I have a question her for folks as I have NO experience at all in this matter. I have shot some slide film, both 135 and 120 (6 x 4.5) and the lab has returned the transparencies to me uncut and unmounted. How hard and time consuming is it to mount slides? How long to mount 36 exposures? How do you cut them? Are they permanently mounted (glued?) or can you remove them if need be.
I am thinking of shooting a lot of slide film but fear that mounting them will be an enormous task.
Thank you!
It is costly and time-consuming for labs nowadays to cut and mount slides. Full strips is the standard througput unless you are prepared to pay for mounting.
Mounting slides the old way, in traditional slide mounts, is wasteful and counterproductive if you don't intend to project them at all frequently. Strips of 35mm and 120 can be cut and placed in archival sleeves then a storage box, ready to be whipped out for viewing on the lightbox or, of scanning/printing. If you're really keen, eBay has occasional listings of Gepe glass slide mounts, but 120 might be much harder to find. These mounts are somewhat frail and they do break easily. Fungus and mould love these things for the cosy access and favourable conditions to proliferate: I've not been a fan of any slide mounts since my Kodachrome days 22 years ago. You might want to have a look around for archival plastic or card masks upon which individual frames are taped into position especially useful for bureaux printing where many people will be handling the slide with no risk of breakage or other damage. In the end, it's what you intend to do with the slides that will determine how you store them, and there are many better ways than slapping them into arcane mounts.
I have a cutter box for slicing rolls to fit sleeves, and use Fiskar shears to cut individual frames prior to mounting in masks. Oh, and a scalpel is handy too...
Example of archival sleeves for bureaux scan/print jobbing