How to present 10x8" Slides

[The Muid]

Hi all,

i've recently shot my first 10x8" Slide films and had them processed. I've gotten them back with a clear plastic cover to protect them, but I'm not sure how permanent a means of storage that is, considering that the sleeves are flexible.

I'm wondering has anyone any idea of a rigid plastic case or other type of display method? How were such films protected in the past when this type of photography was a lot more common?

Thanks for your time and your help :) ,


Diarmuid :cool:

[John T]

Presenting and storing film are two totally different things.

When I used to have an 8x10 transparency portfolio, I would make several duplicates of the original and then file the originals away in boxes-they fade in light. A copy was then mounted on black window mat (including the acetate to protect the film) and placed in a portfolio case.

The combination of mats and acetate protected the film from most normal use, but not abuse. When the first copy was damaged too much, I'd replace it with another copy.

[Jim Becia]

Hi,

I keep my 8x10 slides in the sleeve that they come in from the lab and then put them in to a Print File three ring page that holds the sleeved slide and then put them in three ring binders. That is how I try to manage them. (Looking at the stack of 60 plus 8x10s that need to filed.)

It will be interesting to see what other methods are out there. Jim

[Frank Petronio]

I use Printfile type archival poly pages in 3-ring binders for all my film sizes, pretty standard practice.

If you saw the actual chrome as "art" then you could buy or build a light box, but it would be very expensive to mount a show with multiple custom light boxes. Also many homemade light boxes have a hard time avoiding hot spots, the newer LED panels are better.

Back in the day, commercial photographers would hand their chromes to the client who would give the chrome to the printer or color house to have color separations made, at first with process cameras and later with large drum scanners. Only the better, higher-end clients managed to get the actual chrome back to you and only if you were the sort of photographer who was a stickler for usage rights and ownership; for most commercial work the majority resided in job jackets hanging in large files, until the printer went out of business and they got tossed. In many cases the chrome was mangled from the sloppy scanner operator, tape, and oil mounting residue, at least for production work.

Most people shot brackets of 4-6-8 sheets on the client's dime and kept a couple for themselves, then duped them by contact printing for portfolio samples. In the 1970s unto the digital era many commercial photographers would show up at ad agencies for portfolio reviews with nothing more than a box of black matted and sleeved 4x5 and 8x10 chromes. Some people would even dupe their 35mm slides up to 8x10 chromes because it was such a standard practice to look at transparencies. By the 1990s the better agencies had color-consistent view booths, but in many cases the art director would hold the chrome up to the window and compliment you on your carefully corrected color than you adjusted with your collection of fine 0025 Kodak Wratten filters.

Ahhh memories.... Most photographers and art directors were very ignorant of how print reproduction worked. I don't miss that ;-)

[ethics_gradient]

If you're looking for a cheap lightbox, try looking locally for old dentist X-ray viewing panels. I got mine for $20, works great.

[Don Dudenbostel]

I use Printfile type archival poly pages in 3-ring binders for all my film sizes, pretty standard practice.

If you saw the actual chrome as "art" then you could buy or build a light box, but it would be very expensive to mount a show with multiple custom light boxes. Also many homemade light boxes have a hard time avoiding hot spots, the newer LED panels are better.

Back in the day, commercial photographers would hand their chromes to the client who would give the chrome to the printer or color house to have color separations made, at first with process cameras and later with large drum scanners. Only the better, higher-end clients managed to get the actual chrome back to you and only if you were the sort of photographer who was a stickler for usage rights and ownership; for most commercial work the majority resided in job jackets hanging in large files, until the printer went out of business and they got tossed. In many cases the chrome was mangled from the sloppy scanner operator, tape, and oil mounting residue, at least for production work.

Most people shot brackets of 4-6-8 sheets on the client's dime and kept a couple for themselves, then duped them by contact printing for portfolio samples. In the 1970s unto the digital era many commercial photographers would show up at ad agencies for portfolio reviews with nothing more than a box of black matted and sleeved 4x5 and 8x10 chromes. Some people would even dupe their 35mm slides up to 8x10 chromes because it was such a standard practice to look at transparencies. By the 1990s the better agencies had color-consistent view booths, but in many cases the art director would hold the chrome up to the window and compliment you on your carefully corrected color than you adjusted with your collection of fine 0025 Kodak Wratten filters.

Ahhh memories.... Most photographers and art directors were very ignorant of how print reproduction worked. I don't miss that ;-)

Franks right. I date to the old days and would shoot a number of brackets (even 11x14 chrome) and if the shot seemed like a possible portfolio piece I shot a second set for me on the clients dime. Most of my presentations were done with black 4 ply mats cut for the specific crop of the transparency and would cary a high quality light box to the client to show the shots. My personal portfolio up to the digital age still contains a number of original 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10 chromes. Showing these today to young art directors knocks their socks off as do high gloss FB silver gelatin B&W prints.

[Diane Maher]

If you really want to have fun, put an 8x10 transparency on an overhead projector. this is probably better done when the image is in some sort of mat/frame. There's nothing like an 8x10 slide show! :D

[Ron McElroy]

,,,,,,,,Ahhh memories.... Most photographers and art directors were very ignorant of how print reproduction worked. I don't miss that ;-)

Yet the art schools still graduate kids, I mean art directors, that don't understand the basic principals of getting ink on paper.

[Lei Meng]

I use Printfile type archival poly pages in 3-ring binders for all my film sizes, pretty standard practice.

If you saw the actual chrome as "art" then you could buy or build a light box, but it would be very expensive to mount a show with multiple custom light boxes. Also many homemade light boxes have a hard time avoiding hot spots, the newer LED panels are better.

Back in the day, commercial photographers would hand their chromes to the client who would give the chrome to the printer or color house to have color separations made, at first with process cameras and later with large drum scanners. Only the better, higher-end clients managed to get the actual chrome back to you and only if you were the sort of photographer who was a stickler for usage rights and ownership; for most commercial work the majority resided in job jackets hanging in large files, until the printer went out of business and they got tossed. In many cases the chrome was mangled from the sloppy scanner operator, tape, and oil mounting residue, at least for production work.

Most people shot brackets of 4-6-8 sheets on the client's dime and kept a couple for themselves, then duped them by contact printing for portfolio samples. In the 1970s unto the digital era many commercial photographers would show up at ad agencies for portfolio reviews with nothing more than a box of black matted and sleeved 4x5 and 8x10 chromes. Some people would even dupe their 35mm slides up to 8x10 chromes because it was such a standard practice to look at transparencies. By the 1990s the better agencies had color-consistent view booths, but in many cases the art director would hold the chrome up to the window and compliment you on your carefully corrected color than you adjusted with your collection of fine 0025 Kodak Wratten filters.

Ahhh memories.... Most photographers and art directors were very ignorant of how print reproduction worked. I don't miss that ;-)

That's a very good reading for me tonight. Thanks Frank.

Nowadays many photographers never shot film. Some of them even think looking at digital photos on a computer screen is everything. I like to show them my 8x10 chomes on a lightbox, they were simply amazed... then more amazed after I hand them a loupe... :)