Will projecting my Leica slides ruin them?

Just finished reading a somewhat forgotten Leica book entitled "Leica 35mm Color Magic" by Walther Benser. Great color photo tips, 1956 style. Charming in that "Bygone era" sort of way. He stresses that projecting chromes not enclosed in glass will ruin them. Is this true with today's E-6? Can any of you experts advise what to do. I have been told that encasing chromes in glass is a total waste of time and money. Experts??

Today's E6 films can take projection very well, Kodachrome,

unfortunately, and older E4 films will shift noticably with

projection. If you are using Kodachrome and older E4, and they

will be projected extensively, then make and project dupes. For

casual amateur use, say ten to twenty seconds of projection

every two years, I would not lose any sleep over it. However even

with this light use, by the time you go to the great darkroom in the

sky, Kodachrome and the older E4, will have shifted noticably.

 

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Cheers

Equally, of course we should add that E6 films are generally thought

not to archive as well as Kodachromes in the dark, so you cannot win

really. The only real way to get "lifetime plus" archivability is

perhaps to shoot black and white silver emulsions. Personally I have

been shooting and projecting Kodachromes from 1976 and have not

noticed any appreciable change since then, so I do not worry at

present. I agree that putting slides into glass in general is a waste

of time and will only increase your chances of fungal growth, but on

the other hand it is the only way to get real edge to edge ultimate

sharpness in any projector and that includes my Leica Pradovits

CA2502 and P2000, which are the best projectors out there in my

experience. I do not mount in glass generally myself.

I've read all the statistics about how much projection Kodachrome can

take, but from a practical point of view, this is pretty much a fade

proof film (over a lifetime) unless you view your slides month after

month through the years. My Dad has 50 yr old Kodachrome slides that

look as good as new, and people I know have slides from the late

1930s that look fresh as they day they were taken...<br><p>

 

As for archiving slides, as I understand it, the best solution is

cold storage, which will greatly extend their life, to centuries.

This is now routinely done for movie film and for some important

collections. A simple home implementation, would be to buy a deep

freeze (the ultra cold type) and put everything inside in

water/humidity proof packaging. <br><p>

 

More information at<br><p>

 

<a href=http://www.wilhelm-

research.com/Cold_Storage/cold_storage.html>http://www.wilhelm-

research.com/Cold_Storage/cold_storage.html</a><br><p>

 

Be sure to read/download the .pdf file.

Steve, according to The Source Book: Kodak Ektagraphic Slide

Projectors, Eastman Kodak Co., 1984,

"For most viewing purposes, pictorial slides made on properly

processed Kodak color films will be acceptable through 3 to 4 hours

of total projection time. This is true when the slides are used in

an EKTAGRAPHIC III or EKTAGRAPHIC slide projector that is equipped

with a tungsten-filament lamp and had unrestricted air circulation,

even if the projector is operated with the power-selector switch set

at HIGH." (p.154).

 

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But, this is only a generalization, because slide life is roughly

proportional to light intensity. It is difficult to give an exact

figure, because "there are too many variables, such as proper

processing, adequate projector ventilation, ambient temperature, and

so on. However, the film types . . . does not make a significant

difference . . ."(p.153)

 

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And note: > ". . . [slides] will change somewhat less if projected

continuously for a given time rather than intermittently until the

same projection time is reached." (p.154).

 

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Hope this helps.