Where is the most economical place to send slide film?

Fujifilm printing service through Walmart (send-out):

135 slides, cardboard mounted, $6.88 + tax
120 slides, $4.88 + tax

If you can put up the 10-14 days of processing time.

so you just drop off at walmart, pay 6.88 and get back mounted 35mm slides that you pick up at the store 10 - 14 days later? Fuji lab must be very good quality no?
 
so you just drop off at walmart, pay 6.88 and get back mounted 35mm slides that you pick up at the store 10 - 14 days later? Fuji lab must be very good quality no?

I have used the Fuji Lab through Walmart. The mounted 35 mm slides are good and that is the only why they will do them. So, uncut is not an option. I have also done the 120 E-6 and C-41. Sometimes these are dusty. But it is convenient for me and they will do uncut 120, so rolled to return. Someone on RFF had an experience where they sent on film through Walmart and only received back a scanned lo-res disc.
 
There is a slide mounting machine that will take an uncut roll and mount slides semi-automatically. A good lab will watch each frame to account for spacing issues. The cheap places won't.

Cut rolls need to mounted into slide mounts individually and it is a fiddle-some process that they need to be paid extra for.

Uncut rolls of 135 or 120 are always sleeved and returned rolled up into a small loop with a rubber band. If you are scanning or printing then it is the most expedient, put them into your own Print File pages afterwards.

Otherwise you can purchase a Print File page and have them cut and inserted for a price. Frankly I prefer to handle the film as little as possible and simply getting it uncut and sleeved minimizes the handling and chances of dirt or scratches.

Unless you are still using a slide projector, it's wasteful and silly to mount slides since they also will crop a good portion of your image border. But then again, there is no good reason that I can think of to even shoot E6 anymore, so to each their own.

Frankly the film isn't cheap and it's silly to take a chance on the processing to save a dollar. Send it to Edgar Praus in Rochester and get it done right: http://www.4photolab.com. He does E6 from around the world and provides reference/testing for Fuji (and what used to be Kodak E6). Not like Walmart....
 
The reason I want the 35mm color slides is because I like projecting them. I have 3000 slides or so from the past and would like to be able to project the new photos right along with them. I can always scan ones that I really like if I want to make a big print or something.

With black and white I can reverse process myself and project. 6x6 and 35mm. Can also make darkroom prints with negatives which is fun. I dont know if there is paper avaialble to make darkroom prints from B&W positives

Color negatives have to be scanned just to look at them to see what I have. My v500 wont make a contact sheet because it only uses a small part of the scanner and can only do a couple strips at a time. It would be nice if i could just lay the negs on the glas, put glass over and scan all of them at one shot for a contact sheet. Then i could pick the ones I like and scan them and make a nice big print if I want.

I dotn do much online sharing, if I did I would go digital.

Black and white chemicals are nice, you can keep them on the shelf and do 1 or 2 rolls at a time and long shelf life is nice, cheap 3 step process.

E6 is more involved, chems have short life. One day I will try it. I guess if you save up a bunch of rolls and then do it all at once it can be alright.

So the reason I want slides is to project on my brumberger 500watt projector. They look so great and huge and sharp. Its fun.

I just want a place, I send the film and they come back as slides just like old times and for a reasonable price.
 
If you love projecting, you should consider a good projector such as a Leitz Pradovit. They use 250W halogen bulbs, with efficient cooling. The benefit is much less heat cooking your slide during projection. Aspherical condenser lenses make sure that you have uniform light illumination of the entire slide. Of course, you also get the benefit of Leica lenses for the projection.

A more commonly found alternative is the Kodak Ektagraphic. Off the shelf, they produce a yellowish light, but brighter light modules are available from Kodak and Navitar. Navitar also made very high quality projection lenses for the Ektagraphics.

I would be reluctant to keep using an old 500W projector to show your slides with. The heat generated by these old machines will roast your film quickly. You can tell when the film is roasting because it will literally melt and distort in front of you. If you really keep it in the projection gate beyond that, it may even start to smoke. I found this out the hard way when I tried a Navitar super bright light kit that lacks the heat deflection glass. My test slide lasted for about a minute before it became melted plastic. Subsequently, I bought a heat deflection glass for that module.


Prolonged or repeated projection will fade the slides.
If you plan to project, try taking two of every shot. One to project, one to keep. You can scan the keepers, and show the others.
 
And just to reconfirm Rogers remark about doing your own E-6 process, may I add a few suggestions, I've only used Arista kits. They can easily do 8 rolls of 120, and you should do them all ,one after the other,temp is easily regulated in a large picnic cooler with the correct water temp (important). My experience was gratifying and excellent,BUT, holy jeez you gotta put aside a few hours ( 6 or 8 rolls = 5 hours). So I send mine to ABC Photocolour here in Vancouver,B.C for ~$9.00 can. Peter
 
Prolonged or repeated projection will fade the slides.

I thought that was a myth? What is fading the slides then , the heat? Im pretty sure it has a heat glass in it, Ill double check. The beseler slide king is 750 watts. Im trying to sell it actually as I dont plan on projecting 6x7 or 6x9 or bigger. It has heat absorbing glass in it too Im pretty sure.

Also, do you think that glass mounts would protect a slide from the ravages that you speak of?
 
Back when people traveled and did professional slide shows, they used to mark the usage on the slide trays... 20 shows was the limit for dupes before they showed noticeable fading. It is light and heat that does them in.
 
If you happen to be in New York, pick up some slide film processing envelopes from B&H. It costs $8.99 for processing one roll and can be used for either 35mm or 120. I bought several of these when I was in NYC and visited the B&H store in Manhattan. No word on results as I haven't gotten the slides back yet.

If you have the mailers shipped to you, however, they are probably not a good choice due to the additional cost of shipping.

One negative is you have to add the cost of postage to mail the rolls but they can't be beat for convenient door-to-door service.


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