Toho panorama adapter?

[drew.saunders]

While sitting in a boring meeting (don't worry, everyone else not talking has their head buried in their laptop), I was perusing the Badger web site and spotted a possibly new (well, new to me) product:

https://www.badgergraphic.com/store/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=3082

They're essentially pre-cut dark slides to let you shoot two panoramics on one sheet of film, 4x5, 5x7 or 8x10 for $19, $22 or $29 respectively. Seems like a good option for those who don't have a sacrificial dark slide and/or don't trust their measuring and cutting skills.

Anyone use one?

Drew

[Oren Grad]

Bender used to sell these too before they went out of business.

Apart from needing to be meticulous about your holder labeling and exposure log so you don't end up making multiple exposures inadvertently, the issue with these is that your camera needs enough rise/fall movement to be able to center the lens in front of the part of the film to be exposed, plus add whatever rise or fall you want for compositional reasons (although that's often not so much on panoramic formats).

[Ron Marshall]

I think I'll give that a shot for my 5x7.

[Renato Tonelli]

I have ordered some; I won't get to try them for quite some time tough. I have also gotten it in my head to cut a dark slide for 4x4 compositions. (I could of course crop the negative but I like to make things difficult for myself. Composing for the whole frame is ingrained in my brain from years of motion-picture camera work).
Is there a cutting method that is better for a clean cut? Just wondering ...

[emo supremo]

The instructions say to put the darkcloth over the rear when using this item. A search for "pano" in the subject alludes to others who have experienced light leaks with this half dark slide approach.

[emo supremo]

BTW: I bought one of these myself for the 5x7 but $29 for the 8x10. Come on. I went to the hardware store and bought a "FOR SALE" sign (2 bucks) that was mostly black, cut it with razor blade and dyed it with one of those monster, juicy SHARPIE pens. Why? I don't know why, i'm insane except that I found it hard trying to find material with enough strength that was easy to cut and didn't cost as much as carbon fiber sheeting. Don't have any results yet (md hasn't sewn finger back on) but once again I'm worried about those light leaks.

[ljsegil]

Light leaks are a problem, particularly if shooting vertical formats requiring that the half slide be inserted from the top of the holder. I'm still struggling to refine my technique to minimize the leaks but am not there yet. I like using these half-slides, however (8x10 in my case) as I can experiment cheaply (and lightly, no extra film holders or film sizes) with the ultimate purpose, if I like the results I get well enough, of moving on to a proper 4x10 reduction back for the Canham 8x10 or a swapable 4x10 rear standard and bellows assembly (pricier!) for the Canham 5x7. Of note, with the standard Canham cameras, the ground glass and film holder can be flipped horizontally 180 degrees which puts your second 4x10 exposure at the same height on the ground glass and eliminates the need for changing the front rise to center the image circle. The Canham 6x17 roll film holder effectively (and without leaks) gives pretty much exactly the same image size as a split holder on 5x7 film, again pricier however, but mighty nice choice of film types in these anxious (read: Fuji, what are you doing to us?) days.
Fun stuff anyway.
Larry

[ret wisner]

i made my own using a old slide, i centred mine for one shot (6x12), works like a charm, im looking at a print on my wall using it as i type