Consigned to history

I recently noticed a forgotten box in the loft as I retrieved the projector screen. It was my old 35m slide projector lying there forlorn and unused, having been overtaken by the technology which brought us Powerpoint.

I had forgotten how I used to prepare a slideshow in the 80s.

In a touch of nostalgia let me just run through the process. First of all the slides were all photographed using a 35mm SLR camera and slide film such as Kodachrome, Fujichrome or Agfachrome. Slides were duplicated using (not surprisingly) a slide duplicator which was fitted in place of the lens and using daylight or a flash gun as a light source. Composite pictures were taken by over-exposing the component images and creating a montage within the duplicator. Graphs were hand drawn and then photographed. Text was created using Letraset rub-on lettering on coloured board. All the slides were then mounted and had to be “spotted” and numbered so that you could insert them into the carousel correctly, upside down and reverse side towards the projector bulb. You might use glass protection to stop the slides “popping” with the heat from the bulb and going out of focus.

The worst thing that could then happen was that you dropped the slide carousel, the (supposedly) locking lid came off, scattering the slides everywhere and you were due to perform in two minutes time.

Oh, happy days!

What old technology do you remember that has (thankfully) been overtaken by new technology and pensioned off to the darker recesses of your loft?

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