digital slides?

Overread · Jul 3, 2008

Ok call me slow if you will but.....

I recently got hold of my dads old projector and now have a small itch to show some of my works using the projector and I was wondering how/if it is possible to convert a digital shot into a slide shot. In addition to the if and the how I would be interested to know the where as well - where (if the if is a yes) is it possible to get this service in the UK and now much can I expect to pay for it?

Thanks for all the help

tasman · Jul 3, 2008

I found this place in an MSN search. And its in the UK.
http://www.digitalslides.co.uk/

table1349 · Jul 3, 2008

Personally for me you would get more bang for the buck. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3728647&Sku=N124-2414

More uses than just the one plus it will do what you want.

Alpha · Jul 5, 2008

Yes. It's called the Polaroid ProPalette/Digital Palette. It's of a breed called "film recorders." ProPalettes can be had on eBay for pennies, and I mean that quite literally. They'll print digital images onto film, generally slide. I've used them on numerous occasions. They run on software called "RasterPlus." Make sure you buy a Palette that comes with it, and a camera.

To run it, once you get the machine setup (it's about the size of a printer), you load the film into the camera, mount the camera on the machine, import the image into RasterPlus, print, and then have the slides developed by a local lab.

Overread · Jul 5, 2008

hmm thanks for the suggestion Alpha - looks to be a better bet than paying out indeviduall for slides - £2 a shot is more than I am willing to pay for this. But it appears I am on the wrong side of the altantic for these machines -

that or ebay hates me

Alpha · Jul 5, 2008

well you can also search ebay for "film recorder." So long as it's in working condition you'll be fine. But like I said, make sure it comes w/ software.

table1349 · Jul 5, 2008

http://cgi.ebay.com/Polaroid-HR-600...VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

Looks pricey to me.

Bifurcator · Jul 5, 2008

Why not just get a film camera, load in some slide film, and photograph your LCD monitor? I think the result it will be higher quality than most if not all "personal devices" will produce.

Sync your shutter to the LCD refresh rate and play with the brightness/contrast for best results.

Alpha · Jul 5, 2008

gryphonslair99 said:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Polaroid-HR-600...VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

Looks pricey to me.

You picked the most expensive one. They start at $0.99

Helen B · Jul 5, 2008

Though I have never used one, based on the results I've seen I wouldn't recommend the Digital Palette - I think that you will be disappointed with the resolution. The later ProPalette 8000 produces far better results.

Best,
Helen

Alpha · Jul 5, 2008

The 8000 is the version optimized for printing onto MF and LF film, as well. It's considerably more expensive, even on eBay, and was designed to be an alternative to the Rhino. The ProPalette 7000 is much cheaper and produces fine results.

Bifurcator · Jul 6, 2008

Isn't the 8000 nothing more than a tiny 7 inch CRT with a film camera pointed at it? How would a 7 inch CRT produce better results than 20 or 30 inch LCD? We had 5 or 6 of these things in the staff work room at the university I taught at. They were left over from some past and forgotten era. Projectors took their place and no one used them any longer AFAIK. They're probably in the trash can by now.

Displaying a hires framebuffer on a 7 inch CRT? I think a hood, a cheep-o film camera, and my LCDs would produce far far superior results. No?

Helen B · Jul 6, 2008

I'll start by suggesting that it will take a better recorder than the ProPalette 8000 to make slides that would stand up against film originals. Back when I lived in the UK and had a little more room to move than I do in midtown Manhattan, I used a Leica Reprovit II to de-digitize my digitally-processed images. I printed a 12x18 inch print at 288, 360 or 720 ppi and photographed that, then used expansion ("push") development. This gave a maximum true resolution something like 5k to 6k (ie between 5000 and 6000 discernible points along the long dimension of a 24 x 36 mm frame). I considered that to be marginally acceptable, and I also considered the results to be an improvement over the ProPalette 8000.

I can't see how photographing an LCD of the type in common use as a computer monitor gets even close to that resolution, unless you do some fancy multi-exposure thing with different sets of pixels, moving the LCD appropriately between the exposures. A single exposure of an LCD screen onto any decent slide film will show the screen pixels easily, unless some diffusion or defocus is used.

Definity LCD film recorders use a 15 megapixel monochrome LCD screen with a holographic diffusing system - and being intended for 35 mm motion picture use, they do not usually write to the full size of a 24x36 film format.

Remember that a CRT film recorder uses a monochrome tube and gives three exposures, each through a different separation filter. This means that the resolution can be higher than you could obtain from a colour CRT.

I have no idea what the achievable resolution of the ProPalette 7000 is. I know that it is unlikely to be 4k. Alpha has used one, so he may be able to tell us.

Best,
Helen

table1349 · Jul 6, 2008

I would repeat:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3728647&Sku=N124-2414

More bang for the buck. More versatility. No carousels to mess with. Trust me, the fun of things like slide projectors gets old quickly. You can do the exact same thing, right down to the sound of slides changing, digitally a lot cheaper, faster and with better results.

Bifurcator · Jul 6, 2008

Helen B said:
I can't see how photographing an LCD of the type in common use as a computer monitor gets even close to that resolution, unless you do some fancy multi-exposure thing with different sets of pixels, moving the LCD appropriately between the exposures. A single exposure of an LCD screen onto any decent slide film will show the screen pixels easily, unless some diffusion or defocus is used.

Definity LCD film recorders use a 15 megapixel monochrome LCD screen with a holographic diffusing system - and being intended for 35 mm motion picture use, they do not usually write to the full size of a 24x36 film format.

Remember that a CRT film recorder uses a monochrome tube and gives three exposures, each through a different separation filter. This means that the resolution can be higher than you could obtain from a colour CRT.

I have no idea what the achievable resolution of the ProPalette 7000 is. I know that it is unlikely to be 4k. Alpha has used one, so he may be able to tell us.

Best,
Helen