The Magic of Slide Projectors and Why You Should Own One

The Magic of Slide Projectors and Why You Should Own One

2200 1238 James Tocchio

Gleeful giggling, happy screams, and the thunderous reverberations of a three-year-old girl hopping up and down on hardwood flooring. These were the sounds that rang through my house the first time my daughter saw a photo projected on the wall of her bedroom. There, towering six feet tall, was a shot I’d made of Disney World’s Cinderella Castle. She loved that place, and for as long as the projector beamed its magical light, she was there again.

“It’s the castle, Dada!” she shouted. “I love it! I love it!”

When she was finally finished bouncing, I pressed a switch, and with a metallic rattle and a sequence of clacks the image of the castle slid away, replaced moments later by a shot of our family running through Tomorrowland. My daughter’s excitement renewed itself as she pointed out and named each member of her family, and yelled to the other room for my wife to come see. My wife did come and see, and though she has virtually no interest in cameras or vintage photo gear, the massive image with brilliant clarity that was shining in the dimly lit room made her stop and stare.

“Woah. That’s awesome.” She said simply.

It hit me then that there’s something special about slide film and projectors. The depth of the image, the ritual of curating and loading slides, the sensory stimuli of the process, and of course, the sheer wonder of seeing an image projected through pure optics. There’s nothing like it, and if you’re a photo geek who’s never experienced it, you should try to fix that.

But let’s not pretend the process is without barriers to entry, real and perceived. There are plenty of reasons that few shooters are shooting slide film and that even fewer are using slide projectors. But it’s also true that there are plenty of shooters who would shoot and project slides if they only knew that the real barriers to entry are small, and that the many perceived barriers to entry are mostly myth.

To start, shooting slide film isn’t as difficult as everyone says. Across random camera blogs and photography forums, the typical refrain is that slide film is unforgiving, and that’s a valid claim when comparing certain slide film to black-and-white and color negative films. You do need to be more precise with your exposures. But let’s not be so dramatic. Modern slide film has improved exposure latitude over the days of our grandparents’ film; Fujichrome Provia shows minimal color and gradation variation in push/pull processing, with Fuji confidently encouraging shots from -1/2 all the way to +3 exposure index. That’s pretty forgiving. Match this increased latitude with the effectiveness of the in-camera light meters found in cameras stretching back to the days of disco, and we start to realize just how much of a mountain has been made of this molehill. Get a camera with an accurate meter and shoot that E-6 stuff without fear.

Is slide film more expensive? We could certainly argue the point. Sure, a roll of slide film will cost more than the bargain films from Fuji and Kodak, but compared to other professional grade films, slide film can actually be cheaper per roll. Fuji’s Provia 100F costs approximately $7 per 35mm 36-exposure roll, while Kodak’s Portra 400 (a C-41 film) costs $7.50 for the same number of shots. Development costs do increase with slide film, from approximately $5 per roll with C-41 to approximately $12 per roll with slide film. That’s not cheap, but digital scans of each cost the same and with E-6 film you’ll get slides mounted and mailed to you, which as we’ll discuss momentarily, is something more valuable than seven bucks.

Yes, on the whole, slide film may be slightly more expensive than other types of film. But it’s not egregiously over-priced as many commentators often say. And let’s face it; shooting film isn’t a cost-effective way of making images, and people who shoot film cameras aren’t doing so to save money. We do it because there’s something special about film and the cameras that use film. This truth noted, the cost argument misses the point.

Okay, you’re convinced you should try slide film. Great. But what the hell are you going to do about getting a projector? This archaic technology is totally foreign. You know nothing about projectors. Aren’t they just garbage tech from the 1970s? There are too many models. You don’t know where to start, and you’re sure that most of them are broken or need repair. Right?

Hey, guess what? We just described the train of thought that half of our readers ran when they first decided to try a film camera. Funny, right? And yet here you are, shooting a Canon FTb or a Minolta CLE like a champ, processing your own film at home, and telling strangers on the street “Yes, this is a film camera, and yes, they still make film. No, I’m not a hipster.” So don’t give me that nonsense about projectors being a closed book. You’re smart enough.

In the run-up to this article I bought four projectors from four different brands, made over four different decades, from the most unreliable kind of seller (random people on eBay). They all arrived in perfect working condition and required no special knowledge or skill to operate. And the icing on the cake? For less than eighty bucks I got a pristine product with a big, red dot. What other Leica product costs so little? Maybe a lens hood. Maybe.

If you’re ready to buy, there are some things to consider. First, every major manufacturer created slide projectors for many decades, and similar to all other consumer products, these manufacturers created a range of products to satisfy certain market segments. There are cheap projectors and professional projectors just the same as there are cheap cameras and pro cameras. Choosing which you’d like to own is a great place to start.

A basic, manually operated Minolta Mini projector can be bought for less than $20. It focuses by hand and each slide will need to be fitted by hand. These work fine, and could be a great choice for someone looking to dabble. Step up to an automated projector and you’ll be well-served to look at Kodak’s Carousel models or the heavier Ektagraphic models. These were the slide projectors found in every middle-class household in the heyday of film. They provide great image quality at a low price (around $50). With varying degrees of automation that speed up the slideshow and facilitate accurate focusing, these are good projectors for the average user.

The mid-range Leica projector I purchased as a personal keeper is the Pradovit P 150, and it’s a phenomenal performer relative to cost. With an exceptional lens (even though it’s the most basic available), fast autofocus, and intuitive controls, it’s the only slide projector I’ll ever need. And if I want to upgrade its lens in the future, I can do so easily. Reaching to the higher end we find that even the best projectors from Rollei and Leica cost only a few hundred dollars. It’s a buyer’s market.

Case by case, buying a projector is the same as buying any other product. Practice diligence and find one in good condition and chances are high you’ll own a perfectly functional projector for years. When shopping, look for damage and wear, signs of hard use or improper storage, and burned out bulbs. The latter of these issues is easily fixable – just buy replacement bulbs if you need them. No big deal. If a seller doesn’t guarantee a working product, move along. There are literally hundreds of thousands of perfectly good projectors sitting around waiting to be used. If you can’t find a perfect condition model for under $150, you might not be connected to the internet and you should check your router.

When you get the projector home, load up some slides, shut off the lights, and project that glorious image onto a flat, white surface. Projection screens are ideal, but not necessary. A wall works, a ceiling works, a fence outside under a starry sky works. The fun thing about projectors is that every surface becomes a viewing screen. Sure, we want a textureless white surface to improve fidelity and color, but any surface will do. Don’t stress about it, and keep an eye out for a bargain screen – they’re as common and as cheap as projectors.

And this part, the part that follows after exposing slide film and acquiring a projector, is the part of the process that’s most difficult to explain to someone who’s never experienced it. A projected slide has an incredible clarity and depth, and an unquantifiable presence that’s impossible to compare to an image as shown on a screen or in print. Without bluster, there’s something truly exceptional about a projected image. Though my daughter has seen countless photos in print and on a computer screen or on a phone, she’s never reacted to a photo the way she reacts to photos projected on a wall or on a projection screen. For me, that’s the proof, and reason enough to own and occasionally use a slide projector.

I won’t shoot exclusively slide film, and we’re not saying you should either. And though it’s true that most of the hurdles have been exaggerated, it’s also true that for those who’ve never shot it there are small knowledge barriers to overcome. But just as it’s worth it to shoot a film camera, the effort here is worth it, too. And with Kodak’s recent announcement that the brand is producing a new version of the previously discontinued Kodak Ektachrome slide film, now might be the perfect time to pick up an inexpensive projector and get comfortable with shooting slides.

I think it’s important that more shooters experience this wonderful type of film and the incomparable viewing experience that comes with it. Slide film is a treat. Projectors are a joy. Just like shooting film in the digital age, they provide an experience in photography that’s different from what we’re used to. Give it a try. Shoot slide film at special moments and in special places, and put those slides in a carousel and listen to that projector hum to life. And even if you’re a bit too old to bounce and giggle, I promise you’ll love what you see.

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James Tocchio

James Tocchio is a writer and photographer, and the founder of Casual Photophile. He’s spent years researching, collecting, and shooting classic and collectible cameras. In addition to his work here, he’s also the founder of the online camera shop Fstopcameras.com.

All stories by:James Tocchio
30 comments
  • I cannot recommend strongly enough, Agfa’s Precisa CT100 slide/reversal film. This is a marketing exercise by Agfa, as the actual rolls of sheet to cut into the film, is made for them by Fuji. From what I understand, the emulsion is very similar if not identical to Fuji Provia 100F but the substrate is different, with a faint brown tint. This results in warmer rendition than Provia gives, which to my eyes, is no back thing. Precisa is the nearest reversal film yet to the much missed Kodachrome, well anyway until Ektachrome Professional E100 arrives.

    My problem is that I want my reversal film in strips for ease of scanning and my Prestinox slide dual projector (internal or external screen) wants mounted slides to fit in its 40 slide cartridges. I therefore end up scanning (with a Leitz BEOON and Leica SL 601 camera and then projecting with my Mitsubishi 1080p digital projector.

    • We’re going to start profiling a handful of slide film in the coming month or two. Thanks for the tip. We’ll fast track CT100.

    • Sorry, but “projecting” with a digital projector misses what makes projecting slides special. It’s a mere simulacrum of the real thing.

  • Wow, another great photography article! Full of nostalgia for me. I had one of those little manual projectors. Minolta made, I guess. It got very hot. Bulbs were not easy to find. Don’t know what happened to mine. Alas, almost all of my Kodachrome slides have been lost. Sad. But, great article, very well written. Thanks.

    • Thanks Merlin. Always happy to see your comments. That’s tragic, losing your KC slides. If there’s one film I wish I could shoot, it’s Kodachrome.

  • Spent my youth watching as my Dad project his Kodachromes with his Argus projector on to the roll up screen in our basement. I still have the Kodachromes, having scanned most of them a few years ago (still with their brilliant colors). I bet if I ask, my parents still have the Argus.

  • Wonderfully written. My family had a slide projector when I was a child. I remember the sounds and the smell from it. We would hang a large white sheet on the wall in our family room and as the slides clicked by my family reminisced about each image. That was the 60’s. In the early 80’s my Mother and I took all those slides to Alves in Braintree and had them turned into prints which I still have. Loved those slide show evenings. Thanks for the memories James.

  • Marcus didius falco (@falcos2012) February 12, 2018 at 6:12 am

    Excellent article:) All the photos of me & my brother growing up were taken on slide film(not sure what brand). I well remember family parties where the slides were projected on the wall by my dad:) It was usually a couple of weeks after we returned from holiday when this occurred.

    As an aside, you can still get slide projectors brand new. Not sure about American market, but certainly in the U.K., there are still a couple of manufacturers that still sell brand new machines.

  • In ways slide film is much easier to work with. I scan my own film (using my DLSR). With slide film because it is a positive image, I can immediately tell which ones are worth scanning. Just hold the film strip up to a light source, or plop them down on a light table. With negative film, I pretty much scan the lot, then filter through the good ones once they have been inverted.
    Just the act of dropping slide film on a light table or light pad is magnificent. Just seeing the images pop to life is something else. Aaaaand it makes filing (and then retrieving) the film much easier as a quick glance at the film sheet reveals the content.

    Just shot some Kodak E100GX this past weekend for a project. Will get it developed tonight…

    p.s. and yet again, another gem of an article on this site!

  • I’ve got several projectors picked up from estate sales. Guess I ought to stop procrastinating and try them out.
    One thing to be wary of are moldy screens. I’ve seen many in my travels. You can’t check them out on-line, but certainly at garage sales. Open them fully to inspect, especially when stored in a basement or garage.

  • Now I need to have a projector 😉 THANKS A LOT! 😛

  • Great story, James. I’m still waiting for the new Ektachrome. I hope that it’s still going to happen. I have hundreds of old slides, and I have been shooting a lot of Velvia this year, so I went shopping for a slide projector and found one—a perfectly fine, fully working Kodak carousel model—for $10 in Davis Square. There are many others listed on Craigslist. Give an old projector a good home. It’s worth it.

    • An acquaintance at Kodak says all is on schedule and we should have Ektachrome this year, sooner than later. I’m excited to shoot it as well! Can’t wait. And glad you found a slide projector for so little money. These are a real bargain right now.

  • I no longer shoot slide film but I did pick up a Braun Novamat 330AF Slide Projector/with a built in projector screen so I could look at my old slide film which is very useful if you don’t have the space or a white wall.

  • “…and listen to that projector hum to life”

    Hmm, I seem to have the wrong projector because mine does not hum. It positively howls life a hurricane! But then again it cost me 10€ and is a cheap plastic thing.

    Got to look for a better one as slides are gorgeous things. Thanks for this post!

  • As someone who produced multi-image/multi-projector slide shows for years, I truly miss the magic of the medium. That said, it is very challenging finding an Ektagraphic projector that doesn’t need to be rebuilt. The plastic Eastman used for the mechanisms just rots over time and disintegrates. That’s not to say it can’t be done, but …

  • ” For less than eighty bucks I got a pristine product with a big, red dot. What other Leica product costs so little?” James, that’s likely because in all probability it’s a Kindermann. 😜

    Joking aside, nothing can beat viewing a quality slide on a 60″ screen. Especially noticeable with portrait orientation which isn’t available with even today’s large scree TV’s. With a quality projection lens and screen, the type of screen IS important and so I would take issue with your recommending projecting onto alternative surfaces in your article. Today, there is little to no information available about the type of screens available and which is best suited to what purpose. So I hope this will help prospective users decide.

    The two types are glass beaded and matt. Each has its use. Glass beaded, easily recognisable by its fine sand paper like surface. produces a brighter, and more contrasty image, than a matt screen, but this is at the expense of viewing angle, which is narrower than a matt screen, and is susceptible to a “hot” centre of illumination. The wider the audience is seated the more the illumination will fall off. Critical viewers will also notice a grainy effect due to the granular structure of the screen.

    The matt screen will not be perceived as bright, but it offers uniform illumination, no hot spot, and is superior for viewers seated at the sides. Matt is also better for showing micro detail in the slide.

    As with any camera, lens quality is the primary arbiter of quality, and so it is with slide projectors. The projection lens is important and Leitz and Rollei, that I know of, had upgrade routes by offering a choice of superior optics. You could improve your Leica/kindermann with a Colorplan. If you mostly have card mounted slides in which the film has curled, a Colorplan CF is a consideration, although useless with slides mounted between glass. In my personal case I purchased my only projector, and which I still have, in the mid-1960’s, a basic Rollei P35, but I immediately upgraded to the Rollei Projar-S lens which cost more than the complete projector and its case! But it was worth it.

  • I bought a reflecta diamator AF projector. I really dont know much about photography but I would love to start somewhere. Where can i buy a slide and what kind of camera would i need to shoot a slide

    • Happy to help. Buy any 35mm film camera that you think you might like, and then buy some 35mm slide film. Kodak Ektachrome and Fuji Provia are two examples of slide film. Shoot the film and then have the film processed by a lab. They will mount the slides for you and then you can pop them into your slide projector and see them. The lab will also be able to provide digital scans so that you can have your images on your computer, phone, share them online, etc. Alternatively you could go on eBay and browse for slides. There are a lot of people who collect and sell vintage slides, and these can be very fun to hunt out and collect. Here’s a link.

  • Trevor Sowers Photography April 12, 2020 at 11:07 am

    Great article! I am still shooting slide film and projecting them for my friends and family. I’m loving the new Ektachrome and it’s definitely easy to expose well. I usually just shoot it in AV mode on my EOS 1V and they come out brilliant. I do use some warming filters to keep the colours nice in blue light.
    I have always felt that you have not truly experienced photography unless you shoot some slides and view them on a light table or projector and I feel this is just as true today as it ever was.

    Long live slide film!

  • Such a nice article, never looked at slides this way (the it’s-not-that-weird-way) and this is making me want to try. And… ready to bounce and giggle!

  • Stumbled on this lovely article over the weekend and now shopping for a proper projector. Thanks for the inspiration.

    I’m old enough to have hundreds of family slides from growing up (and generations before me), and tons of slides I took myself in younger years. By far my favorite type of film. Still working on a good way to scan them, but yes projecting them bigger than life is such a great experience. Cheers.

    • Follow up: I pretty quickly found a nice Pradovit Color with the manuals, cables, remote, and 100mm Elmarit lens for not a lot of money. Just needed a bulb. Shipping cost more than a pair of them. Very exciting to see my old slides up on the wall. The downside, of course, is now I have an itch to get a Prado Universal or Pradix for that sweet Leitz manual slide experience.

      Word of warning to fellow seekers: make sure any projector you’re looking at still actually has a lens in it. The lenses are popular with the DIY lens crowd.

  • What an inspiring article! And a joy to find it at the same time I’m buying a rare find: a Rollei P11.0, a slide projector that handles 35mm AND 6×6 slides! I didn’t knew it existed! The one I found is in very good conditions, even has a spare bulb. I’ll pick it this week.

    I’ve lots of memories on slide film, which I prefer over negative for its colors and also they’re what you shoot, no interference from minilabs autosettings or junior operators. I used to scan them, ocasionally make some prints, but you’re right: there’s no substitute for a slide on a big screen. It’s a unique experience.

    I belive that, like enlarging your own B&W prints, slide projection is the end of a process, where you see what you’ve done with all it has to offer.

    Last year I rebuilt my B&W darkroom after 20 years, had my Rolleiflex CLA’d after 12 years on a shelf. Until today I had only shot 35mm slides. I can’t wait to bring back those memories and create new ones on 6×6 for the big screen! Must be great!

    Hope others get inspired by your article and embark on the joy this experience is. Slide projectors prices are very low here in Brazil, I imagine it must be the same on other countries. This makes the experience even more unmissable.

    Thanks for bringing it in! The more people embark on it, the better for all

  • 😉
    The first one I have shown was with one friand who had a Leica R and a Leica Pradovit, it was Agfachrome 50.
    Then, I got my first one and watched my kodachrome 25 processed in Switzerland (Contax + Zeiss gear), then Velvia 50 processed from the Nouveau Gorne. It was magic.
    Slides are magic.
    This is image, real raws.

  • Great article. Describes the nostalgia and benefit of shooting and projecting 35mm slides.

  • Just bought an Elmo Omnigraphic 253-AF carousal projector for about $8.00 in perfect condition and fully working order including remote and spare lenses.
    Couldn’t be happier with this model, far superior to anything else I used back in the day.
    Now I can see all those slides we took back in the 60 70 and 80’s. I might even get out my top of the line, last of the 35 mm Minolta film cameras and take some new slides.
    Reminiscing all the while.

    Great article and I hope it brings in some new photographers to the hobby, digital photography is fantastic but the presence of a slide on a great projector is something else again.

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James Tocchio

James Tocchio is a writer and photographer, and the founder of Casual Photophile. He’s spent years researching, collecting, and shooting classic and collectible cameras. In addition to his work here, he’s also the founder of the online camera shop Fstopcameras.com.

All stories by:James Tocchio