new 35mm slide-mount system

AgX · Nov 26, 2012

Well, "new" is not quite right, it was introduced 1 1/2 years ago. But as it only has been hinted at briefly here, I thought it a good idea to introduce. All the more so as it is surprising to see a new product in this field:

It is a system that is intended to avoid

-) the micro-chamber effect of glass slide mounts

-) the protruding out of focus of transparencies whilst being projected in glass-less mounts

by employing pins that tension the transparency.

That pinning is not a new idea, new however is the feature of adjusting the pre-tension and to correct for lateral frame position by using pin-sets with different pin positions depending of the transparency to be mounted.

The system consists of

-) 1 pair of hinged plastic frames 4x4 24x36, 3mm thick
-) 12 different flexible pin-inserts

All inserts have the same pitch (lateral distance between pins).

They differ in width between the pin rows (vertical distance to adjust pre-tension) and in lateral pin-row position (to adjust for lateral frame position due to camera misalignement).

Tension is adjusted to a certain bending of the inserts.

Outer mounts in 100pc packages, inserts in 25pc packages.
There is a kind of trial set with inserts of all vertical distances to check for ones films.

slide-mount system DIASPEED HT-XYZ

data-sheet (in German only)
http://www.diaspeed.de/html/diarahmen__ht-xyz__mit__spanne.html

benjiboy · Nov 26, 2012

Is "the micro-chamber effect" the same as Newtons Rings ?

AgX · Nov 26, 2012

Sorry for being ambiguous!

Newton rings could be a problem though they are only a matter of distance between planes.
I was rather thinking of the micro-climate within a slide mount.

AgX · Jun 23, 2013

a test on these mounts

Fellow member Henning Serger and others published the outcome of a test they did on these mounts.

They tested these films:

all slide films from Fuji, Kodak, AgfaPhoto, Rollei, , Adox, Foma. Including those on PET-base as Superpan 200, Retro 80S, Agfa Copex Rapid, Adox CMS 20 II), sowie dem Agfa Scala 200X, Adox Silvermax und Fomapan R.

with these projectors:

Leica Pradovit PC with Leica Super-Colorplan 2,5/90, Kindermann Silent 2500 with Docter-Optics 2,4/90 MC-B, Zeiss Ikon Royal AF selektiv with Carl Zeiss P-Sonnar 2,5/90, Leica RA 150 with Leica Colorplan 2,5 /90, Rolleivision MSC 535 P and Rolleivision MSC 300 P with the Schneider lenses AV Xenotar 2,4/90 mm HFT, AV Xenotar 2,8/150 mm and Vario-Xenotar 3,5/70-120 mm.

"1. Flatness is very good, with very good sharpnes from center to edges.

2. A pronounced "popping" was not experienced with any film and with any projector.

3. At longer projection times (more than 30 sec.) in very few cases (less than 3%) focus had to be readjusted. But after adjusting again a very good, even sharpness over the whole Image area was gained.

The system of different tensioning frames is convincing and works very well. The evenness over the complete image area, with various types of film, is significantly better than with any other glass-less mount, including the Wess AHX 002, and is on par with glass Mounts. What slide-photographers had long been waiting for came to reality: A glass-less slide-mount that keeps film absolutely flat for projection with sharpness up into the edges, and still yields the ability for horizontal corrections."

AgX · Oct 13, 2014

Their website is missing a link to a pricelist...

Here a list on their server:

http://www.diaspeed.de/html/preise.html
(HT-XYZ mounts start at 3rd line)

A automated translation:
https://translate.google.de/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.diaspeed.de%2Fhtml%2Fpreise.html

BrianShaw · Oct 13, 2014

Vey interesting, but isn't this a product that would have been better suited to the photographic industry of 30 years ago? Who shoots/projects slides any more??

Trask · Oct 13, 2014

BrianShaw said:
Vey interesting, but isn't this a product that would have been better suited to the photographic industry of 30 years ago? Who shoots/projects slides any more??

I may not shoot as many slides as I used to, but I would be interested in using these mounts with all the slides I've shot over the past 40 years. So perhaps there's a market is what exists, if not so much in what lies ahead

Jim Jones · Oct 13, 2014

BrianShaw said:
Vey interesting, but isn't this a product that would have been better suited to the photographic industry of 30 years ago? Who shoots/projects slides any more??

It might be useful for us who sometimes project film with an enlarger for prolonged times while doing a drawing or painting of it.

AgX · Oct 14, 2014

BrianShaw said:
Vey interesting, but isn't this a product that would have been better suited to the photographic industry of 30 years ago? Who shoots/projects slides any more??

To my understanding the use of slides is still not homogeneous worldwide.
(There are still several german manufacturers offering slide projectors.)

And I do not understand the use of still reversal film with scanning in mind.

miha · Oct 14, 2014

I might go for these new mounts as I hate slides popping and glass mounts are not that good for prolonged storage (a myth perhaps?), although I don't quite understand the colour thing, I believe it has to do with the fact that sprocket holes aren't precisely uniform among film brands?

AgX · Oct 14, 2014

There are two variances:

-) the lateral shift of the perforation due to camera misalignement

A camera should be built/adjusted that way that the perforations are always positioned a standardised way to the image frame of the camera.
If you use the perforations to locate the cut piece of film within the slide mount, variations in the perforation/frame relation may become troublesome.
Thus this feature of these mounts to correct for such lateral perforation shift.

-) distance between the two rows of perforation

Standardisation of film perforating allows for some deviation for this distance.
Seemingly this deviation (or rather the experienced variance) is large enough for this mount system to allow for/necessitate different tensioning inserts.

miha · Oct 14, 2014

Thanks, so this is basically a trial and error thing or are there any guides for certain film/camera make?

AgX · Oct 14, 2014

Not to my knowledge.
But the perforations should be laterally symmetrical to the image. In case of deviation, measure that deviation and you know which insert you need with respect to this lateral shift.

Diaspeed offers a test-kit of 100 mounts with 4 x 25 tensioning inserts with Zero lateral shift to test for best fit with respect to row-distance.
Maybe measuring would be better too. (But then you'll need a caliper.)

Anyway, at the Diaspeed page I linked to in post #1 you will find the necessary figures.

miha · Oct 14, 2014

Over at Aphog people seem to mostly use the yellow ones with Fujichrome slides. I might give them a try.

Steve Roberts · Oct 14, 2014

BrianShaw said:
Who shoots/projects slides any more??

Ha! Ha! Good one! You're joking ..... right?????

AgX · Aug 16, 2020

Production of these innovative mounts seems to have been cancelled.

guangong · Aug 16, 2020

BrianShaw said:
Vey interesting, but isn't this a product that would have been better suited to the photographic industry of 30 years ago? Who shoots/projects slides any more??

The bulk of my color photography uses slide film, everything from 35mm to 67. I wish there were an affordable projector for 69. Nothing beats a slide projected on a quality screen using a high quality projector. BW slides can be particularly stunning if shot on a clear film support.

new 35mm slide-mount system

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