How hard to mount 6 x 4.5 cm slides?

RattyMouse · Feb 7, 2013

I am piling up a bunch of slide film these days. The labs have returned the transparencies to me cut only enough to get into negative holders. In other words the slides are unmounted. I am thinking about one day getting a projector and viewing these slides properly. How difficult is it to do this? It looks sort of thin between images and I'm not sure one cuts the film accurately. Is it easy? What about mounting them in slide holders.

I need to learn about this so that I can decide what to do with these transparencies.

Thank you for your help!

bdial · Feb 7, 2013

Mounting them is probably easier than finding the mounts or a projector to put them in

That is, projectors that can take 6x6 slides were never common, and are less so now, and mounts may not be available either.

There are (were) two kinds of mounts the "Gepe" style plastic mounts and cardboard that had heat seal adhesive pre applied. For the Gepe you either slide the film through a slot of the assembled mount, or there were also two-part mounts where you position the slide then snap the other half in place.
For the cardboard mounts you would place the slide, fold the mount over then melt the adhesive with a clothes iron or a dry mount tacking iron.
Either way, as you understand, it's a matter of carefully trimming the film to fit, how easy that is depends on your skill. Dedicated cutters exist (existed).

Sad to say but the best way to deal with them is probably by scanning, but they do look nice projected onto a proper screen.

A possible more viable alternative is to use the "Super slide" format which is more or less 4.5 cm square. These fit in the same projectors that can project 35 mm slides. They take more trimming, and you may want to use a mask in your camea for composing, but you have more choices for the projectors. Not sure if the mounts are available though.

RattyMouse · Feb 7, 2013

Wow....only one reply. I guess slide film is truly dead.

Thank you for your reply. While you present some options that seem possible, I dont want to go too far down a route that is such a dead end. I guess I'll have to stick to b & w film.

Thank you again.

mrred · Feb 7, 2013

Not quite dead. I get my mounts from B&H http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/114650-REG/Gepe_457030_6x4_5cm_Glassless_Slide_Mounts.html . I don't have a projector, but I do use a viewer. Mine is old but works like a charm. Post something in the classifieds if you are looking for something.

polyglot · Feb 7, 2013

Not dead, just that there are a lot of copies of your question already in APUG so people are not in a hurry to answer it. Plenty of 6x6 projectors are available cheap second hand and several companies still make them new. Gepe and Wess still both make slide mounts that you can buy from B&H and even directly from the manufacturer.

RattyMouse · Feb 7, 2013

I guess I am just not clear on how hard it is to mount transparency film into slides. I have 30-40 rolls of film that need mounting and growing weekly. Is this something that will take me months to do?

mrred · Feb 7, 2013

No. You just need some sharp sizors and an xacto knife.

AgX · Feb 7, 2013

bdial said:
That is, projectors that can take 6x6 slides were never common, and are less so now, and mounts may not be available either.

I assume that is/was very dependant on part of the world one looks at.

MattKing · Feb 7, 2013

This film cutter is very handy: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-MULTIPLE..._Photographic_Accessories&hash=item2a1c1b0723

I bought mine from another eBay vendor. It makes the cutting of all negatives and slides much easier.

Here is a link to the Gepe website - in particular the hand mounting press that definitely adds convenience when you are using Gepe mounts. You don't need the press, but ...http://www.gepe.com/website/index.asp?pageID=249&showProdID=136

In some markets, there are lots of used medium format projectors available. In others, probably not.

They are quite large and heavy.

kmallick · Feb 8, 2013

MattKing said:
This film cutter is very handy: http://www.ebay.ca/itm/New-MULTIPLE..._Photographic_Accessories&hash=item2a1c1b0723

I bought mine from another eBay vendor. It makes the cutting of all negatives and slides much easier.

Here is a link to the Gepe website - in particular the hand mounting press that definitely adds convenience when you are using Gepe mounts. You don't need the press, but ...http://www.gepe.com/website/index.asp?pageID=249&showProdID=136

In some markets, there are lots of used medium format projectors available. In others, probably not.

They are quite large and heavy.

Yes that hand Gepe mounting press really helps.

benjiboy · Feb 8, 2013

RattyMouse said:
I guess I am just not clear on how hard it is to mount transparency film into slides. I have 30-40 rolls of film that need mounting and growing weekly. Is this something that will take me months to do?

You have to be prepared to" suffer for your art ", and do the work, it's part of what being a real photographer is, not just being a button pusher.

MattKing · Feb 8, 2013

benjiboy said:
You have to be prepared to" suffer for your art ", and do the work, it's part of what being a real photographer is, not just being a button pusher.

Why does this make me think of spotting prints made using a condenser enlarger?

benjiboy · Feb 9, 2013

MattKing said:
Why does this make me think of spotting prints made using a condenser enlarger?

I've been there too Matt and got the T shirt, my point is that excellence in any creative endeavour is "one part inspiration and ninety nine parts perspiration".

nworth · Feb 10, 2013

645 slides project nicely using standard 6X6 or 6X7 projectors. The problem is finding the appropriate mounts (and the projector). Labs used to mount them for 6X6 projectors unless you emphatically told them not to. A few may still do it if you emphatically tell the to do it. Hand mounting slides is not difficult. Although there are lots of special tools that can make things a lot quicker and easier, you can do a quite adequate job with scissors and a common iron.

How hard to mount 6 x 4.5 cm slides?

RattyMouse

bdial

RattyMouse

mrred

polyglot

RattyMouse

mrred

AgX

MattKing

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kmallick

benjiboy

MattKing

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benjiboy

nworth

How hard to mount 6 x 4.5 cm slides?

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