Topic: Anyone have one of theses?

[Ed Wenn]

....because I do   Well, I will do as soon as it's delivered. £12.50 + £11 postage - how could I not give it a go at those prices?

"This Mechnik+Cie Rapid Image 205 Slide Printer is for making Polaroid prints or negs from mounted transparencies. It consists of a slide holder slot with a second slot for filters, a built in flash, a prefocused duping lens and a mount to take Polaroid type 405 film packs. I think that Fuji make film for this but you should check for yourself.

It's well built, made in Switzerland, in good working order and with the original instruction book but there is no film supplied."

[landcameras]

That one looks quite stout. Basically its the EU equivalent of one of these it appears: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcbricker/5584918056/# This vivitar version even takes a brick of D sized batteries just in case you need to print slides in the field (??!)

Am I reading your text right that this is a 4x5 version? that sure looks like a type 100 pack holder to me. But then again maybe my monitor is too big and the scale isn't right.

If its 4x5, then you need FP-100C45 or FP-3000b45, if you were wondering. and furthermore thats amazing, I'm jealous!

[Ed Wenn]

Nope, I assume it's a 100 series scanner....hence the 405 holder mentioned in the description. If It took a 550 as well I'd be super excited!!

[Paul Mitchell]

Coolio!  Never seen that one before.

I have a Daylab 35 with stacks of 669 which I must get round to doing something about sometime soon

[Francois]

That looks rather nice.
I have a Vivitar one somewhere... It took me forever to figure our there was a special hidden switch in the slide slot to prevent the flash from firing. I just hope I didn't get any contact cleaner on the flash tube...

[landcameras]

lol right, or 550... its early here - polaroid and their intuitive numbering system.

Found this guy who worked pretty hard on testing various types - http://cool.conservation-us.org/waac/wn/wn05/wn05-1/wn05-107.html

[moominsean]

skorj has a slide copier review...on this site.

[thil]

Ed, I was looking for a Vivitar slide copier some time ago. Couldn't find one so I just went for a darkroom approach. I found a Polaroid back and stuck it under my Axomat enlarger. Works well enough

[Ed Wenn]

Thil: Nice idea. Glad it works.

Sean: Noted. I knew that....er, OK. I didn't, but I do now. 

Thanks everyone for tips and suggestions. I'll try it out next week. I have tons of old family slides from the 1960's onwards, so it might be fun playing with this for a while.

[original_ann]

I have often wondered what these things do.  Does it make negatives (or positives) out of your polaroid pics?  A benefit over scanning polas? I know not... help educate me.  (Speak slowly, please... and thanks).  ;-p

[Paul Mitchell]

Ann, they're mainly used for producing image transfers or image lifts. Prior to Polaroids demise the favoured film was 669 but can now be done using the Fuji instant film http://www.alternativephotography.com/wp/processes/fuji/fuji-image-transfer

[Ed Wenn]

Ann, they produce a pos image on the 100 series instant film of your choice. As Paul said, most people use these machines for making image transfers (using Pola or Fuji film) of images originally shot on slide/neg film. It's a bit like having your cake and eating it.

I probably won't be doing a lot of that. I'll be taking old slides and turning them into coffee stained instants and also taking a look at using standard b/w colour film negs to create a negative image on the positive side of the Instant film, but then scanning or somehow re-using the goop or neg side of the instant film....if that makes any sense?
 

An easier way of explaining it is that if you start with a positive image (i.e. a slide) you'll get a positive image on the instant film. If you start with a negative, you'll end up with a negative image on the instant film.

Skorj's original review of his scanner is - as usual - incredibly well written and worth taking a look at: http://www.filmwasters.com/forum/index.php?topic=2693.0

[Skorj]

Results! We demand results! Skj.

[Ken B: eyes, I just do eyes.]

Results! We demand results! Skj.

+ 1 with Skorj

[Chris A Fraser]

+2 Lets see the results.... the public demands it!

[Ed Wenn]

Heh heh!

Well, I have given the slide printer a couple of run outs and results have been great so far....in that it's easy to use and does exactly what it says on the tin. My parents were staying over the weekend and I sent them home with a pocketful of prints taken from some lovely Ektachrome slides taken at a family gathering in about 1962. They're off to another reunion with some of the people in the slides so it was great for them to have some prints to take with them. Yes, I could have scanned the slides on my flatbed and printed them from the computer....but where's the fun in that?
 

I also spent an hour or so wasting a second pack of 125i after my folks had left, with a view to coffee staining some old slides once they were printed. That went well too....I just haven't had (and won't have for another 2 weeks) time to scan the resulting prints and get them online.

But to anyone who has a stash of slides and a lot of 100 series film....I say 'dive in', these scanner/printers are a LOT of fun.