Slide film...convince me!

[Huss]

Slide film.. no longer necessary, I guess. But I sure get a thrill pulling medium format Velvia out of the soup!


E6 in the basement by Tom Hart, on Flickr

Fantastic! Physical images that can last forever.

Excellent photos on this thread people.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi David - I can imagine B&W slides would be fantastic. I read a PDF about reversal processing on the Ilford web site (http://www.ilfordphoto.com/applications/page.asp?n=90). Is this the process you are referring to?

I develop all my films and prints at home, so I'd be tempted to give it a go at some point, although it does look quite complex. If you include the washes, it's a twelve stage process!...which is exactly my kind of thing 🙂

Hi,

That's the one I was thinking of, although these days it seems a lot easier than I remember it. In my day you could buy a kit of the chemicals to develop them at home and the second exposure was literally that. I've memories of holding the wet film up to a photoflood at midnight and beyond as it paid to do 2 or 3 at a time.

I'll wish you luck.

Regards, David

 

[David Hughes]

Slides are so horse & buggy . The only advantage is to use your slide projector.

Buy a good digital projector, or put files on a thumb drive and plug it into the back of a decent TV set. I go where they just use an old Canon P&S & 27" TV. Images look better than slides at that size. I can only imagine what a good digital camera would do.

Hi,

Got to disagree here. A good slide and a good, old fashioned projector just blow you away. I've seen my slides done on huge 10 ft or so high screen and was gobsmacked. Luckily I had my back to the audience and was able to carry on with the talk after a few seconds amazement...

Regards, David

PS Interesting, the next talk was from someone in the USA and he was gobsmacked and reckoned that the German projectors were superior to the US version he'd been used to, or it could have been the lens as it was in a seriously good theatre.

 

[FujiLove]

Hi,

Got to disagree here. A good slide and a good, old fashioned projector just blow you away. I've seen my slides done on huge 10 ft or so high screen and was gobsmacked. Luckily I had my back to the audience and was able to carry on with the talk after a few seconds amazement...

Regards, David

PS Interesting, the next talk was from someone in the USA and he was gobsmacked and reckoned that the German projectors were superior to the US version he'd been used to, or it could have been the lens as it was in a seriously good theatre.

Don't get me started on projectors David...I've just spent the last few days trawling eBay and the web for information. Currently drooling over a Hasselblad PCP80 and Gotschmann 67.

 

[bhop73]

This thread makes me want to shoot some slides.. I just can't justify the cost over c41.. 🙁

 

[ray*j*gun]

First I love E6 and shoot 6X6 slide film when I want to bang colors hard. So then why is digital saturation such a mortal sin when that look is so attractive when its an E6 image? I am the worst kind of film snob but its silly to be so critical of the Velvia setting on my Fuji x100 when it looks exactly like E6.....

 

[J enea]

I just bought 60 rolls of 120 velvia 50 from a guy for $150 because he went digital. nothing beats a MF slide projected. I have a Hasselblad pcp-80 which I bought from my used camera store for a real real good price, got me back to shooting MF slides. 35mm slides are nice, but a 6x6 slide is awesome.

 

[FujiLove]

I started this thread three weeks ago because I haven't shot slide film in thirty years and haven't considered it since I got back into film. So I thought I'd ask more experienced photographers what they thought about using it today. It's been a real inspiration reading the posts and looking through the superb images shot on slide film. Too inspiring.

Any sensible person would have gone out and bought a couple or rolls of film and given it a go, then taken a few days to review the images and see what they felt about it. But oh no, not me.

I now have 165 rolls of slide film sitting in the freezer, most of which is a little expired, but i couldn't resist it at £1 a roll.

I also have a Leitz CA2500 on the way + a Colorplan lens.

And a Rollei P66 sitting upstairs with almost 300 AN glass 6x6 slide mounts ready to be loaded.

And a set of ND grad filters, that I really couldn't afford (after realising that you need to get things right in camera with slide film).

Oh, and not forgetting the raw chemicals for reverse processing B&W slides.

Sometimes, I get waaaaay too excited. 🙂

 

[Trius]

Well, now that you've dipped your toe in, let us know when you really commit.

 

[Spanik]

Sometimes, I get waaaaay too excited. 🙂

You could say that! 😀

 

[LKSC]

Does the Cibachrome Process still exist?



Nobody believes me 🙁 Yes, it still exists. http://www.lab-ciba.com/index.html
Not widely available, but available, at least it was the last time I sent him some work 6 months ago.

I will second Frank Green. Had a few keepers printed by him and he always achieved an excellent result, plus he is very helpful when you talk to him.

 

[Penceler]

Do try processing E6 yourself. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, like getting your first peak at slide film coming out of the processing tank. Ok, maybe sex.. But E6 is great too!

 

[FujiLove]

A quick update on my rediscovery of slide film...

I set up my 35mm projector in the loft this weekend. I haven't found a screen yet, so I'm just using the plain white wall at the end of the room. I dug out a couple of boxes of old slides and did my best to dust them off. The oldest ones need cleaning with liquid to remove the odd fingerprint and even a bit of fungal growth in the corners - any recommendations there?

I bought a Leitz CA2500 with a Colorplan 90mm 2.5 lens and I have to say, I'm absolutely blown away by it. I started testing it without closing the blinds at dusk, when the room was still quite light, but even then, the image was outstanding when projected from five or six metres away.

The second box of slides were a real treat: A roll of Kodachrome (64?) that I shot on holiday in Greece in 2000. They must have been taken with my Minolta 303si and kit lens, which was not exactly high-end, but jeepers, they are so crisp and sharp! The image was about 1.5m wide, but I could see tons of fine detail even when standing with my face almost pressed up against it. I can't remember using slide film at that time, so it was a really nice find. One thing that I found mind-blowing was to take a slide and physically place it on the projected image so you can see how much it's being enlarged. It's incredible how much information is contained in such a small space. I know that sounds totally obvious, but it's almost comical when you stand there with the slide in your hand next to the projection.

After reading a load of posts about how to meter slide film, I'd been feeling quite anxious about blowing highlights and generally being able to produce something half-decent. I felt a lot better after looking at this set: there are only three or four images that are not perfectly exposed and they are all a bit underexposed. Knowing my photographic skills in 2000, I'm sure I would have been shooting on auto and leaving everything up to the 303......hmmm thinking about this.......it's very likely the little plastic Minolta is a lot smarter than it looks.

Anxiety creeping back ;-)

Next job is to source some more trays for the CA and get my old slides cleaned and organised so I don't have to sit for ages transferring them from box to tray.

I also shot a roll of FP4 this weekend which is going to be my first attempt at reversal processing. I'm just waiting for one of the chemicals to arrive. That may require a longer update 🙂

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

I'll wish you luck with the B&W and add that the Minoltas are very underrated, imo. Most people forget the tie up they had with Leica that benefited both companies.

And I'll wish you luck finding just the right screen for your set-up.

Regards, David

 

[wjlapier]

Fungus is really bad. Get that slide and other's away from everything else. I wouldn't use a slide projector with fungus slides. Find a way to clean those and check your gear periodically.

Fungus kinda reminds me of lice. Gotta clean everything and then do it again and again until it's fully eradicated.

 

[FujiLove]

Fungus is really bad. Get that slide and other's away from everything else. I wouldn't use a slide projector with fungus slides. Find a way to clean those and check your gear periodically.

Fungus kinda reminds me of lice. Gotta clean everything and then do it again and again until it's fully eradicated.

Any idea how to clean the slide without damaging the emulsion? I was thinking something along the lines of the fluid I use to clean vinyl records: distilled water, five percent alcohol and a drop of rinse aid...but I'm really not sure if that's the way to go.

 

[Prest_400]

Having shot a lot of slide film back in the day, I can't understand why anyone would want to miss giving it a try. Easy to get beautiful C-prints from it, which galleries all liked, although I personally showed only Cibachrome.

Some people claim it has poor dynamic range, but never an issue for me. As for exposure, never a problem for me, maybe good meters?

I personally don't share photos with others, I am stingy and only sell them. 🙂

It seems to be a polarizing issue on the veterans.

I just came back from the beach and shot a couple of sunset frames, afterwards did a long exposure of the tree by the road.
The latter I'm looking forward to see. Long exposures hard to meter (used guide and estimation) plus the mixed lighting wil make it interesting.

Choices and options, having variety is good.

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Fungus is unlikely on slides but it could be a crystal growing (or grown) due to storage and developing. I've one or two slides from the 50'd with some beautiful crystals on the surface.

Regards, David