Making Slides From Digital Files

[Larry_Hornburg]

Is there any way of making small transparency sizes from digital Files without a lab, or is it better to just go the old conventional KodaChrome route, for slide customers.

Larry Hornburg

[Cecil_Thornhill]

Many digital labs will provide slide output. You should be able to google for a lab in your area or a national lab you could try. Be aware that quality varies from lab to lab, and in any event the finished product is a transfer from either a scanning spot device or a very high res CRT system. The output may be fine for some purposes, but it is not quite the same thing as an original chrome. You may find the output OK for some situations, but I would not recomend using the resulting slide as a starting point for any sort of reproduction process.

If you want to 'do it yourself' there are still devices that let you shoot the CRT, and of course there are the actual high res CRT devices most people use at labs. The price and quality varies on these, but the better ones often have 2K B+W display tubes and color filters. You would need a display system to drive it. Spot scan systems are usually a lot more involved and use lasers to scan the film. A laser image setter is not unlike these systems since it can output color film as well as print paper. These systems often run 250K+.

In general I have to say that you would be a lot better off to use a lab if you want good looking results, and be prepared to pay a lot for image setter output that is top notch.

Cecil Thornhill
RidgeLight Studio Inc.

[Larry_Hornburg]

Hello Cecil, so I guess basically what you are saying is, If I want to save a lot of headaches, I shoud shoot slide film alongside my digital work, at the same time.

Larry

[Charles_Matter]

I've tried it...cheaper (and happier customers) just to shoot film. IMHO

[BobSmith]

I've done slides from digital files from time to time but always hated the process. The price per image was relatively high and the turn around time somewhat slow... but the qualtiy was good. The lab I was using got out of the E-6 film business altogether and I hadn't been happy with any alternatives since until recently. I spent some quality time with Google looking at various service providers for this sort of thing. I found iprintfromhome.com . Very quick and easy to use their services. Get an online order to them early in the day, its completed and shipped out the same day. Something like $2.50 for the first slide and $1.50 for dupe originals. That's better pricing and service than I've recieved from any other lab and the quality is at least as good as any others I've used... without getting into LVT output which is a whole other arena.

I use this for providing slides to artists for juried art shows. The original art documentation is all done digitally but occaisionally the artist needs a number of slides as well. This is an easy, cost effective solution. Myself and two others have sent a few orders through this place in the past couple of weeks with good results. It's worth a try to see if fits what you need.

Bob Smith

[John_Luke]

I have no film bodies left aside from my paperwieght Nikon F2 with a 50/1.4. I spent the summer selling my RZ kit, Arca Swiss kit, and Nikon F100 kit.

http://slides.com/

[DavidHarpe]

I make 35mm slides frequenly for artists. I use slides.com. Fast turnaround, always a quality job, not too expensive either.