3 Things Nobody Told You About Slides
Slides used to be a beautiful way to store and share memories for many years. Here are some things you may not know about your slides.
Slides are sometimes called slide film or reversal film. Slides are usually made of film strips that are cut and mounted into a 2” by 2” paperboard or plastic mount. (Sometimes it’s not a film strip, so people often use the term "transparencies" - glass is another medium used.) Most slides are on 35mm film, meaning transparency size of the image would be 24mm x 36mm. Many other sizes of film can be mounted to these 2x2 paper mounts. The interesting thing about slides is that they are not “negatives” but positives. This means that the slides will show a clear image of what was originally captured on film, no need for processing or editing!
Here are some things you might not have known about slides:
Slide show, anyone?
Slide technology has been around since the 1930’s! Slides really took off in the 1950’s and 60’s, as the technology to produce them was cheaper, faster, and more accessible.
One of the ways slides became so popular is in the way families used them: with a slide projector. The slides would be inserted into a projector, and images would be shown on a wall, and the term was born: Slide Show.
Comment below if you used to have slide shows when you were younger.
Here’s an image showing a vintage slide projector! I find it very interesting that this company was trying to sell its product based on it never becoming obsolete. Hindsight is 20/20 - we now know that slides are not common at all, and viewing them is not as easy as it once was.
PhotoBerry would love to help you have new ‘slide-shows’ by helping digitize your slides. Contact us today if you have any that you want converted!
2. You can view your slides right now
You don’t need a fancy, vintage slide projector to view your old slides. Many products exist today that can help you view your slides at home, cheaply. If you have many slides, it could be a good way to go though them. Going through them will help you decide which ones you want to keep and which ones you don’t. We linked a few options below, these are for 35mm slides; if you have different sizes of film then be sure to reach out so we can help you find the best product.
3. Your slides are losing quality every day
Most slides are generally not made with archival-grade material. This means that your slides were not made to last a long time. They may already be faded or yellow due to age. Heat, humidity, and other factors can greatly ruin the quality of your slides. As the slides won’t last forever, we at PhotoBerry can help you convert your slides into digital files so that you can have them viewable on any device, at any time. Reach out to us today for a free estimate!
We’d love to help you have a modern-age slide show with your family.
Photo Attribution: "Sayer's Slide Projector 1970" by Nesster is licensed under CC BY 2.0
