Railfan Technology > Helpful advice needed. Slide storage solutions.

Hello


I must confess that even in this day and age of digital photography, I still love to shoot slides when I go out foaming.

When I first started shooting digital in 2008 I would carry along my film camera as a back-up not hardly using my film camera, but back on 2011 I changed my mind and started shooting slides with my film camera as well as my digital camera.

I still really enjoy the artistic color rendition I get with Fuji Provia film. and I just felt I couldn't completely abandon slide film photography.

Unfortunately the local lab here in Boise Idaho where I live (Yes, I am very lucky to STILL have a local lab to process my slides), returns my processed slides in those 3-ring binder style plastic holders.

I just do not feel comfortable those plastic 3-ring binder holders are really a good long term storage solution for my slides.

I would prefer to find some kind of box that would hold a perhaps 1 - 3 Rolls worth of slides, that I could write the date and location on similar to those old "Kodak" style boxes I used to get when I first took up slide photography.

Any slide storage solutions you might have would be appreciated.

Thanks

Rosevillebill
Boise, Id.

This previous discussion might be of some help...

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?9,2030221

This might work. tom
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/40301-REG/Pakon_PKAV40_Storage_Box_for_40.html

I think three ring binders sheets are fine as long as they are archival quality. Slides are kept cleaner and are easier to review when needed
without handling.

When you live in the b/w negative world that was the way to go.

Bob

When I started shooting and storing slides in 1972, I used Logan slide file boxes. These were all-metal and held 600 slides, divided into 30 sections of 20 slides each. My friends and I all bought our Logan slide files at our local K-Mart. I had tried Kodak carousels but they were too limiting and too expensive. My friends and I held regular slide shows for each other, and we all decided to buy Kodak stack loaders that allowed us to show groups of 20 slides. Life was good for at least 15 years, from the early 1970s through the late 1980s. Then the Logan boxes started to get hard to find, and got more expensive.

I had really slowed down my picture taking in the mid 1980s, so the lack of Logan boxes was not a problem. I started traveling in 1989 as part of work, and was able to shoot trains all over the West. I needed more storage, and started looking around as a way to store slides, but in something portable to take to slide shows. I found a great little clear plastic divided box meant for small parts storage. The best price was $5.99 at my local Ace Hardware, labeled as their ACE 20098 Utility Box. It's dimensions were 11" long x 6-1/2 inches deep x 2-1/4 inches high. Divided into 15 sections that each held 20-24 slides perfectly.

Soon Ace stopped carrying the box, but after some phone calls, I found that they were manufactured by Akro-Mills as their 05-505 Utility Box. I stumbled on some Akro-Mills boxes in a local hardware store, up on the top shelf, and bought all six that they had. I haven't needed any new boxes for quite some time, since I started selling large parts of my slide collection, and started giving away the extra boxes, both Logans and the extra plastic boxes.

I've seen similar parts boxes in a lot of stores (Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, Target, etc.), and always recalled how nice a solution they were for storing slides. These were such a nice solution that I can still recommend using the concept of a clear plastic box that divides into slide-sized compartments. Look around, measure the compartment size, you may find something that fits your needs.

I checked the Akro-Mills web site, and they still make a similar Storage Case. The medium or large versions are both 2-1/2 inches high, and would likely work for storing slides.

http://www.akro-mils.com/Products/Industrial/Small-Parts-Storage/Storage-Cases.aspx

Don Strack

If you take the plastic dividers out of the Logan boxes you can get 900 slides in a box.