P3D Mounting options

["David W. Kesner" <drdave@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I know it is a little late but here is my preferences on mounts. I have 
used Albion, EMDE, RBT, Spicer, cardboard slip-in, heat seal 
cardboard, and of course glass and EMDE binders.

EMDE's are no longer made so they are out. Slip-in's just aren't 
good for anything as far as I am concerned so they are out. I don't 
like exposing my images to heat so heat seal are out.

That leaves Albion, RBT, and Spicer.

Albion's are nice and produce a great, crisp, clean frame. They are 
very easy to mount in and are relatively quick. The biggest draw 
backs are they must be finished in either cardboard fold-overs or 
glass and the aluminum edges are very sharp and can easily 
scratch images. They are also only available in 5p normal (as far as 
I know). They used to be available in 4p Nimslo.

RBT's are also really nice. They are the easiest to mount and 
produce one of the best looking final products. The biggest draw 
back is the price. After that comes minor draw backs that only 
some find annoying such as the thickness of the mount which also 
leads to a noticable beveled edge frame around the image. I do not 
understand the comments about how hard it is to set the window by 
sliding the rails. I find them very easy to manipulate without any sort 
of holding device.

Spicer's, as you may have guessed, are my mount of choice. They 
have a very good crisp clean frame, are relatively cheap, and come 
in the widest range of sizes of any mount. The biggest draw back is 
that you should have some sort of device for aligning and mounting 
the chips. I use the modified RBT jig which is cheap ($0.65) and 
very easy to use (once you learn how). It aligns the chips perfectly 
every time (unless you have shaky hands). You must also have 
some way of cloing the mount. I use silver tape along the bottom 
edge. On a good day I can cut and mount to complete finish a 20 
pair roll of film in about 30 minutes. This means every pair mounted 
to projection and exhibition standards.

I have never tried to sort out my slides before mounting. Either they 
get mounted or they get tossed. However, when I do submit an 
image to an exhibition I place it in an EMDE Binder with one piece 
of glass (it is too thick for two pieces). This makes a nice 
presentation, helps protect the image, and makes it stiff enough for 
even a Brackett projector with the tension turned up.

If I had any wishes for the Spicer it would be that more sizes were 
available and they were self sealing. A company out of Utah (Behr 
or something like that) makes a 35mm cardboard fold-over mount 
that is self sealing. It claims it is archival and is used by most all 
major stock photo houses. I believe Fritz Brown (on this list) will 
post more about this company.

That's all for now,

David W. Kesner
Boise, Idaho, USA
drdave@xxxxxxxxxx