Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/02/12
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> Does anyone on this
> list have a strong preference pro/anti Leica for projectors? If so,
> should I consider the P150, or the higher-end models?
When I was looking for a projector around 1983/84 I was surprised to
find how expensive and how cheaply constructed the Kodak projectors of
the day were. I really liked the bell & howell "slide cube" concept,
but everyone I talked to said that they were mechanically unreliable.
I ended up buying a Leica Pradolux 300 II -- a kodak carousel compatible
projector that leica was selling at the time. It was a discontinued
model (because the Pradolux 300 II AV had come out) and I barely paid
more than a Kodak would have cost.
The results were amazing -- even my wife who is less discriminating in
these matters remarked how much better the slides looked than on a
Kodak projector. I'm suspect that the Leitz lens was the reason.
The 300 series used a mechanism that (I believe) was made by Singer --
the sewing machine company. I have recently seen the same mechanism
for sale (sans Leitz lens) for around $499!
I use the 300 with a Kodak stack loader and Kodak's metal slide clips
for storing slides. A box the size of an 80-slide carosel can store
about 640 slides. The clips are very expensive these days, but I
found someone selling a bunch of used ones cheap.
I highly recommend the projector, and although the 300 has been
discontinued for some time, you might be able to find used ones
available for reasonable prices.
--Jim Dempsey--
jjd@bbn.com
http://frontdoor.bbn.com/users/jjd
Replied: 12 Feb 96 19:17