Each year I give about a dozen multi-media programs, rotating seven
different programs through the cycle, so each show is shown, on the
average, less than twice a year. Each slide in the program is on the
screen for between six and ten seconds each showing (usually a lot
closer to six). The most conservative statement I have heard about
Kodachrome's longevity is that it will start to deteriorate after one
hour of projection time. Let's see now, slides on the screen for six
seconds each time a show is presented means I have to run a program 10
times for each slide to have a minute of accumulated projection time,
times 60 minutes in an hour -- I have to show a program 600 times before
my Kodachromes hit the deterioration point!!! At the rate of two
showings per year for any given program, my material may start to
deteriorate when I've been showing the stuff for 300 years.
Every slide (except ones where the mounts have been damaged due to
publication or warpage) is in the original cardboard mount. With over
2500 slides currently committed to programs, it would be an expensive
operation to remount every one. My solution -- preview a show the day
it's going to be presented to make sure every slide drops into the
projector. Any that don't drop get remounted. In some of my older
programs, about 10 per cent of the slides have been remounted over the
years. Another trick I do is I give each carousel tray a good shake
(with the locking ring secure) just before show time loosen any friction
between the slides and tray that may have occurred while transporting
the slides (especially in a cold car). This doesn't eliminate slide drop
failures, but gets the ratio down to about one failure per 1000 slides.
Is it worth duplicating every slide that's in my programs to
preserve the originals? I don't think so. Means for preserving the
images permanently and easily will come along well before any damage
occurs to my Kodachromes. (The slides that have suffered the most
degredation in my programs are Ektachromes I shot in 1980 and
Fujichromes from the late 1970s, and these are degrading from time
rather than projection. My Ektachromes are "going soft", loosing their
crispness, and my Fujichromes are starting lightening and turning brown
on their way to oblivion).
Steve Barry
Railfan & Railroad
Newton, NJ
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