Best projector without popping

[jeff_dorr]

I project mostly plastic and cardboard slides on a Leica P150. Unfortunately, I

can never seem to get any slides to be uniformly focused across an entire

screen. I think this is because my slides pop.

 

Are there any projectors out there that will cut down on this, and let me see

the whole slide in focus across the screen?

[subhash_tiwari]

Thats why Leica sells lenses that accommodate for that curvature; can't remember what they are called.

[subhash_tiwari]

I mean projector lenses, of course.

[pablito_pistola]

curved field lenses, I think. They used to be available from various manufacturers

[pablito_pistola]

I think the only way to truly fix the problem is use glass mounted slides and a flat field lens.

Slides pop when they get hot. I vaguely remember Kokak incorporating into their projectors a

fan that would blow directly on the slide to try and prevent popping. Maybe I'm wrong...

[chris_chow]

My experience is that, unless you use glass mounts, there will always be some popping. Its due to the temperature change when a slide is being projected.

 

The problem is quite severe with some models but somewhat better with the other models which are very often more expensive models as they have, among other things, better heat dissipation characteristics.

 

Leica has a projector lens which they claim can be used to project curved slides. Its called the CF lens. Try if you can find one on the B&H website. I have one but the results are not as good as they claimed. I ended up using the regular lens.

[stuart_richardson]

I don't know how they did it, but slides rarely pop in the Pradovit RT-m...I think there is a big,

thick condensor lens to suck up the heat, along with mirrors and such. The result is that

unless you leave the slides up for a long time, they will not pop. Beyond this, the AF

automatically refocuses if they do pop. As others have said, the only way to truly eliminate it

is with glass mounts, but one nice thing about the popping is that it tells you when the slide

is hot. If the slide has popped, you probably want to change it soon so that you don't damage

or fade it.

[Robin Smith]

I agree with the others. It is almost impossible to get pinpoint focus across every inch of a slide at once. Leica used to make a CF Colorplan which was designed to cope with the intrinsic curvature of Kodachromes (and only Kodachromes...). In theory this is a good idea, but I found these lenses disappointing with Kodachrome and very annoying with E6 slides. I remount all my slides into Gepe glassless mounts and this eliminates the worst of uneven focus, but it is still there. In my experience the metal rimmed LKM Gepe mounts are superior to the cheapest Gepes - they hold the slides pretty flat. Anti-Newton glass mounts will eliminate this problem, but at a cost in money, trapped dust and moisture and greater problems with fungus. For this reason I decided against glass mounting slides over 20 years ago. The "good" Leica projectors suffer from uneven focus much less than any other projector I have used. Unfortunately I do not consider the P150 one of these projectors as they are essentially recycled Kindermann designs. One of the reasons the Color 250s, CA2500, Color 2s, P2000+ etc projectors are better I think is due to the fact that the slides warm up quickly, but do not overheat. I also find that popping is reduced if you place your tray on top of the running projector before you project it (i.e. when looking at another tray). This helps equilibrate the slides to the warmth of being in slide gate before they get there.

[ronald_moravec1]

My experience with the curved field lenses is the corners are out cold, but come into focus as the slide warms. You will need an autofocus projector for this to work. I have a Leica P250 ir with 50/90/120/150 lenses.

 

Glass mounting and flat field lenses produce the best projection results with problems mentioned above, dust moisture etc.

 

I compromised on E6 slides and curved field lenses.

 

I will probably try digital projection. It is not as good as slides, but ok for small projections. All the problems above go away. But you get to shoot higher latitude color neg, scan, photoshop all kinds of neet stuff. You can even use a digi camera.

 

Consider converting your slides to digital.

 

Vertical images are not supported in digi projectors I have heard.

[jose_angel]

Just to add two ideas; if the slides "pop" in a short time, the problem is mainly in your projector. It gets too hot to be safe for your slides. The only way is to change to a better (cooler) projector. Curved Field lenses are designed for older cardboard mounts, they only work with them. For current plastic mounts and glass mounts are recommended Flat Field lenses.

 

I have recently upgraded my projector (from a type like yours) to the latest Ektagraphic model (don`t remember the name). Slides simply doesn`t "pop" (in a reasonable time, I take care not exposing originals too much). The FF Ektar lens is a medium to low class but works much better, the image looks more evenly focused and illuminated (300 watts lamp?). The improvement has been really huge. I`m excited now thinking what I would get with the best projection lens.

[charles_stobbs3]

I seem to remember some company had a system that prewarmed the slides so they had already popped when they got up in frint of the lens.

[alex_lofquist]

The Leica Colorplan CF (Curved Field) lens will definitely work with plastic mount slides, preferably glassless. I currently use the Pradolux RT300 as it has a blower, will AF, and preheat the slide carosel.