Blowing Quickloads

[Scott Fleming]

Nobody has problems with the Fuji Quickload system. I did yesterday. With my new holder I blew 4 out of 16 exposures when the clip came off as it was passing through the final couple inches of the holder.

Ticked me off something fierce. $2 a pop!

So I came home and started playing with the ruined envelopes and film. I put one back together as if unexposed and ran it in and out of the quickload holder a couple times and it came apart just like it had before. Seemed to be hanging up in that last couple of inches. I tried holding down the release latch as I carefully pulled while wiggleing a little the envelope out. No luck.

Maybe reading the directions again would help. Silly idea. Who reads directions? But I was desperate. Step 6: "Extraiga el Quickload" ... wait a minute. Wrong side. Step 6: " Pull Out the Quickload." substep 2: Hold the envelope's gripping part *tightly* between your fingers and pull the envelope straight out of the holder.

I went back to a ruined quickload and pulled the film out of the envelope. I noticed that there is a hole at the top of the insert that coresponds to the slot where your thumb goes as you pull the thing. Just like in the Fuji diagrams. I put the insert back in the envelope and pulled it in and out while thumbing the slotted area. Indeed ... I could feel the insert through the paper envelope and the hole as it slipped through my thumb and forefinger. It dawned on me. If you are not squeezing with your thumb firmly on the slot and thus the hole in the insert, which the metal clip is actually attached too, you would indeed have the very problem I had had. The assembly coming apart as you tried to get it out of the holder.

Back when I shot 4 x 5 a couple years ago I exposed a couple hundred of these things at least and this never happened. This holder seems a lot stiffer both in inserting and removing exposed quickloads. This had got me 'wiggling' the envelope up and down a bit as I tried to coaxe it out of the holder. This wiggling had made me change my hand position AND relax the pinch of my fingers on that notch. I had not paid attention to the *tightly* part in the instructions. They need to put that word in all caps for dummies like me. I've put one of those trashed quickloads back through the holder and simulated both exposing a picture and then removing the envelope half a dozen times. Works flawlessly every time ... IF I hold at the slot ... TIGHTLY.

Funny how you forget things. Since I returned to 4 x 5 I've been shooting roll film but I gotta get a much wider lense. It was fun to make 4 x 5 exposures again. Aside from my quickload failures.

[Scott Atkinson]

Sounds like you may have some dirt, etc. jammed in the holder somewhere in those last couple inches...? The Quickload holder I just used has SOME resistance there, but doesn't require much effort to get past. Sometimes a batch of Fuji sheets comes with the clips a little skewed to one side or the other; that can make things tougher, too.

[Matthew Cromer]

Look at the bright side Scott. I know you blew $10 on ruined QL film but at least you didn't spend $70,000 on a MF digital solution with far less image quality that just got killed off by its manufacturer!

[Ellen Stoune Duralia]

Scott, I feel your pain! I was in TN this past weekend (attending Danny Burk's LF workshop) and I brought with me some Fuji QL, some Kodak RL (the kind w/ 2 films to a packett) and some Polaroids. I knew that they would all work in my Polaroid holder and I was trying to conserve space in my pack (which weighed 40 pounds) so I left my Fuji holder at home. Well... I ruined 4 packs of that darn Kodak stuff because that clippie doodah kept getting stuck. Fortunately, it was old film that a friend had given me to practice with but still! I'm positive that one of those ruined films was a prize winning photograph!! LOL Ok, maybe not ;-)

But the good news is that I had a great time despite my troubles and I have a new Shen Hao on the way because I'll be darned if I'm going to haul my big Horseman around in the boonies again. Yup, the beast will get to stay in his studio and the folder will be my 4x5 traveling companion.

Now, if we could keep the "I told you so's" to a minimum ;-)

[Scott Fleming]

I hear ya Mathew!

Thanks Scott A. I noticed in my experimentation that the little clip could get slid to one side or the other. One more thing for the mental list. No. 37-A. Check the little metal clip before inserting quickload.

So, hey Ellen: Why not post a thread on your experiences at Danny's workshop. Tell us what all you did and if you learned anything new. I might want to go myself next time if your report is good.

[Dean Tomasula]

Ellen, congratulations on your new Shen-Hao, you'll love it. Check out the Shen-Hao Users Group when you get a chance.

Scott, I had a similar problem with my Readyload holder. Thankfully it only happend to one RL (so far). I think the problem was that the clip wasn't seated properly so it hung up on the way out of the holder. It ruined about 2/3 of the film. So I just popped another RL in the holder and got the shot.

[Steve Hamley]

Ellen,

Congrats on the Shen Hao! I have some pix of the workshop I took with the Mamiya from the day I saw you all at the workshop - I'll probably post on SENP soon but spring has sprung and the Smokies are loaded with photographers, including me.

Check SENP for my latest trillium shot; I did this one on 8x10 just a few feet up the road while you and Danny were doing the workshop thing. I could see you all from where we shot the trillium.

http://forums.naturephotographers.net/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=8306088241&f=1826080172&m=8770037433&r=7450066533#7450066533

Folks, make sure you have those packets in correctly - IIRC, some holders will lose the clip if you put the packet in backwards. It's easy to do when you're developing your "routine", and I still do it once in a while. Of course, if you put the packet in backwards it's a wash whether the clip comes off or not. At least if it comes off you don't pay for developing. :^)

Steve

[Ralph Barker]

Scott, remember all those times when your mother wagged her finger at you, saying in her best scolding tone, "You'll pay for that someday!" Yesteday was one of those days. ;-)

Sorry to hear of your problem, but concur with the suggestion to check the holder for alien matter.

[Ellen Stoune Duralia]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I'm real excited to get out with a 4x5 that won't break my back ;-)

Steve, it was great to meet you! Please do post the workshop pics - I'd love to see them. Oh and that 'impossible' trillium shot is really beautiful - why to push that film!

[Ellen Stoune Duralia]

Ooops! Meant WAY to push that film :)

[Steve Hamley]

Thanks Ellen. The trillium shot was a nice opportunity. Hope I'll have some more 8x10 but the weather doesn't look promising. I'll get the workshop photos scanned pretty soon.

Steve

[Greg Miller]

I'll second Steve Hamley's comment about putting the packet in backwards. I was having the same problem with the clip coming off and one day I realized I may have had the packet facing the worng direction (I had alread pulled the film so there was no way to know for sure). Since then I have been more careful and have not had the problem since. Its emabrassing to think I could have made such a silly mistake but like they say, the first step to recovery is ackowledging the problem :(

[francisco_5406]

Next week, when this thread's title is indexed by the search engines, watch the largeformatphotgraphy.info site get regulated into the "Adult, Restricted" format and banned from school and work computers. Nice title Scott!

[Scott Fleming]

You have a dirty mind francisco. Such a connection never entered my head. We could change it to 'Muffing' quickloads.

heh heh heh

[Kirk Gittings]

I thought I was the only one with a dirty mind here and was too embarrassed to post my thoughts. Nice job Fransico.