{chuckle} This weekend, I was working on mounting some of the
strips of film which decorate my wall, and stumbled upon
something I thought I'd share.

I use a mounting-jig of my own making. It has an illuminator
panel with focusing viewing lenses above it. With this, I can
directly view my film while I am mounting it. It lets me
observe, in real time, the window and alignment. My normal
technique is to fix the right chip to the mount, and then
move the left chip around to fix the view for window,
vertical, horizontal and rotation.

To counter-act film film curl, I have several pieces of
acrylic handy with which I can span the film and press it
flat on the mount. I commonly drop one across both chips and
maneuver the left chip under the acrylic. When doing so, I
have to be careful to keep my right hand from occluding the
right chip and take care not to finger-print anything.

This weekend, I had a 'duh' moment. I flipped my strip of
acrylic over and flipped the left chip over on top of that
and taped the chip to the acrylic with a very small scrap of
tape. Then I set it back on the mount in the same position it
has always been, but now the film was attached to a long
stick (that was also holding the right chip flat against the
mount). I could maneuver the left chip around the mount with
my right hand which was moving the acrylic strip....like a
puppet. When I had it where I wanted it, I did what I always
do. Press my finger firmly in the middle of the acrylic to
hold everything in place and secure the left chip with some
tape. The only added step is to remove the scrap of tape I
used earlier.
________________________________________
John Thurston
Juneau, Alaska
http://stereo.thurstons.us

Can you post a video of this technique on youtube?  I am having trouble visualizing it based on your description, Thanks, Nik --- On Mon, 10/18/10, John Thurston wrote: From: John Thurston Subject: [MF3D-group] Change in mounting technique To: MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com Date: Monday, October 18, 2010, 11:55 PM   {chuckle} This weekend, I was working on mounting some of the strips of film which decorate my wall, and stumbled upon something I thought I'd share. I use a mounting-jig of my own making. It has an illuminator panel with focusing viewing lenses above it. With this, I can directly view my film while I am mounting it. It lets me observe, in real time, the window and alignment. My normal technique is to fix the right chip to the mount, and then move the left chip around to fix the view for window, vertical, horizontal and rotation. To counter-act film film curl, I have several pieces of acrylic handy with which I can span the film and press it flat on the mount. I commonly drop one across both chips and maneuver the left chip under the acrylic. When doing so, I have to be careful to keep my right hand from occluding the right chip and take care not to finger-print anything. This weekend, I had a 'duh' moment. I flipped my strip of acrylic over and flipped the left chip over on top of that and taped the chip to the acrylic with a very small scrap of tape. Then I set it back on the mount in the same position it has always been, but now the film was attached to a long stick (that was also holding the right chip flat against the mount). I could maneuver the left chip around the mount with my right hand which was moving the acrylic strip....like a puppet. When I had it where I wanted it, I did what I always do. Press my finger firmly in the middle of the acrylic to hold everything in place and secure the left chip with some tape. The only added step is to remove the scrap of tape I used earlier. ________________________________________ John Thurston Juneau, Alaska http://stereo.thurstons.us

Nikhilesh Sekhar wrote:

> Can you post a video of this technique on youtube? I am
> having trouble visualizing it based on your description,

Nik, your suggestion had me LOLing at the breakfast table
and chuckling on my walk to work :)

I'll try to take a couple of pictures and update the notes
I've put on my web pages
(http://stereo.thurstons.us/stereo_mounting.htm). The only
change will be to
http://stereo.thurstons.us/mounting_adjust_the_left_side.htm
where, rather then moving the film freely under the acrylic
strip, the film is tacked to the acrylic and the acrylic is
used to move the film.


I'm fairly certain that I'll not be making any videos of the
process. I understand that there are visual learners, but I
have:
A) a very strong dislike of youtube
B) limited bandwidth
C) no video tools
D) no video knowledge
E) no video interest

--
John Thurston
Juneau Alaska
http://stereo.thurstons.us

John; I've always worried that the acrylic might scratch your film strips - you don't worry about this? Vlad --- On Tue, 10/19/10, Nikhilesh Sekhar wrote: From: Nikhilesh Sekhar Subject: Re: [MF3D-group] Change in mounting technique To: MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, October 19, 2010, 7:41 AM   Can you post a video of this technique on youtube?  I am having trouble visualizing it based on your description, Thanks, Nik --- On Mon, 10/18/10, John Thurston wrote: From: John Thurston Subject: [MF3D-group] Change in mounting technique To: MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com Date: Monday, October 18, 2010, 11:55 PM   {chuckle} This weekend, I was working on mounting some of the strips of film which decorate my wall, and stumbled upon something I thought I'd share. I use a mounting-jig of my own making. It has an illuminator panel with focusing viewing lenses above it. With this, I can directly view my film while I am mounting it. It lets me observe, in real time, the window and alignment. My normal technique is to fix the right chip to the mount, and then move the left chip around to fix the view for window, vertical, horizontal and rotation. To counter-act film film curl, I have several pieces of acrylic handy with which I can span the film and press it flat on the mount. I commonly drop one across both chips and maneuver the left chip under the acrylic. When doing so, I have to be careful to keep my right hand from occluding the right chip and take care not to finger-print anything. This weekend, I had a 'duh' moment. I flipped my strip of acrylic over and flipped the left chip over on top of that and taped the chip to the acrylic with a very small scrap of tape. Then I set it back on the mount in the same position it has always been, but now the film was attached to a long stick (that was also holding the right chip flat against the mount). I could maneuver the left chip around the mount with my right hand which was moving the acrylic strip....like a puppet. When I had it where I wanted it, I did what I always do. Press my finger firmly in the middle of the acrylic to hold everything in place and secure the left chip with some tape. The only added step is to remove the scrap of tape I used earlier. ________________________________________ John Thurston Juneau, Alaska http://stereo.thurstons.us

On 10/19/2010 8:05 PM, Vladimir Galkin wrote:

> John;
>
> I've always worried that the acrylic might scratch your film strips - you don't worry about this?

I do think about it, but it has never proven to be a problem in
practice. The problems I have seen are more along the lines of:

+ accidentally spitting on my film when I get lazy and try to blow a
speck of dust off rather than reaching for my air bulb or paint brush

+ tearing my film after I mis-mount and have to remove the tape from the
mount

+ having a piece of tape jump into the image area when I'm trying to
secure it in the mount

I can't imagine doing precise mounting without having glass or plastic
to hold the film flat. Before I started using it, I would spend a long
time aligning my chips and then not understand why the final view was
misaligned. When the film curled, it changed what was visible inside the
aperture. Holding the film flat against the mount makes it possible to
know it is correct and will still be correct when the mount is closed.

John Thurston
Juneau, Alaska

John,
Thanks for posting the link to your webpage, very helpful. I think I can figure out your method without a video now ;)

Nik

--- In MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com, John Thurston wrote:
>
> On 10/19/2010 8:05 PM, Vladimir Galkin wrote:
> > John;
> >
> > I've always worried that the acrylic might scratch your film strips - you don't worry about this?
>
> I do think about it, but it has never proven to be a problem in
> practice. The problems I have seen are more along the lines of:
>
> + accidentally spitting on my film when I get lazy and try to blow a
> speck of dust off rather than reaching for my air bulb or paint brush
>
> + tearing my film after I mis-mount and have to remove the tape from the
> mount
>
> + having a piece of tape jump into the image area when I'm trying to
> secure it in the mount
>
> I can't imagine doing precise mounting without having glass or plastic
> to hold the film flat. Before I started using it, I would spend a long
> time aligning my chips and then not understand why the final view was
> misaligned. When the film curled, it changed what was visible inside the
> aperture. Holding the film flat against the mount makes it possible to
> know it is correct and will still be correct when the mount is closed.
>
> John Thurston
> Juneau, Alaska
>

"John Thurston" wrote:

> I can't imagine doing precise mounting without having

glass or plastic

> to hold the film flat. Before I started using it, I would

spend a long

> time aligning my chips and then not understand why the

final view was

> misaligned. When the film curled, it changed what was

visible inside the

> aperture. Holding the film flat against the mount makes it

possible to

> know it is correct and will still be correct when the

mount is closed.

>

It seems that once the film is bent it will never be
straight again. I have had film hang for months and still
be curled.

When I started using DenverDigitalImaging for my 120
development I had a pleasant surprise. They would cut the
film into 2 or 3 image lengths and pack it flat between
cardboard. The chips were flatter than I could ever make
them after rolling. I could open the package and mount the
images as soon as I got them. After I enjoyed mounting
about 12 rolls, they too started rolling the film uncut and
shipping in a tube. Unfortunately, all good things must
come to an end.

To shorten the hanging time, I reverse roll the film for
about 2 hours before hanging it.

Chuck Holzner

heat from some light boxes will force flat film to curl....
beware of that too...

On 10/20/2010 11:23 AM, Chuck Holzner wrote:
>
>
> "John Thurston" wrote:
>
> > I can't imagine doing precise mounting without having
> glass or plastic
> > to hold the film flat. Before I started using it, I would
> spend a long
> > time aligning my chips and then not understand why the
> final view was
> > misaligned. When the film curled, it changed what was
> visible inside the
> > aperture. Holding the film flat against the mount makes it
> possible to
> > know it is correct and will still be correct when the
> mount is closed.
> >
>
> It seems that once the film is bent it will never be
> straight again. I have had film hang for months and still
> be curled.
>
> When I started using DenverDigitalImaging for my 120
> development I had a pleasant surprise. They would cut the
> film into 2 or 3 image lengths and pack it flat between
> cardboard. The chips were flatter than I could ever make
> them after rolling. I could open the package and mount the
> images as soon as I got them. After I enjoyed mounting
> about 12 rolls, they too started rolling the film uncut and
> shipping in a tube. Unfortunately, all good things must
> come to an end.
>
> To shorten the hanging time, I reverse roll the film for
> about 2 hours before hanging it.
>
> Chuck Holzner
>
>

Chuck Holzner wrote:

> It seems that once the film is bent it will never be
> straight again. I have had film hang for months and still
> be curled.

The curl I see is generally across the width of the film
rather than the length. My film frequently hangs for months
before being mounted. Some of it hangs for years :(

Cross-width curling of the film seems more pronounced on my
Kodak film than on my Fuji film, but that is an
un-scientific observation. This curling does not seem to
change with time. I have not opened some of my mounted
images to see if the film will now curl back when released
from the mount.

> When I started using DenverDigitalImaging for my 120
> development I had a pleasant surprise. They would cut the
> film into 2 or 3 image lengths and pack it flat between
> cardboard. The chips were flatter than I could ever make
> them after rolling. I could open the package and mount the
> images as soon as I got them. After I enjoyed mounting
> about 12 rolls, they too started rolling the film uncut and
> shipping in a tube. Unfortunately, all good things must
> come to an end.

I've been using Denver Digital and I specifically request
"Do not cut" in big, underlined, red sharpie. I put it in
several places on the form and always get my film back
rolled inside a tube and inserted in a box. With my TL120,
the inter-image spacing is too small to plan on having them
safely cut the film.

I'm willing to bet that if you wrote, "Please cut into
shorter strips and mail flat" that they would do so.

--
John Thurston
Juneau Alaska
http://stereo.thurstons.us

FWIW, I reverse roll the film and put it back into the tube for a brief time, which seems to help a bit.

Also, just clamping and hanging the stips, maybe with a little, bulldog clipped weight on the bottom, will do the trick too.

--- In MF3D-group@yahoogroups.com, John Thurston wrote:
>
> Chuck Holzner wrote:
> > It seems that once the film is bent it will never be
> > straight again. I have had film hang for months and still
> > be curled.
>
> The curl I see is generally across the width of the film
> rather than the length. My film frequently hangs for months
> before being mounted. Some of it hangs for years :(
>
> Cross-width curling of the film seems more pronounced on my
> Kodak film than on my Fuji film, but that is an
> un-scientific observation. This curling does not seem to
> change with time. I have not opened some of my mounted
> images to see if the film will now curl back when released
> from the mount.
>
> > When I started using DenverDigitalImaging for my 120
> > development I had a pleasant surprise. They would cut the
> > film into 2 or 3 image lengths and pack it flat between
> > cardboard. The chips were flatter than I could ever make
> > them after rolling. I could open the package and mount the
> > images as soon as I got them. After I enjoyed mounting
> > about 12 rolls, they too started rolling the film uncut and
> > shipping in a tube. Unfortunately, all good things must
> > come to an end.
>
> I've been using Denver Digital and I specifically request
> "Do not cut" in big, underlined, red sharpie. I put it in
> several places on the form and always get my film back
> rolled inside a tube and inserted in a box. With my TL120,
> the inter-image spacing is too small to plan on having them
> safely cut the film.
>
> I'm willing to bet that if you wrote, "Please cut into
> shorter strips and mail flat" that they would do so.
>
> --
> John Thurston
> Juneau Alaska
> http://stereo.thurstons.us
>

I have always found that by letting the film sit flat on a table with a carefully placed weight on it (usually some books) quickly flattens it with no residual curl.

="Harry Calderbank" wrote:

>I have always found that by letting the film sit flat on a

table with a

>carefully placed weight on it (usually some books) quickly

flattens it with

>no residual curl.

Sounds like a great idea.

Now I know what I will do with the 6 rolls I sent off
Tuesday which will likely come back rolled and curled. I
will just have to figure out how long "Quickly" is but no
doubt it will not "reverse flatten" the film if I don't get
back to them right away..

Why didn't I think of that?

Thanks Harry.

Chuck

"Chuck Holzner "wrote