P3D Re: Stereocard Making

[Paul Talbot <ptww@xxxxxxxxx>]

re: Bruce Springsteen wants to make stereo cards from cha-cha'd
pairs shot on slide film and laments:

> Mass market
> processing cuts out too much of the image and has quality problems,
> custom processing is too pricey. And APEC exchanges need many copies
> of the same view.

What service did you price?  Direct slides from prints?  That does
get unreasonably expensive for multiple copies.

> Is there a middle option in the world of mail-order processing?
> Should/can you pay a custom processor just to make negatives, with the
> cropping you want, then take the negs to a low-cost print source?

I found the per-print price for reprints from an inter-negative at
the local pro lab was competitive with other sources.  For my first
APEC exchange I had them make internegs from an RBT-mounted Realist
pair, then print the multiple copies.  Should be even easier with
2x2 slides.  (I doubt you will ever find a place that can make an
interneg print that comes close to the quality of the slide image,
at any price, but that's another discussion.)

If you have an especially cheap source for quality reprints from
negatives, go ahead and get the interneg made at the pro lab and
the prints done there.  And share with us, just who is this top-
notch, budget-priced printer, please!  ;) 

> Alternatively, can you project slides onto a screen and rephotograph
> them onto print film with SLR & tripod?  Problems with color and
> sharpness would seem to rule that out for the inexperienced.

Doesn't sound like something I'd want to try.

Hope this helps.

Paul Talbot


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