120 processing

<p>Greetings All-<br>

<br />I ave been shooting Fuji Provia 35 mm for years and still shoot it. I will attempt my first photo shoot with a Bronica and 120 format.<br>

<br />Ultimately I will scan the slides. My question is: Can 120 format be mounted as 35 mm slides are, or do processors simply cut the film in strips for scanning.</p>

<p>Thanks-<br>

Jim</p>

<p>The pro labs I have used return the roll uncut, in a plastic protective sleeve. You can request they be cut, but it will cost more. I generally cut the roll at home and put the slides into negative holders such as Printfile. <br>

120 can be mounted in slide mounts like 35. I have done it a few times. The mounts are big, of course. There were, perhaps still are, a couple of medium format slide projectors made. </p>

 

<p>120 transparencies are normally returned unmounted.<br />There are medium format projectors and appropriately sized mounts if you want to project 120 transparencies. But MF projectors are far less common than 35mm projectors. Most people shooting 120 transparency were doing so for publication, and the film would have had to be taken out of the mounts anyhow. (Even 35mm was taken out of its mounts.)<br />You can cut down a 120 transparency to fit into a 2x2 mount that fits a 35mm projector, but obviously you lose some of the image area. 2x2 'superslides used to be popular at one time. They were sized to match 127 film but were sometimes created from 120, either by slicing off the excess or, more likely, reduced from a 120 original.</p>

<p>As above, returned in uncut roll within sleeve. From there you edit on your light table, clip out bad exposures etc, then place them how you want in PVC, pages organized accordingly. Its best for 120 to end up in PVC viewing pages, this keeps them flat, and insulates them from dust.</p>

<p>You can get them mounted but it would cost more. I use a lot of Velvia and they come back from my pro lab in strips of there in plastic sleeves.</p>

<p>Thanks all...I really appreciate the help!</p>

<p>Jim</p>

<p>Mr. Goodfellows…</p>

<p>I did not know of a lab that still mounted 120. Do you know of a lab that does and also does quality E-6 processing? If so, do they mount just 6x6 or do they also mount 6x7 which uses a larger mount (usually lantern slide size)? Also are the mounts standard cardboard like Kodak processing used in the 50s and 60s or are they the thicker plastic, snap together/apart type? </p>

<p>Any reference to a medium format processor/mounter would be appreciated. </p>

<p>A. T. Burke</p>

Last I looked, Gepe still makes 120 mounts.

<p>It's pointless to mount 120 as a slide unless you have to project it. In fact, there's really no reason to mount 35mm either--it's just something photographers have gotten used to after decades of the practice. In the case of 35 mm, there is one advantage: I think it helps protect the emulsion a little and enables you to handle it easier. However, 120 is much bigger anyway, so there's less benefit for protection. In any event, a mounted 120 frame would, as far as I know, not fit in most consumer scanners. And can you even drum scan it?</p>

<p>Hi Jim,<br>

of course medium format slides can be mounted in slide mounts. Gepe, Kunze, RBT and some others are producing medium format slide mounts for the different formats based on 120 film.<br>

I always recommend to do the mounting by yourself, and not by the lab, because<br>

- best is to mount only the best shots, and not all shots<br>

- you can use the best slide mounts the market is offering ( most labs mount in very cheap mounts), e.g. the outstanding Diaspeed HT-XYZ for 35mm, or Kunze for 6x6.</p>

<p>For the best pleasure with 120 slide I highly recommend to go the 'optical route' and avoid scanning. With scanning you loose lots of the detail of the slides (and negatives, too). Even drum scanners can not resolve the full detail of Provia 100F. And the resolution of your computer screen is even further limiting the picture quality at the extreme low 1 - 2 MP level.<br>

To fully exploit the potential of the slides I can recommend<br>

- using a light table with daylight color temperature and an excellent medium format slide loupe like the Schneider 3x medium format loupe, which has outstanding optical quality, has even an 8cm x 8cm image circle and can be used both for slides and prints (changeable foot)</p>

<p>- using a slide projector with a very good lens (Rollei, Hasselblad, Kindermann, Götschmann) gives by far the best performance: Much much higher resolution and detail rendition on the screen compared to even the best drum scanners (I've compared it, lots of professional photographer friends have compared it, too, and we've got all the same result: projection is unsurpassed).</p>

<p>Excellent medium format slide projectors are still produced by DHW-Fototechnik (Rollei) http://www.dhw-fototechnik.de/en/slide-projectors/rolleivision-66-dual-p.html<br>

and Gecko-Cam (Götschmann) http://www.gecko-cam.com/sales/goetschmann/produkte-products/</p>

<p>I saw a 120 sized slide projector at an estate sale, but didn't buy it. I don't know the price, and that was a few years ago.</p>

<p>Whether you're looking at 120 slides in a projector, or simply looking at them on a light table or in a hand held viewer, its easier and better if the frames are mounted. The real question comes in deciding what sort of mounts- glass? Glassless? card? They each have their strengths and weaknesses. </p>

<p>I've never come across a lab that cut and mount 120 slides as a standard product, though I'm sure that at my pro-lab would have done so had I asked, but charged me handsomely. I wouldn't do it that way because I would typically throw about 30% of the frames I shot away and didn't want to pay for mounts/mounting for them, and because I divded the "Keepers" into ist and 2nd line and didn't mount the latter . </p>