What do you do with slide/reversal film?

Kirks518 · Dec 15, 2014

I've been shying away from reversal/slide film because, quite frankly, I can't figure out what I would do with it if I had it. There was a time when folks had slide projectors and a screen, and would bore their visitors with a slide show of their vacation to Nantucket, but nowadays that doesn't happen. Or does it?

So what do you do with your slides? Do you scan and print, or print from the slide, or what? Or do you still have a projector and screen and invite unsuspecting friends over for dinner and a show?

David Brown · Dec 15, 2014

I still own two projectors, a couple of screens and thousands of slides. (and a scanner) However, I haven't used any chrome film in years. It's done, I'm afraid.

cliveh · Dec 15, 2014

Colour slides have a much greater brightness range when viewed by transmitted light than colour prints viewed by reflection (something like 30% or greater I think). But the point is when you have a colour slide the options of what you can do with it are endless. Scan it, make a colour neg through an inter-mask, convert it to black & white, etc.

benjiboy · Dec 15, 2014

I shoot both 35mm and 120 colour slides and mainly project them for myself and my wife, if she wants to see them, I will only show them to my friends if they beg me to, I never "invite unsuspecting friends over to dinner and a show"
Nothing I have ever seen can compare to the beauty of slide films projected with a quality projector on a good screen, and medium format slides are even more stunning than 35mm ones.

ME Super · Dec 15, 2014

I do all of the following with 35mm slides:

Scan them and share them with friends online
Project them (projected slides are awesome, and are my primary reason for using the stuff!)
View them on the lightbox (I use my tablet as a lightbox) or in a slide viewer
Have prints made of the best ones.

As long as I can get slide film and have it processed and mounted, I'm going to use it.

ww12345 · Dec 15, 2014

David Brown said:
However, I haven't used any chrome film in years. It's done, I'm afraid.

Don't tell Film Ferrania that...

Jonathan Van Matre · Dec 15, 2014

Less and less, sadly, as all of my favorite chrome films fall off the market.

But slide film still has its advantages even if you never project a single slide.

- Easier to scan.
- More contrast range at the expense of less dynamic range.
- An easily understood reference point if you have a third party do an expensive higher quality scan and the scan does not resemble the slide.

GregW · Dec 15, 2014

For stereo slides viewed with a hand held viewer.

Poisson Du Jour · Dec 15, 2014

Print from it! Either wet darkroom RA4 or hybridised metrics print processing. You can do much, much, much more with the beauty and fidelity of slides than projecting on a white wall.

Sirius Glass · Dec 15, 2014

I used to shoot only slides. I stopped doing it because I needed to be able to make prints.

If one likes boring people, they should consider slides although my slide shows were interesting.

MattKing · Dec 15, 2014

ME Super said:
I do all of the following with 35mm slides:

Scan them and share them with friends online

Project them (projected slides are awesome, and are my primary reason for using the stuff!)

View them on the lightbox (I use my tablet as a lightbox) or in a slide viewer

Have prints made of the best ones.

As long as I can get slide film and have it processed and mounted, I'm going to use it.

+1

For medium format slides too.

High quality, used slide projectors are really cheap around here.

Alan Klein · Dec 15, 2014

I mainly shoot Velvia 50 reversal film in medium format when I'm using film. I just like the colors and contrast and like to scan them for internet. Velvia pops! I also make slide shows digitally for HDTV's. While it's suppose to be not as good as projecting them, it's certainly easier to set up and to show to friends along with background music, narrative, and a video clip or two. Currently I use Adobe Premiere Elements to create the show. I burn regular DVD's with AVCHD format (BluRay H264 1080p) to play on BluRay players yet avoid the expense of BluRay disks. I think it will get even better once I get a 4k UHDTV that will have 4 times the pixels (double the resolution 3640 x 2160 ) than regular 2k HDTV (1920 x 1080). While off topic, I use the same procedure for my digital camera shots.

Velvia 50 https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanklein2000/tags/velvia/
Velvia 100 https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanklein2000/tags/velvia100/

Here's a 35mm slide film show I posted on Youtube. These were from old Ektachrome slides. Its the Key Largo Scuba video. The other show in Coney Island are from digital cameras. https://www.youtube.com/user/AlanClips/videos

Poisson Du Jour · Dec 15, 2014

Sirius Glass said:
I used to shoot only slides. I stopped doing it because I needed to be able to make prints.

If one likes boring people, they should consider slides although my slide shows were interesting.

Because you needed to be able to make prints. ????
Photographers are printing murals from pano transparencies, and anything from the various other formats (like 4x5, 8x10). In the Ilfochrome Classic era, it was the one way to gain attention. We are doing the same thing now with the hybrid metrics process. But why did you shift?

Trail Images · Dec 15, 2014

Although I've shot very little negative film, I've shot thousands of slides since I started back in the late 60's. Previously I made Cib / Ilfochrome prints from them. These days it's all hybrid scans, web usage & inkjet, canvas, metal prints.
Like Alan K. I use Velvia 50 for landscape shots. It's not for everyone, but it is my way of doing things in my photographic world.

Sirius Glass · Dec 15, 2014

Poisson Du Jour said:
Because you needed to be able to make prints. ????
Photographers are printing murals from pano transparencies, and anything from the various other formats (like 4x5, 8x10). In the Ilfochrome Classic era, it was the one way to gain attention. We are doing the same thing now with the hybrid metrics process. But why did you shift?

I had children and I was taking photographs of them growing up. Even parents do not what to see slide of their children. I was printing the photographs and making prints from slides was not in the cards.

StoneNYC · Dec 16, 2014

I scan it all, then have it light jet printed onto RA-4

The more I've done this the more I've come to grips with the hybrid process and that it's OK for me.

Buy fuji Velvia50 and Provia100f they are AMAZING films

Wayne · Dec 16, 2014

I used to print them on Ilfochrome. Now I sell them on the internet to buy color negatives.

AgX · Dec 16, 2014

David Brown said:
It's done, I'm afraid.

Do not overlook that projectors still can be bought new from the manufacturer. There even has been brought a brand new (though extremely expensive) projector to the market these days.

From comparing Apug to a german forum on this matter I get the strong impression that interest in slide projecting varies between nations.

destroya · Dec 16, 2014

i still project them, but not as much as before. i scan them as the results are, for me, far superior to color neg. enjoy them on a light box. and for larger ones, i used to tape them to my office window

BAC1967 · Dec 16, 2014

I shoot color reversal in both Super 8 and Regular 8mm for home movies. I love projecting the movies, I've never digitized them. I also shoot slide film in my View Master personal camera. They can be viewed in the handheld viewers or with my stereo projector. My wife's grandfather started shooting View Master personal reels around 1955 and continued until he died on vacation in 1986 where he was still shooting it. My wife's entire life is on view master so I decided to continue the tradition. I would hate to see slide film go away for that reason alone. The old Kodachrome stuff still looks amazing, even if it was shot 60 years ago. The Ektachrome 100 looked amazing as well, I was very sad to see that go away.

lhalcong · Dec 17, 2014

I scan them and convert them to digital, then play with them in Photoshop. I print them in different ways. Light-jet Print on a pro-lab if the picture is worth it, print on my Epson, Digital Gallery, Project no more 'cause my projector died. and Il know a guy that can still print on Ilfochrome. Velvia 50 is great to convert to Black & White. Every time I play with this , I am pleased to see the results.

Trail Images · Dec 17, 2014

Velvia 50 is great to convert to Black & White. Every time I play with this , I am pleased to see the results.

It's called a twofer. I use A LOT of Velvia 50 and do the same.

What do you do with slide/reversal film?

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