens has to be seen to be believed, but since this is a rangefinder forum, I'll not digress too much on that point. As soon as I can get them mounted and som decent scans run, I'll post a couple of the good ones to my gallery.

Since I can't make a post without asking at least a question or two, the inquiry floodgates are now open 🙂 :
1) Has anyone else had this type of "a-ha experience" shooting slide film?
2) I'd appreciate any advice on what supplies I need for safely handling and mounting these bad boys to a newbie (they came back in the original strip). I plan on shooting both half and full frame
3) What's a good, inexpensive source for the supplies mentioned in #2? I'd especially love to hear from fellow NE Ohioans regarding potential local sources, as the customer service folks in my apartment are starting to look at my frequent photo stuff deliveries with some suspicion 🙂

Thanks in advance everyone!
Doug K.

 

[Kris]

Hi Doug, wait until you see those slides projected. I'm now shooting only slide films for colour photos.

What you need to mount them is a small scissors, a pair of tweezers, an anti-static brush and skillful hands (or a girlfriend/wife with skillful hands).

I prefer my slides mounted on Gepe double-glassed mounts to keep them flat during projection, to avoid unwanted fingerprints/scratches and to keep them clean from dusts.

The drawback with double-glassed mounts, the film breathe during projection so you will get the glasses fogged. Cotton tips and methylated spirit do a good job cleaning the glass for me.

 

[l.mar]

If you think half-frame 35 mm slides are impressive, you ought to try 6x9 slides on 120! Even through a relatively inexpensive camera, like a non-rangefinder Zeiss Ikonta C, the detail, color and three-dimensional quality of color transparencies is almost unbelievable! I ran a roll of expired Ektachrome pro through my Ikonta, and almost fell out of my chair after getting the processed transparencies back! 😀 6x9 "slides" are unmounted (but sleeved), but I believe that major photo houses (like Central Camera in Chicago) sell slide mounts for 35 mm (not sure about half-frame, though). They have a web site, and they do quite a bit of mail order. I understand that you're in Ohio, but it you ever get to Chicago you've got to stop by Central --- it's a huge old store which has been operated by the same family for over 100 years. Very friendly and low-pressure --- just like what a "real" camera store should be like, IMHO. 🙂

 

[DougK]

Thanks for the suggestion Kris, I'll check those Gepe mounts out. I totally forgot to budget for a projector, but it might make a nice break from my current camera shopping addiction and I imagine I can find something decent relatively inexpensively.

l.mar, I shot MF transparency film once in my Seagull TLR and I agree, totally impressive results, but I had been told to expect that from MF. I had just never seen anything close to that come out of a 35mm before (particularly when shot by me). Now if I can just get my scanner to work correctly... :bang:

Doug K.