Projected Slides

[Bryce]

Today a friend of mine showed up with a new jewel to add to his antique collection: a slide projector. Not just any slide projector, mind you this one takes glass slides that measure 3 1/2 by 4 inches.... Evidently these were the predecessor to more modern ones, and were called lantern slide projectors.
Anyhow, after plugging the monster in and viewing the assortment of slides that came with it, I had to see something. I used to shoot slides with medium format gear, but found scanning too expensive, etc. So I stopped. After a bit of scrounging around, I found a roll of 6x9 slides, cut one out, and sandwiched it between a couple of spare pieces of glass that came with the projector.
Well, we were both just dazzled; blown up to about 30x45 inches, grain was just visible on the wall when viewed from 2 feet or less!
What a shame large slides are so hard to get a faithful print from....

 

[Laurence]

Today a friend of mine showed up with a new jewel to add to his antique collection: a slide projector. Not just any slide projector, mind you this one takes glass slides that measure 3 1/2 by 4 inches.... Evidently these were the predecessor to more modern ones, and were called lantern slide projectors.
Anyhow, after plugging the monster in and viewing the assortment of slides that came with it, I had to see something. I used to shoot slides with medium format gear, but found scanning too expensive, etc. So I stopped. After a bit of scrounging around, I found a roll of 6x9 slides, cut one out, and sandwiched it between a couple of spare pieces of glass that came with the projector.
Well, we were both just dazzled; blown up to about 30x45 inches, grain was just visible on the wall when viewed from 2 feet or less!
What a shame large slides are so hard to get a faithful print from....

Hey Bryce: I sure get a kick out of projecting my 6x6 and 4.5x6 slides on an old Bausch and Lomb projector. Beautiful! It's almost my sole purpose for shooting medium format. I love looking at them on the wall or screen.

 

[landryrk]

Yes, it's hard to beat a slide show on a nice screen wether it's medium format or 35mm. What would also be nice is a way to project our digital photos onto an HDTV in HD.

 

[MadMan2k]

Yes, it's hard to beat a slide show on a nice screen wether it's medium format or 35mm. What would also be nice is a way to project our digital photos onto an HDTV in HD.

Just get a TV with DVI in, and use a cable from your video card.

 

[David Murphy]

TV, even HD TV, does not compare remotely to the quality of projected film or slides. It may be a long time and a lot more megapixels before that happens.

 

[Laurence]

TV, even HD TV, does not compare remotely to the quality of projected film or slides. It may be a long time and a lot more megapixels before that happens.

How true. I've seen the difference first-hand.

Used a high-end (probably about the "highest-end" since it is brand new and big bucks) digital projector from work to see the difference.

I scanned in one of my best slides that had excellent gamma and brightness.

I expected a pretty darn crisp and bright image, and it wasn't even part-way as good as the analog projector with lamp.

The Wow Factor was lost in the digital projector.

 

[Laurence]

Yes, it's hard to beat a slide show on a nice screen wether it's medium format or 35mm. What would also be nice is a way to project our digital photos onto an HDTV in HD.

Landry, how true. I have a small single-slide-at-a-time 35mm slide projector, and it is ALSO just a thrill to see the images with that machine.

As I indicated above, the projection of slides is a huge incentive to keep with film for me.

The other incentive is to have an occasional enlargement made; but frankly, I have a feeling that a lot of us don't make all that many enlargements overall?

When I talk to fellow photographers, they all indicate that they probably only make a few enlarged images per year on an average. Of course, this isn't "everybody", but this goes along with my case.

I have only 4 big enlargements (from medium format) on the wall. And, I have about a half-dozen 8x10s or so made from 35mm, at the most.

So, having the 35mm slides projected becomes a wonderful way to view the images. It's like "being there".

 

[MadMan2k]

I try to shoot for big prints most of the time, but I like slide film for the look it has. I have my grandma's old slide projector that I use, but it's not the greatest and I don't have a screen to use it on.