Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/07/06

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To: fward@erols.com, leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
Subject: Re: Film choice: Durability... -Reply -Reply
From: Joel Tlumak <JT@JMBM.COM>
Date: Sat, 06 Jul 1996 09:13:59 -0700

On the duping of slides I apparently live in another world, and
I'm puzzled by that.  A few years ago a pro in San Francisco
sent a batch of slides to a publication; when the publication
sent the slides back, Federal Express lost them and they were
never recovered.  The photographer brought a lawsuit against
FedEx and lost, as FedEx is limited in its liability for photos
(including slides), jewelry and other valuables.  That pro, of
course, lost the slides of which he had no dupes.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, New Lab does a
great job duping 35mm slides -- also duping them into larger
formats.  As does the Professional Color Lab where I have my
slides duped.  As for slides being second generation, I cannot
dispute that fact.  However, duping slides by good pro labs
has become a staple in pro processing and from what I have
seen done, I don't think pros could tell the difference between
some dupes and the original.  New Lab does 35mm dupes
onto 70mm and 4x5 and I don't think anyone would be
disgraced by such duping.

The fact remains, however, that I'd rather have a very good
"second generation" dupe of an image rather than have it lost
forever.  I am now in the process of duping my valuable slides
every three years (yes, dupes of dupes).  Costly, but not that
costly.  That's a lot of work and takes a lot of tracking, but with
computers such tracking is not that difficult.  The alternative, of
course, is to use only black and white film.  That alternative is
precisely what many photographers have chosen.  I like color. 
I also await electronic means that will preserve my images
more efficiently that slide duping.  In a 10-year period I would
have to dupe a slide three different times; cumbersome but
better than losing that slide.  Also, I presume that within five
years -- perhaps much less -- we will have electronic means to
preserve images permanently and accurately.  Therefore, if
you dupe, as I dupe, you probably won't have too long before
you could stop such a practice.