P3D Re: Mounting details for RBT mounts

[Paul Talbot <ptww@xxxxxxxxx>]

Ralph Johnston wrote:

> I just finished mounting 3 rolls of RBT X-4B slides (full frame 8
> perf).  Here is a detailed description [snip]  Cut off 8 frames from
> the strip with sissors and insert into the left side of a Hama 1225
> lighted film cutter.

This approach of course does not work with Realist-format slides,
due to the interleaving of the L-R images (Colardeau progression).
When I mount stereo slides, I much prefer a batch-mode opeartion.
I don't want to cut a few chips, mount a few pairs, cut a few more
chips, mount a few more pairs, etc.  I much prefer to cut all the
film before putting any of the chips in the mounts.  If I have more
than 1 roll to mount, I'd rather cut all the rolls before starting
to mount any of the chips.

There are several reasons I find the batch approach better.  One, I
do not have enough working space to set up a film cutting area and
a mounting area at the same time.  Two, I don't like the idea of
leaving a roll of film dangling from the cutter while I work on
mounting a few pairs.  Also, it takes some doing to get a roll of
slides properly flat for mounting.  Once they are flat they are
more difficult to store.  If I have more than an evening's worth
of mounting to do, I would have to either roll the film again or
find a way to store it flat.  Perhaps most importantly, each step
of the mouting process takes some time to get a rhythm going to
work quickly at it.  Thus it seems more efficient overall to cut,
cut, cut, and then work on the mounting later.  For example this
weekend I decided to start chipping away at my backlog of 12-15
rolls of slides.  I'm not even in the same league as DrT at
mounting speed, so I know it is going to take a large amount of
time to complete the process.

To help with the batch mode operation, I tried something new.
See the next message for details.

Paul Talbot


------------------------------