The film holder nightmare we all dread and what to do

[Roger Cole]

Each of my holders is marked with a simple number on the white area, 1-22 as I have 11 holders. They are all the Fidelity Elite type with the locking slides and the number wheels too. Some people hate them but I like them. I don't care that the numbers go slightly into the image area. It is very slight and I don't crop that close, so I keep the number wheel set to match the number I've written on the outside too, so if I have a problem with fogging or such, film flatness, whatever, with one holder I can identify which one each negative or transparency was shot with.

I keep a notebook of each shot and, though I sometimes neglect to include info I later wish I had, I do at least note when I make each shot and which holder (and side of it) was used, so even if I forgot the reverse the slides, which seems the LEAST likely error to me, I'd still know which were used.

I've never done this though. Of all the possible errors I think this is one I've just never managed. Oh I've put the slide back in the wrong way, with white side out indicating unexposed, but I always noticed it right then and reversed it while in the camera.

[john_6267]

I started using Chamonix film holders recently.

I bought them because they are a very tiny bit lighter and recently I have been doing an ultralight outfit. Originally I was concerned because these film holders don't have white and black tabs on the dark slides but I have actually been less confused with the Chamonix holders than with my Fidelity holders with the tabs. On the Chamonix holders, I leave each sheet of film "unlocked"and after each exposure I put the dark slide in to the holder then lock the dark slide before taking the holder off the camera for the second exposure. No need to keep track of which side of the dark slide went in to the holder. The Chamonix dark slides are very tight "unlocked" and for the photography-by-the car I usually do, this has worked fine.

[JW Dewdney]

I'll bet you remember to reverse the dark slides next time

I was just going to say the same thing. Look on the bright side. You'll never make the same mistake again, Heroique. I did something similar when I was just a kid - spent an entire day hiking with a massively heavy 4x5 outfit and after I got home realized I'd grabbed the EMPTY holders. NEVER made that mistake again (knock on wood) !!

[Leszek Vogt]

I guess the horses are almost in Alaska by now on this ? I'd go with a strip of tape (and amplify Bernice's suggestion of a dot). Anyway, you could install thin strip on one side of your slide....using color of your choice (muted or whatever). When you flip the slide (after the exposure) you might want to put another thin strip, but something like orange/lime/pink color (a color that would get your attention)....which would indicate "exposed"....something that you could spot even if you have your eyes are almost shut.

Another way (also bit of a short cut) is to install the holder in the zip-lock bag and then put an instruction tape on the exterior...letting you know what's in it and how you exposed it. Not sure that I would trust the numbers....well, unless I was making super meticulous notes.

Les

[David_Senesac]

Well much about using a view camera is complicated and one had best be of a methodical mind that develops consistent habits. The following is rather detailed and reflects that. There are several scenarios to consider so this subject is not simple.

Have 24 Fidelity Elite 4x5 holders labled with a marker A thru X on the white strips. Thus one holder will have A and B another C and D etc. Have a couple of film holder carrying bags that fit as many as 8 holders for 16 sheets of film though more often I will carry 6 or 7. Don't ever bother with the letter sequence of holders within the bags so that is random. The main purpose of the letters is to be aware of what holder I am currently working with. When I load film, I place a short length of removable white tape across one top corner of slides so they cannot jostle loose in my pack. Each holder is placed inside a film bag in the same orientation so white tape is at the same end of each holder in the bag.

The holder I use Next is always the one at a specific end of the film bag. I remove the white tape and slap it temporarily onto a tripod leg then push the holder into my camera. And within a holder with two sheets, I always use the lower letter sheet first so because I need to read the letter, am aware of which holder is being currently used and if it is the lower or higher letter. After I expose a sheet, I place removable white tape back across the ends of the two slides and if the other sheet has not yet been exposed, the holder goes to the same Next end. Because the slide was flipped, it is easy to notice if one sheet of two were exposed. After both sheets in a holder have so been exposed, so black strips and dimples on the slide are on the inside, the holder goes to the other Done end of the film bag with white tape strips in reverse direction.

Occasionally just like you, I occasionally don't flip a slide when sticking it back into a holder. Sometimes that may be after exposing a sheet. If so and the first sheet in a holder, I would notice the lower letter slide wasn't flipped when it should have been, then reinsert it into my Wisner, pull out the slide, and flip it back in correctly. If not noticed I might end up with a double exposure and on rare occasions have done that. If I was working the second sheet, then after exposure, I would readily notice when putting the tape back on that the tabs on the dark slides were not at different ends with both dark strips showing.

At other times I may have abandoned a shot maybe because conditions on subject changed. In that case I would put the holder back at the Next end of the film bag with the dimples on the tab out. If it was the first slide and a long period elasped I might end up sending in an unexposed sheet and have done that in the past. If the second sheet, I would notice both slides appeared exposed yet the holder was in the Next position in the bag. If I remembered the letters of the holder I was using I will just flip the slide around. If I didn't remember, then will eat the one sheet hoping it actually might be exposed and I may have not put the holder into the correct end of the bag.

In all the above situations, at most I am going to lose just ONE sheet of film and not several.

[David_Senesac]

Ironically for this person, I am currently in pain after discovering a worse issue with mixing up film in film boxes. Something I find difficult that I actually managed to do so.

Several weeks ago I exposed 7 sheets of Provia film during one day then that evening removed the film via a dark change bag into an exposed film box while loading new film from an unexposed film box. The film was not too important. Sent that out for development. Then last week on an important 6-day road trip where I found some exceptional subjects exposed 39 sheets of film. Well when I returned and reviewed the 7 developed transparencies that had returned from the lab, they were all evenly black. After some analysis of what might have happened, it was clear I had sent in seven sheets of unexposed film. Apparently while not paying enough attention to what I was doing, I had mixed up between two film boxes inside my change bag. Of course each bag had something I could identify by feel. However that requires not getting the two touch differences mixed up. One box had exposed film I was putting exposed film from holders into while the other was new unexposed film I loaded into those same holders. Thus had loaded exposed film into a partially consumed film box. Then later on my road trip used them. Wahhhhhh!

So during my trip I double exposed 7 sheets of the 39 and won't know which shots were ruined till next week. Very distressing. In the future I will always completely unload film first with just one box inside a change bag before loading film from an unexposed box. Live and learn.

David

[macandal]

Most of us have awakened from the following nightmare in a cold, heavy sweat.

Some of us (like me) have actually suffered the experience:

[...]

After screams and curses, what’s your best strategy?

Any tips to share about managing multiple holders? Do you use more than one safeguard?

Sometimes being a newbie actually helps. I've only been shooting LF (seriously) for about 3 years. I never noticed that the slides had a black and a white side (strip), and I never knew the color had a use until about a month ago when I took a workshop to learn to use the LF camera. So how did I know when I had exposed a sheet of film? I put a piece of tape on the slide where I made notations, f stop, shutter speed, date, subject, etc, and once I had exposed the sheet, I put an X on it so I could know which sheet were exposed. Even now that I know about the colors in the darkslides, I still don't use them and stick to my crude, but effective, method. Once you unload the film, you remove the tape, and, if you're going to use that holder again to make another exposure, you put a fresh piece of tape to use.

[JMO]

Mario, I am likewise a newbie, and was on a LF outing last weekend with some experienced LF photographers from my area. One of them saw how I was trying to take notes for each shot on paper forms, and also writing in pencil on the film holder strips. He showed me what I think is a better way, using strips of tape on the holders for each sheet of film, but his method seems a bit more organized and useful for long-term record-keeping than what you described. He uses gaffer tape in several different colors, one color assigned for each film type he uses, and (like you) he puts a blank piece of tape on each side of the film holder when it is loaded. He then writes everything he will need to know about the taking of that image on the piece of tape immediately after the exposure. When he gets home the films come out and are developed, and the pieces of tape with notes can be put into a log book, or maybe into a binder where the developed films for "keepers" will be stored using clear plastic sleeve holders. The gaffer's tape is writable, and it comes in various colors from a supplier like Filmtools.com (http://www.filmtools.com/adhesivetapes.html), but I'm sure there are other sources. If one likes to take more info/data than what can be wirtten onto a piece of tape that is as long as the width of your film holder, then I suppose you need a log book or some other method, but I like the way the hadwritten tape can follow the films into your storage and retrieval system. And the tape in different colors for different types of film is also simple to help avoid any confusion in the field. ...

[SergeiR]

I never noticed that the slides had a black and a white side (strip), and I never knew the color had a use until about a month ago when I took a workshop to learn to use the LF camera.

Seriously? Its described in most of youtube videos you can find on LF holders..

[macandal]

Seriously? Its described in most of youtube videos you can find on LF holders..

IF you watch youtube videos about LF holders.