JimRPhoto Loc: Raleigh NC

When you read the listings for the Nikon ES-2, it is designed to be used with the D850, which I do not have. But if you have the D850, you have two advantages. With the correct lens as recommended by Nikon, you will have optical compatibility. (I had to try out many combinations of camera body and lens.). Also apparently the D850 has a built in mechanism to “invert” negatives to positive images. I do that with PS since I’m not using Nikon equipment other than the ES-2. Because different films had different chemistry requirements to develop, the color may need to be adjusted manually after you “invert” with PS.

As to the suggestion on an Epson scanner, as I mention in the original post, my scanner will not “focus” each slide, so that some slides are scanned quite well, but maybe half of them are not in focus. With the autofocus feature in the camera, each slide is in as good a focus as you can get. Plus which, we already have camera gear and lenses, and for a very modest investment (for me the ES-2 was $99 at my local camera shop) you can do this. So for me, I will no longer use my slide scanner/negative scanner, as the optical method is so much better as described initially. I’m very grateful to the Australian UHH post that introduced me to this fast, high quality way to retrieve all my old slides. Thanks to all for great contributions to this post. JimR

Bob Werre

Over the years, I've shot many versions of transparency film using 120 film. Of course, the typical format was the 2 1/4 square, then the 6.45 for the usual cameras. However, I still have my Fuji 6 X 8 camera, I once owned a Horseman 6 X 12 and shot with a 6 X 7 Calumet roll film holder on my 4 X 5. The studio I worked for owned a 6 X 9 Veriwide, which was a combination of three different brand cameras. All fit projects I was working on at various times. I once owned a 4 x 5 Leaf scanner that handled all those formats if you had lot's of scanning time. I sort of wish I had kept the Horseman--beautiful workmanship and interchangeable Rodenstock lenses

loufarkos

I have the best one from slide days. It is a bowens illumitran that has a built in flash the corrects the light and does 35 two and a quarter and 4 by 5. Mount your camera and adjust the bellows and push the button a perfect copy every time.

MrPhotog

You can make a small adaption to the Nikon slide copier, or similar models from other manufacturers. Create a new slide carrier from cardboard to hold the larger slide mounts for your 6x 4.5 slides. Use a mailing tube or piece of plastic plumbing pipe to fit over the end of the slide copier and shim it to fit securely and without light leaks. You’ll probably need to use a different combination of close up lenses than the original poster, or you can use a bellows or extension rings to allow you to obtain close focus.

Extension rings may not work with your camera’s autofocus. Close up filters are inexpensive lenses. Quality varies.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Thank you. I will look into that.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

MF slides could be made from both 6x4.5 and 6x6 transparencies. Both would work in Hasselblad’s medium format slide projector.

Legendary photo educator, Dean Collins, used to travel with nine of those that he used with multi-image dissolve controllers and computers. I attended a couple of his workshops in the early ‘80s.

B&H and Adorama still carry 6x6 format slide mounts.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Kodak used to have a traveling show that I got to see, it was 3 or 4 large screens, 2 motion picture projectors and 2 medium format slide projectors per screen and a control panel the size of two office desks and a sound system with speakers the size of a VW Bug. The whole thing traveled in its own big rig truck. The local camera store near the school where I taught and Occidental College sponsored it and the show was in Occidental's theater. That was the year I taught 5 periods of Basic Photography and they gave me free tickets and a bunch of discount coupons for any of my students who wanted to go. I also got free tickets to see Ansel Adams at UCLA that year.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Cool. Nikon School had similar traveling productions. Multi-Image was used from the mid-1960s through the mid-1990s.

I did corporate M-I production from ‘79 to ‘87.

I was a member of AMI, the international Association for Multi-Image. At one of their conventions (August, 1983), I saw 123 Multi-Image shows in their annual competition. There were little two-projector shows, all the way to 30 projector shows with 3-16mm film projectors and video.

Photographer Jim Richardson took home top honors — the Crystal AMI statue, for “Reflections from a wide spot in the road,” a black-and-white two-projector show about small town life in Cuba, Kansas. It made 800 people cry at the awards banquet. I’ll never forget it. The producers of the biggest shows walked away with also-ran tokens of appreciation, by comparison.

It ain’t the medium, Marshall McLuhan, it’s the message. Jim Richardson reminded us of our true role as communicators... to move people, to enlighten them, or to motivate them into action.

wthomson Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Thanks for the excellent summary.

Can you also recommend a liquid (non-water) film/slide cleaner and technique, as some of my slide smudges are impervious to blowing, etc?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

PEC-12 (Photographic Emulsion Cleaner) from Photosol. https://photosol.com/products/pec-12/

but first:

https://www.amazon.com/Giottos-AA1900-Rocket-Blaster-Large/dp/B00017LSPI

https://amstat.com/products/anti-static-brush-with-ionizing-cartridge-1.html

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/24592-REG/Ilford_1203547_Antistaticum_Anti_Static_Cloth.html

Be sure you HANDLE film with thin, white, nylon gloves. Cotton tends to shed lint. At the 90,000 square foot portrait lab I worked in for decades, we would not let employees use cotton gloves.

https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-19882M/Inspection-Gloves/Deluxe-Nylon-Inspection-Gloves-Medium?pricode=WB1270&gadtype=pla&id=S-19882M&gclid=CjwKCAjwnK36BRBVEiwAsMT8WOvE12fRqe7fhyUhhB4OYPW8b9yZ2I3Utcf4eIXPCqGDxX4OabimjhoCUq4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

NEVER touch film (slides or negatives or transparencies) with bare hands if you want it to last. Fingerprints contain acids and lipids that eat into it or allow mold to grow into it.

Store film and slides in archival polypropylene pages or Savage Nega-Files. I have 50+ year old negatives in Nega-Files that look like I developed them last week. Kodachromes look great. Ektachrome sold prior to about 1990 has ALL faded significantly.

wthomson Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Thanks very much!!

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

You’re welcome. Use the gentlest tools first. Air, brush...

wthomson Loc: Tempe, Arizona

"Gentleness is the key to life."

"In gentleness there is real strength."

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Gee, I think I learned all those storage rules the hard way? NO! I know I learned them the hard way.

tjw47 Loc: Michigan

120 format: 2 1/4 x 2 1/4, 2 1/4 x 2 3/4, 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 (6x6, 6x7 & 6x9 )
There might be more but the above were the most common.
My Graflex xl shot 2 1/4 x 2 3/4. As that was the backs that I had.