using slide film for prints

Dear all,

I plan to use slide film. Rather than projecting the pictures I want

to have them printed (or scanned). What is more convenient, having the

film framed as individual slides, or cut into stripes of 4 or 5 images

like negatives?

Yours, Bruno

Bruno,

 

Often, major LAbs (Kodak, Fuji) offer a transfert onto a CD ROM for a few euros more. Not only you get your slides but you have them all scanned already.

 

Often the prints resulting of Digital image made out of slides are far better than direct printing of the slides. My explanation is that the Digital cameras are very contrasty and the pro printer try to smooth out the image.

 

FWIW. Cheers

Strips are probably more convenient for either conventional (wet lab) prints or scanning, as mounting is usually done before the film has fully dried, resulting in flatness problems. But, I'd suggest discussing the matter with the specific lab you intend to use. My preference is to have slide film left uncut in long strips. I then hang it for a day or two in the sleeves with a weight (e.g. a large binder clip) attached to the bottom before cutting into stips of 5.

 

I would also be cautious about the mass scanning service offered by many consumer labs, as little attention can be paid to the needs of individual frames in such a machine-oriented process. I'm also unsure about the resolution at which this scanning is done, and whether that is optimal for digital printing purposes. It is unclear from your question, however, whether you plan to have all of the slides printed, or just selected ones.

 

Various options exist for printing from slides in both traditional wet labs (e.g. R prints, Ilfochrome) and digital (Fuji Frontier, Noritsu, etc.), so you may want to run several test rolls before settling on a final process that satisfies your requirements.

Someone needs to say it, shoot print film for prints. Slides are a backwards way to go about it unless you are a "dugutal darkroom" type of person. If I weren't shooting professionally, I can't imagine why I would use slides. I would establish a good realtionship with a lab that I trust, and then bask in the glory of print film's exposure laditude and shadow detail.

Slide film is a great way to get prints. Simply use the "Cibachrome" process or "Ifochrome" as I think it might be called by some. In conventional color prints, the dyes are formed chemically during development... but with cibachrome, dyes brighter and more permanent are actually put into the paper's emulsion when manufactured. The result is much brighter color, as well as being very archival.

I thank you all for your valuable comments! I will discuss the

issue with the lab, but Ralph's advice how to handle the film

makes a lot of sense to me. II want to use slide films because

the whole prcoedure gets easier, more reproducable and also

chaeper than with negative films. After developing negative films

I normally order contact prints, and then business-quality prints

(which normally are a bit off in colours) of selected pictures. Of a

really good photo I might order a handmade print, where still you

may not be satisfied with the colour balance. For slide films I

only have to do the processing. Then I can select the good ones

for prints, even the business quality gives me good results: the

colours are much more accurate. An additional reason to prefer

slides would be their better archival properties. And third, I see

the narrow latitude of slide film as a challenge to improve my

technique, to care more about correct exposure. Yours, Bruno

Bruno,

 

If you can find a Fuji Frontier Lab near you, be sure to use them for prints from slides. The quality is unbeatable, as is the price.

 

If you build a friendly relationship with the lab manager, you can really get fantastic results at retail prices. If you have problems with color balance and the like, check out this link to a free calibration service...

 

http://www.drycreekphoto.com/default.htm

 

That being said, I'm not sure why the narrow latitude of slide film is a meaningful challenge, especially if the end product is prints. Surely the ability to better control burned out highlights (which you can do with negative film but not slide film) is pretty important in printing? And with scanning, there is much more scope for the latter.

 

Unless, of course, you prefer the 'slide look'.

Hello,

One of the advantages of slide film over negative film is the ability to make reprints from slides many years later without having to search for the negatives. It is very difficult to match up negatives or even to locate old negatives. These days they offer film indexes that help with such a task, but I find slides much easier for reviewing what I want to have printed for an exhibit.

Raid

<i>One of the advantages of slide film over negative film is the ability to make reprints from slides many years later without having to search for the negatives</i><p>

 

If this was really an issue, all of us black and white photographers would have given up years ago.<p>

 

Using slide film when prints are the end target makes sense if you are going digital. Otherwise, the paper choices are very limited and the process is usually more costly. If you are going to use traditional optical printing, use negative film. You can keep track of your negatives by doing exactly what most of us black and white shooters do, make contact sheets.

I can speak to the archival qualities of the Cibachrome process. I had a color slide Cibachromed into a print in 1977. The photo has hung on the wall exposed to sunlight, New York air pollution, and whatnot. It hasn't faded one iota. The slide--a Kodachrome--hasn't either. I have other color slides and prints from the same era, and they have slid from color to a kind of off-color black and white. Long live Ciba and Koda--nothing else seems to!

<p>Hello All,</p>

<p><br>

I am curious as to what is the "traditional/conventional" method of making

prints out of slide films?</p>

<p><br>

As in, now most labs [mini-abs with a digital set-up] will scan the slides and

then print those...<br>

How was it being done earlier?<br>

Did people make an internegetive/contact-negetive?</p>

<p>What exactly is the procedure, how is it done?</p>

<p><br>

I am curious because I have never used slides and plan to use them...<br>

Now, I donot have a projector, so i need prints.<br>

 </p>

<p>However, being a beginner and given the low exposure latitude of slide films, i

am bound to make over/under shots...</p>

<p>The mini-labs [with a small digital set-up]usually scan all in a certain manner

and these things are not attended to...<br>

Also, as opposed to what many people think, huge exposure errors

[>0.33 EV]are a mess to correct digitally!</p>

<p>I cannot afford a PRO lab for my "experimentation"... :)</p>

<p><br>

Hence, curious about the traditional methods for closest "color reproduction"...</p>

<p>Kindly share your knowledge and experience.</p>

<p><br>

Thanks.<br>

Regards.</p>

<p>Paresh Pandit<br>

</p>