Museums are facing increased difficulties in supplying lecturers with slides of items in their collection. This is particularly so where they have no photographic studio on the premises and have to call in outside commercial photographers.

The cost of making a good quality lecture slide in terms of the lighting set-up, travelling, and man-hours, is almost as great as that involved in making a transparency for a publisher. One photographer working for a UK provincial gallery was charging £26 for a colour slide in 1975! This is, of course, quite exceptional, but such a service can never be cheap in future.