What 4x5 slide film stock was this? Was "Safety Film" a distinct brand?

[Certain Exposures]

Here's a picture.

[Dugan]

IIRC, that's the notch code of Ektachrome Slide Duplicating film.
"Safety Film" is not a brand, it's there to let everyone know it's not flammable nitrate film. It was imprinted on Kodak sheet film at least into the late 1990's, maybe even later.

[Kiwi7475]

Ah, this has been asked before. Quite an interesting story. For example:

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/what-is-kodak-safety-film.40460/?amp=1

The notch is not a match here

https://125px.com/docs/unsorted/kodak/f3.pdf

[Dugan]

Older version of dupe film, not "EDUPE"...that chart is from 2003. Notch codes changed around the time "Lumiere" E100S/ E100SW, etc. came on the scene.

[Certain Exposures]

Ah, this has been asked before. Quite an interesting story. For example:

https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/what-is-kodak-safety-film.40460/?amp=1



Great thread, thank you!

[Certain Exposures]

Older version of dupe film, not "EDUPE"...that chart is from 2003. Notch codes changed around the time "Lumiere" E100S/ E100SW, etc. came on the scene.

Thanks!

I'm ignorant about duplicating film and it's usage so I'll look it up later.

I've seen many "original" slides for sale - allegedly from decades ago - that feature this notch code and "safety film" branding. Do you think it is possible that many are digital photographs duplicated onto slides? Or is it more likely that they are genuine (ha) duplicates from a large format "original?"

[Drew Wiley]

Dupe or Duplicating films were designed for making duplicates of original transparencies or "chromes". These were tungsten balanced and slightly lower contrast than ordinary chrome sheet films, and improved over time. All of these, including EDupe are now long out of production. I've used most of them from both Kodak and Fuji. The best duping sheet film ever was ordinary daylight Fuji Astia 100F. I made most of my own printing dupes via contact - a lot of 8X10's, and preliminary contrast and hue-correction masking was involved.

There would have been no reason to duplicate digital images onto slides. For one thing, it would have been prohibitively expensive to do so with a laser film recorder. Second, the era would be a complete mismatch, technologically. Third, nobody commercially mounts slides anymore for sake of projection; and for hypothetical printing purposes, one would want a larger dupe anyway. Fourth, it's nearly always the other way around these days, and people wanting old slides scanned and digitized for digital presentation or printing purposes.

So yes, what you noticed would have been larger chrome sheet film images atop a lightbox copied onto 35mm slides using a somewhat different version of duplicating film. The term "safety film" applies to all modern films on acetate or PET base rather than old nitrocellulose base, which was especially flammable as it deteriorated with age. But labeling it as such fell by the wayside eventually, since nitrocellulose film hadn't been made for a long time anyway.

[Alan Klein]

Here's a scan of a 35mm Ektachrome 64 slide taken in the 1980s. I removed the cardboard holder before scanning the film.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanklein2000/48899520543/in/album-72157625526207614/

[Certain Exposures]

Dupe or Duplicating films were designed for making duplicates of original transparencies or "chromes". These were tungsten balanced and slightly lower contrast than ordinary chrome sheet films, and improved over time. All of these, including EDupe are now long out of production. I've used most of them from both Kodak and Fuji. The best duping sheet film ever was ordinary daylight Fuji Astia 100F. I made most of my own printing dupes via contact - a lot of 8X10's, and preliminary contrast and hue-correction masking was involved.

There would have been no reason to duplicate digital images onto slides. For one thing, it would have been prohibitively expensive to do so with a laser film recorder. Second, the era would be a complete mismatch, technologically. Third, nobody commercially mounts slides anymore for sake of projection; and for hypothetical printing purposes, one would want a larger dupe anyway. Fourth, it's nearly always the other way around these days, and people wanting old slides scanned and digitized for digital presentation or printing purposes.

So yes, what you noticed would have been larger chrome sheet film images atop a lightbox copied onto 35mm slides using a somewhat different version of duplicating film. The term "safety film" applies to all modern films on acetate or PET base rather than old nitrocellulose base, which was especially flammable as it deteriorated with age. But labeling it as such fell by the wayside eventually, since nitrocellulose film hadn't been made for a long time anyway.

Thanks, Drew! I'm guessing you were a working professional back then? What niche were you in?

[Certain Exposures]

Here's a scan of a 35mm Ektachrome 64 slide taken in the 1980s. I removed the cardboard holder before scanning the film.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanklein2000/48899520543/in/album-72157625526207614/

Thanks! It looks like you could have taken that shot yesterday. I often think about how easy it will be to scan film 100 years from now compared to massaging a hard drive...

Here's a YouTube clip I came across recently that drives (no pun intended) that point home:




https://youtu.be/9vlk5rLXX98

[Alan Klein]

Thanks! It looks like you could have taken that shot yesterday. I often think about how easy it will be to scan film 100 years from now compared to massaging a hard drive...

Here's a YouTube clip I came across recently that drives (no pun intended) that point home:




https://youtu.be/9vlk5rLXX98

Thanks.

Note that slides do eventually fade. It's a good idea to scan them sooner than later.