Just picked up a Kodak Carousel Projector for $12.50 at the local Goodwill. I have three of these and wonder if they need any lubrication or service. this one seems to work fine and had a 80 tray.
Kodak Carousel
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A deal too good to pass up? lol
The "somehow appointed" custodian of the family archives (my late father's collection of ((mainly)) Kodachrome as well as Ektachrome, Fujichrome, and Agfachrome slides), the lot came with a Kodak Ektagraphic? slide projector (it's downstairs buried in my storage room somewhere, so I can't verify the model at the moment), a Smith-Victor table with a lightbox, a 5'x5' screen, and several dozen 80 and 140-slide trays. Ironic that as much as I dreaded being subjected to dad's slide shows as an adolescent, I sometimes find myself setting up for a slide show.
Regarding the last sentence, it reminded me of an old German-American saying: "We are so soon Old and so late Smart". At age 85, I feel like I should finally be getting "Smart". But that "Smartness" still seems to be elusive at best...........Regards!
Hello to Shreveport. Heading down your way either next April ('17) or late August (I have relatives in nearby Benton) for several weeks; I'm undecided on the date, but confirmed for the trip (leaning to late summer). Planned excursions to New Orleans (obviously), the River Road (New Orleans to St. Francisville) to shoot antebellum architecture, the Atchafalaya Basin (Henderson Swamp), the Redneck Riviera (morbid curiosity re Biloxi and Gulfport - my last trip through was pre-legalization of gambling) as well as the Shreveport/Caddo Parish area itself. If you are interested in doing some shooting, let me know and I'll keep you posted re specifics.
BLK
BLK
Carousels are susceptible to breaking a plastic piece, called the solenoid link, in the advance mechanism. With autofocus machines the plastic AF gears can fail. Replacement parts can be found online.
www.ebay.com/itm/Kodak-Carousel-Projector-ADVANCE-Repair-Kit-/111885785149
www.ebay.com/itm/Kodak-Carousel-Projector-ADVANCE-Repair-Kit-/111885785149
OP
OP
Thanks for the info thd ones l have seem to work OK but not sure the autofocus is working. Did not know if there was anything that might need to be lubricated or serviced.
Not sure if you are already familiar with projector technology or not, but note that "Autofocus" in a slide projector is not the same thing as Autofocus in an AF camera.
I thought my first AF projector was broken, as the projected image was out-of-focus when I went to use it, and I still had to focus the lens myself.
Of course, it was working perfectly - projector autofocus only corrects the focus the differences in the film plane from one slide to another slide. It is a very nice thing to have if you are showing slides from different rolls of film on the same tray.
I thought my first AF projector was broken, as the projected image was out-of-focus when I went to use it, and I still had to focus the lens myself.
Of course, it was working perfectly - projector autofocus only corrects the focus the differences in the film plane from one slide to another slide. It is a very nice thing to have if you are showing slides from different rolls of film on the same tray.
One thing that I learned about motors and gears, is to use them. What happens with inactivity is the grease dries up and gets stiff, and then things don't move very well, if at all. So every few month or so, run though a tray of slides.
Great that you have spare projectors. My local shop told me that today, it is uneconomical to repair a projector. Just the shipping from SF to LA and back, for an estimate, no repair charges yet, was about $50 ($25 each way). He told me to get a bunch of spare projectors off eBay, and when one projector failed, replace it with one of the spares, or use the spares for parts.
Great that you have spare projectors. My local shop told me that today, it is uneconomical to repair a projector. Just the shipping from SF to LA and back, for an estimate, no repair charges yet, was about $50 ($25 each way). He told me to get a bunch of spare projectors off eBay, and when one projector failed, replace it with one of the spares, or use the spares for parts.
A Carousel at $12.50 makes me sad. Back in the 1980s I paid about $400 Cdn for a new unit. Slides on the extinct Kodachrome projected on a screen were something to behold. Now even E6 processing has almost died off too. But the Carousel is still working and the old Kodachromes have not deteriorated. However, all this is just inevitable nostalgia -- you can tell I'm an old fart.
Projector bulbs were outrageously priced in the 1980s and 1990s. The markup kept camera stores alive after the camera industry started making camera retailing unprofitable. One could argue it was a major factor in the demise of slides for personal photography.
Good news is that bulbs are now very affordable on auction sites, and have a nearly infinite shelf life.
Look for the three-letter code on the bulb. If the code has worn out:
"DFW" for the Carousel 550.
"DEK" for Carousels 600 through 860 without an "H".
"ELH" for Carousels 600 through 860 with an "H".
"FHS" for Carousels 4000 through 5600.
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The demise of slides has more to do with
- the increased cost of slide film [film prices were possibly increased because once the slides were taken, there was no market for reprints or future profit]
- the increased cost of slide processing [related to the reasons given about future profit]
- the rise of digital photography
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Wow thanks 1L6E6VHF. I will research - hopefully I kept the old bulb.
In corporate presentations, absolutely. The great game changer was PowerPoint, which seemed to replace color slides almost overnight in 2003.
In personal photography, the change was more gradual, started much earlier, and was more or less complete before most ordinary people had a digital camera. This was also due to other changes, such as increased television viewing and the change in the American family structure, from the married couple with children to the single-mother led family.
Note that in the current era, digital has not really replaced the slide show - almost nobody uses a digital projector to show digital images to friends and family. They merely turn the screen of their smartphone to them or forward an image to their phone.
I do remember camera shops and hobbyists discouraging newcomers from exploring slides - "You'll blow the bulb, and it will be fifty dollars to replace it".
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PowerPoint raised boring presentation to a much higher level of tedium.
If you are mechanically inclined at all, you can replace the pieces that typically fail. The kit I linked to above is not expensive.
Sorry to have taken this much time getting back to you. It is now March 1, 2016 and in a few days I will be 85. I am having problems walking now or even standing in one place in the darkroom so let us stay in touch and see how things go this coming year. As to the time of the year, April should be much nicer than August. Summer here in most years is from sometime in May till the end of the first week in October. I would not recommend my worst enemy to come down here in summer. That is why air conditioners are built to install in darkrooms. I do like your excursions. ....As I said, let's stay in touch. Any chance of coming in late October or anytime in November. Days are warm (not hot) and nights are cool. The cotton crop is being harvested where cotton is still being grown, and sugar cane is being harvested, crushed and taken to the refineries. Citrus fruit are also beginning to ripen south of New Orleans.........regards!
OP
OP
Thanks for all the good information. I currently have 3 Carousels and an old GAF projector. All are working but guess I should get a spare bulb for them.
The bulbs are extremely easy to find online. I always keep a spare on hand.
Since GAF was a conglomerate that swallowed several photography-related companies, they wound up producing several lines of projectors that differed greatly from each other.
Their most popular models carried on the Sawyers Rototray design.
In these, if the bulb stands upright and looks like a radio tube with four pins, it is likely a DAK. Some newer models took the less powerful (400W) DAT. The DAT will work in either. The CAL (300W) will also work in either and is extremely common (a school film strip projector favorite).
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