P3D Terrible Kodak mounting and alternatives

[Linda Nygren <lnygren@xxxxxxx>]

Peter Davis wrote:
> 
> I just got back a set of slides from a Realist roll I had sent to Kodak
> Premium Processing two weeks ago.  There was one slide in which one of the
> film chips had been mounted backwards, and two slides which each had a left
> chip from one pair and a right chip from a different pair.  The surprising
> thing was that these looked completely different, so I can't understand how
> they mixed them up if they even so much as glanced at the slides.
> 
> I have a box of Kodak mis-mounts from previous rolls, and someday when I
> have the patience, I will try to re-mount these.
> 
> Meanwhile, I think I'll shelve the Realist and concentrate on my twin-rig
> and on a beamsplitter.  I really don't have the time to mount all my own
> slides, and Kodak seems completely unreliable.
> 
> -pd
What? No slides with one chip upside down compared to the other, or
multiple slides with only one chip per slide??? 

I gave up on Kodak a while ago, and have discovered the joys of doing my
own mounting. (OK, the joys of having slides mounted reasonably well.
And with less damage to the film chips.) I may never catch up on
"remounting" from when I was sending them all to Kodak. Even the OK ones
tended to have rotational and vertical allignment errors etc, and even
an inexperienced mounter with heatseals can do a much better job than
Kodak does, just by taking a little care. I put the best ones into 5p
RBT's, and the ones that need to be cropped (including closeups) I put
into 4p RBT's or into Spicers (5p reduced width most often, 5p reduced
height or 4p occasionally). Basic heatseal mounting does not require
great skill, and not even huge amounts of time IMO once you get the hang
of it. RBT's are pretty quick and easy too, just expensive. 

For those who *really* don't want to do their own mounting, I would
recommend Colorado Camera as a better alternative to Kodak. They charge
$12 for 24 exp roll and $15 for 36 exp roll (processing and mounting)
according to their website, plus return postage (which is a fixed $4 ).
They did a good job on slides that I sent them in the past. I am not
sure if they do Kodachrome processing or just E-6. There are other labs
that provide do Realist mounting also, as has been posted to the list in
the past, but I have not used them personally. Does anyone else have
recommendations?

Don't give up on that Realist!!! -Linda