Straightening/flattening warped 35mm slides for scanning

[digitaldog]

Mickey Mouse answer to the MM question about Copyright 😂 in yesterday's NY Times:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/27/business/mickey-mouse-disney-public-domain.html

 

[srosenow_98]

UPDATE:

Upon reading more on glass slide mounts, I elected to pick up a set of relatively-inexpensive-to-purchase GEPE 24x36mm glass slide mounts on eBay. There were a total of 36 in the lot I purchased, and a few were somewhat reverse-engineered so I can experiment with them in the existing slide mount. 

As the original slide mount was not suitable for the idea I had (which was basically to use the glass alone and sandwich the slide transparency within the original mount), I elected to use a fourth Gepe slide mount as it was designed.

While it did not totally flatten the slide transparency, it did flatten it to a degree which made it much more suitable for the purpose of projecting the transparency onto a projection surface using both the Sawyer's Crestline 500C and Kodak Medalist AF slide projectors I have.

In the next few days, I may apply heat in a careful manner to the GEPE glass slide mount so as to "iron" the slide transparency a bit more and flatten it out further. 

With respect to the original mount with the "...(C)1980 KEITH RONNHOLM" label, I have elected to graft the labeled, white "half" of the slide to the GEPE glass slide mount's counterpart with a couple dabs of epoxy once the slide transparency has been sufficiently flattened out. This is due to the rather unfortunate discovery of some small cracks on the dark gray back half of the original mount. 

[kmac]

1 hour ago, srosenow_98 said:

In the next few days, I may apply heat in a careful manner to the GEPE glass slide mount

I had a heart attack the first time you said you heated the slides.

Leave them as they are if you don't want them destroyed.

[AlanKlein]

 

Quote

 

Posted December 26, 2022 (edited)

  On 12/26/2022 at 9:03 AM, AlanKlein said:

So he has to use another type of slide mount if he has no spares.  Either from his own or buy a glass type or whatever.  It's an option.  If he doesn't like my option, he can do something else.   

No he doesn't have to! It's an “option” he doesn't want nor must use. Read and then listen to his words Alan! 

"Listen to understand instead of listening to respond." - Barack Obama

Edited December 26, 2022 by digitaldog

 

 

Apparently he took my suggestion and bought new slide mounts.  Smart guy. 

[digitaldog]

15 minutes ago, AlanKlein said:

 

 

Apparently he took my suggestion and bought new slide mounts.  Smart guy. 

As usual Alan, you don't understand nor comprehend what was written and actually done (aside from the purchase). 

 

Edited January 2, 2023 by digitaldog

[AlanKlein]

8 hours ago, digitaldog said:

As usual Alan, you don't understand nor comprehend what was written and actually done (aside from the purchase). 

 

He purchased new slide mounts as I suggested.  You said he didn't want to do that and I should not have suggested it.  You blew it.

Edited January 2, 2023 by AlanKlein

[digitaldog]

1 minute ago, AlanKlein said:

He purchased new slide mounts as I suggested.

Even a broken clock is right, twice a day Alan. 🤔

Trying to focus you on what you said, what was then dismissed, and what wasn't done in by the OP this thread is rather pointless. 

”Sometimes wrong; never in doubt." -Atul Gawande

[kmac]

3 hours ago, AlanKlein said:

He purchased new slide mounts as I suggested.  You said he didn't want to do that and I should not have suggested it.  You blew it.

Steve said: "Besides glass slide mounts (which I've thought of buying)"

Your suggestion that Steve purchase slide mounts is only worth a minor second place award Alan.

And Steve did his own research into glass mounts, cited in his most recent post, and he also wants to modify the mounts to retain the scripted side of the originals, and I don't think any of us came up with that idea, Steve alone did.

[digitaldog]

9 minutes ago, kmac said:

And Steve did his own research into glass mounts, cited in his most recent post, and he also wants to modify the mounts to retain the scripted side of the originals, and I don't think any of us came up with that idea, Steve alone did.

Exactly. Alan seems to forget his original writings too, while taking credit for Steve's ingenuity with glass mounts:

On 12/25/2022 at 6:42 PM, AlanKlein said:

 

Don't you have an old slide from your own shots you don't really need, maybe a duplicate. 

[Sandy Vongries]

Considering current conditions, do we have the band width for bickering?  Time outs are still possible.

[digitaldog]

8 minutes ago, normanskiromanoff said:

The OP’s idea of taking a blow torch to the slides tickled me. 

Blow torch? 😅 To be fair and accurate, something this thread should stick with (and I'm not suggesting this be done):

16 hours ago, srosenow_98 said:

In the next few days, I may apply heat in a careful manner to the GEPE glass slide mount so as to "iron" the slide transparency a bit more and flatten it out further. 

[John Seaman]

On 12/24/2022 at 7:26 PM, John Seaman said:

If you photograph them on a light box it may also be possible to get sufficient depth of field by using small apertures.

I still think that the OP could get a good digitisation of the slide without all these risky efforts to flatten it.

[srosenow_98]

6 hours ago, normanskiromanoff said:

The OP’s idea of taking a blow torch to the slides tickled me. 
 

The number of times I had to sit through my ex boss’s slide shows of his holiday snaps left me with a distinct hatred of slides. 
 

(He did serve some decent cheese and wine tbf)

LMAO.

I don't think I ever indicated taking a blow torch to them. I wouldn't be that insane. 😆

When I mention taking heat to them, I'm more in line with the thought of carefully-controlled blasts of heat from a less-intense source of heat... Say, a hair dryer or something, and at a safe enough distance.

A torch? Oh heavens no. That's insanity. LOL

[AlanKlein]

22 hours ago, digitaldog said:

Exactly. Alan seems to forget his original writings too, while taking credit for Steve's ingenuity with glass mounts:

You were the one who said he didn't want to use new slide mounts.  You seem to want it both ways.

 

Tic. Tock. 

[AlanKlein]

22 hours ago, normanskiromanoff said:

The OP’s idea of taking a blow torch to the slides tickled me. 
 

The number of times I had to sit through my ex boss’s slide shows of his holiday snaps left me with a distinct hatred of slides. 
 

(He did serve some decent cheese and wine tbf)

Before or after the show?  I remember when I was a kid, we'd start to pull out the projector and screen to set up and half the guests would feign headaches and go home, even before dessert.  Now I have have all my slide shows on a memory card inserted already in the USB jack of the smart TV -ready to go.  I just declare, "Watch this." and turn it on before they can  move a muscle.  Thing is they haven't been back since.  😉 

[digitaldog]

1 hour ago, AlanKlein said:

You were the one who said he didn't want to use new slide mounts.  You seem to want it both ways.

 

Tic. Tock. 

Yes. What he wrote:

On 12/24/2022 at 12:01 AM, srosenow_98 said:

Hi, all (first post here, and hope to be a valued member!).

I'm reluctant to change them out of their mounts for the loss of the slide mounts themselves, and I'm wondering if there's a way to fix these without having to buy glass slide mounts.
 

[JDMvW]

13 hours ago, digitaldog said:

I'm reluctant to change them out of their mounts for the loss of the slide mounts themselves

you can almost always split open a cardboard mount = scan the FILM and place it back into the mount (not all the staples would have to be removed, if that's what they are).

You can pose questions, but you can't impose the answers you want.

Edited January 4, 2023 by JDMvW

[digitaldog]

29 minutes ago, JDMvW said:

you can almost always split open a cardboard mount = scan the FILM and place it back into the mount (not all the staples would have to be removed, if that's what they are).

You can pose questions, but you can't impose the answers you want.

Key words “Almost always”.

 I  didn't say “I'm reluctant to change them out of their mounts for the loss of the slide mounts themselves “

I am simply listening to the OP and respectful of his concern.

Edited January 4, 2023 by digitaldog
Incorrect quote

[srosenow_98]

On the subject of glass slide mounts and fixing warped slides, I have a couple that are larger than 24x36mm that are warped a bit. 

I've attached a photo showing one of the affected ones (on the left) compared to one of the Ronnholm slides on the right. All of the glass slide mounts I have seen have mostly been for 24x36mm and off-the-wall kinds but not the size of the Stoffel slide that I'd like to fix. Are there mounts for these?

[digitaldog]

Let's backup a second. Is the goal to flatten the slide (and old mount) such you can place it into something that expects a 35mm mount? And if so, how do you then wish to digitize that? 

[srosenow_98]

9 hours ago, digitaldog said:

Let's backup a second. Is the goal to flatten the slide (and old mount) such you can place it into something that expects a 35mm mount? And if so, how do you then wish to digitize that? 

Mostly to flatten it for projection. As it stands now, the affected slide I photographed has a slight warp on the left side, causing one side to be in focus while the other side goes progressively out of focus. 

If I could find a glass slide mount with the same size slide transparency, that'd be great. Then all I would need is to graft the existing mount face to it.

[digitaldog]

Considering the rarity of the slides, I'd suggest looking this over:

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/pdf/HW_Book_06_of_20_HiRes_v1c.pdf

Then maybe consider digitizing the image and projecting that. 

[nail33]

21 hours ago, digitaldog said:

Considering the rarity of the slides, I'd suggest looking this over:

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/pdf/HW_Book_06_of_20_HiRes_v1c.pdf

Then maybe consider digitizing the image and projecting that. 

Yikes !!! Kodachrome 25 is all I ever used. Thanks for posting this digitaldog.

[srosenow_98]

On 1/7/2023 at 9:27 AM, digitaldog said:

Considering the rarity of the slides, I'd suggest looking this over:

http://www.wilhelm-research.com/pdf/HW_Book_06_of_20_HiRes_v1c.pdf

Then maybe consider digitizing the image and projecting that. 

I've looked into various methods of digitizing these slides and I've come to the conclusion that a lens bayonet-mounted slide duplicator/copier with a 1:1 macro lens is the way I think I am going to accomplish this. This is because my research has indicated that the best and highest quality film/slide scanners are both A.) not budget friendly and B.) at the moment cost prohibitive.

The mid-tier film-slide scanners, while offering a range of both 10 megapixel or 3200 dpi resolution, are slightly more affordable but some come with drawbacks such as turning off (and thus losing progress) after certain periods of inactivity or suffering loss of higher image quality settings after a certain number of slides/images have been scanned and imported.

However, I am still concerned that due to the slight curve of the larger-format slides (larger than the 24x36mm standard), that even with the slide copier-to-camera method may still produce images that are slightly out of focus in some areas of the image. Despite efforts, I cannot seem to find the correct-size glass mounts for those Pakon-mounted larger slide transparencies. 

I've previously digitized about half of these slides by way of throwing them up onto a wall via conventional slide projector (and photographing the projected image with a standard zoom lens on a Nikon DSLR), but it does not achieve the desired quality, which then requires the digitized images be upscaled and enhanced via Topaz Photo AI. 

Surely there were glass mounts for those larger transparencies, no? 

 

Edited February 1, 2023 by srosenow_98

[digitaldog]

At a price yes, something like this might work depending on your 'rig' for capture. 

https://heritage-digitaltransitions.com/product/8-x-10-framed-multi-format-anti-newton-glass-film-carrier/

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/4676-REG/Beseler_8072_Universal_Anti_Newton_Glass_Negative.html?srsltid=Ad5pg_HZsml5jZNAfjLFQtnNQYN4_ayZHhCcBm_nG-UyAiasBD7W01YNaVY