P3D Re: RBT

["Greg Wageman" <gjw@xxxxxxxxxx>]

From: Peter Davis <pd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>


>Some people buy the RBT with the intention of using commercial labs for
>processing and cutting prints, and for processing, cutting and mounting
>slides.  If the spacing of frames on the film exactly matches that of a
>roll shot through an ordinary 35mm camera, the labs will have no
trouble
>with cutting and/or mounting.  However, if there's even a millimeter
>difference in the spacing, then the automated machinery most labs use
will
>wind up chopping off parts of frames, mismounting, etc.


This is just not true in my experience.

My RBTX2 exhibits the spacing variability sequence.  The minimum spacing
appears to be about 1mm, and the maximum close to one perf (around
4.5mm).  I have had every roll ever shot in the camera commercially
processed and mounted successfully.  I have shot some print film, where
the variable spacing sequence is easily seen, because the lab cut the
negatives into strips of four images, again without difficulty.  I think
the notion that the machine aligns only on the first frame and blindly
cuts every 8 perfs is a myth.

By the way, most processing has been "Kodak Premium Processing" (Qualex)
or Fuji.  I also had two rolls done by a local mom-and-pop storefront
lab recently, and they had no problems either (although they cut and
mount by hand, as was obvious by the two young men behind the counter
who were doing it when I brought my film in).

So even if your RBT puts no spacing between some frames, hand-cutting by
a small outfit is still a possibility.

     -Greg W. (gjw@xxxxxxxxxx)