What do you do with slides?

Provia is OK for skin tones as opposed to Velvia, which is not.
I would angle for Portra 160 for skin tones in lieu of Provia if it was really important. Provia is a 'watered down' Velvia with reduced contrast and muted primaries, and trumps Velvia with very good shadow detail. It's commonly used for early morning and evening shots for additional speed over Velvia. Many photographers have their own opinion of it: I don't really like it but do use it in my Zero Image pinhole and especially for star trails, letting reciprocity take hold to give the heavens an other-worldly purple hue!

As for what happens with slides, my Velvia 50 trannies go to high resolution drum scan, despotting, colourimetrics, proofing then printing, matting and framing — and put up on the wall for all to see (not the Flickr wall or anything else: I don't post anything online that is my property). Those that are not printed are stored with many, many others still in archival sleeves.

The only reason I would ever scan a tranny is to post it on line. I don't know why anyone would take the quality of a slide and routinely degrade it thru the limits of d*&%$@l technology. The quality of the projected image was always disappointing, too. My 35mm's get viewed directly in an old Pana-Vue Bi-lens viewer. It's like being there looking right at the scene. Medium format gets put on a light table and viewed thru a magnifying visor.

Tranny's should be viewed directly with transmitted light. They really come alive, and nothing can compare.

I have often thought of co-opting the optics of a DLT TV, as those are essentially slide projectors. Too many projects on the list, though.

You don't have to "do" anything with your slides. Just keep'um around, like photos, just to have. Use a viewfinder. Mine are in plastic sleeving, that is of course the best ones for viewing. Duplicates I keep stored.
Thuggins, you're sooooo right about d*&%$@l technology ruining a good slide. I get sad & cringe when I see my Kodachromes through a viewfinder in good light. So sharp & vivid. Then I pear out and see all these dinkheads with their digital cameras. Masses of mediocrity. (If you yourself also use digital cameras, well, then, I don't mean your a dinkhead)

Tranny's should be viewed directly with transmitted light. They really come alive, and nothing can compare.

Click to expand...

Watching my photos on a 52" HDTV compares very well. The HDTV transmits light much like a light table.

I dig my slides out occasionally and view them on a lightbox. I too use a 50mm lens as a loupe, but I also have an inexpensive 15x loupe with which I can "zoom in". Hardly any of my slides are mounted, which makes me reluctant to invest in a projector. Can anyone recommend a slide mount that shows 100% of the image? Does Gepe make a reusable 100% mount?

It blows my mind each time I view slides on the lightbox. It takes me back to the time and place of the photograph; I feel as though I'm standing right there with my camera, and I can remember the sounds and smells, what the weather was like, and what mood I was in.

I have been feeling the urge to print some of my slides, as I've been shooting E6 for several years without any prints to show for it. My first attempt at home internegging was disappointing. I am planning on trying again; next time I'm going to experiment with pre-flashing the negatives. I may get a scanner sometime down the road, but first I'd like to try RA-4 printing from internegs, if I can get them right. Even when and if I'm able to print, I doubt the impact will be the same as viewing the slide directly.

For the most recent slide mount model see here:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)


To my understanding all GEPE mounts are reusable.

There are two full format 24x36mm mounts by GEPE:
http://www.gepe.com/website/files/slide_mount_inner_sizes.pdf

GEPE are really hard to buy in some places but the guys who make Wess glass mounts will ship anywhere direct from the factory.

AgX said:

For the most recent slide mount model see here:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)


To my understanding all GEPE mounts are reusable.

There are two full format 24x36mm mounts by GEPE:
http://www.gepe.com/website/files/slide_mount_inner_sizes.pdf

Click to expand...

Thanks for the inner size chart! I'd not come across that before.