Roll film holder recommendations

[Jan Nieuwenhuysen]

I have very good experience with the Sinar Vario (old) and Zoom 2 (new)holders. Film flatness is good and spacing consistent. I find it a great advantage to have all formats from 6x4.5 up to 6x12 cm in one holder. The Zoom 2 model offers the possibility of format change in mid roll. The Vario model can only be set before loading. One caveat: be very carefull with them. Especially the flimsy plastic lever to change between loading and shooting mode is very easily broken off when you don't do things right. Read that manual! if you buy one... When you operate them with a gentle touch and in the way Sinar prescribes you will, in my experience, have an excellent holder that will serve you for a long time.

[CXC]

I'm surprised to hear KirkG's success with Calumet insertable rollfilmholders. I bought a used one a while back, and the frames actually overlapped, so I 86'ed it. Maybe the secret is to buy 'em new and dump 'em after a year.

If I were to do it again, I would go high end, Linhof or Sinar. Or better yet, Canham. However, the junky Calumet caused me to think twice, and I decided to leave my rollfilm to my rollfilm cameras. The only advantage of rollfilm IMHO is film cost, and I've learned to control it by shooting less crap.

[Jean-Louis Llech]

I agree with you, Jay, that Sinar Vario or Zoom 2 are outstanding rollfilm holders.
But keep in mind that a new Zoom 2 costs about $ 4000-4500, and is still very expensive on the used market.
It is quite impossible to buy several ones, if you need to alternate BW and color, or film sensibility.
It's nearly the price of 2 high-end Linhof Super-Rollex.

[Jan Nieuwenhuysen]

Jean-Louis, yes they are expensive, but $ 4000 - 4500 seems outrageous. Photal (Dutch distributor) actual list price is € 2320. That is around $2800. Second hand would be about half of that in good shape (bit more from Photal, but then it is checked; currently € 1400). I have no idea about prices in other countries. Jan

[Erik Sherman]

CXC wrote:

>> I'm surprised to hear KirkG's success with Calumet insertable rollfilmholders. I bought a used one a while back, and the frames actually overlapped, so I 86'ed it. Maybe the secret is to buy 'em new and dump 'em after a year. <<

Up until a week or two ago, I would have agreed, having had the same experience with overlap. However, I recently dusted off my old Kiev MF. The previous owner had said to go to the "start here" mark on the film and then go another frame's worth. I had always seen uneven spacing and this time ended up with real overlap. So I figured I'd try one more roll, went two frame lengths beyond the start mark, and started shooting. The first frame was fogged on one edge, but the rest of the frames were perfectly spaced, and I also squeezed out an extra frame at the end. So I'm going to try something similar with my Calumet back and see if that doesnh't fix the overlap probelms. I'll report back on the results (when I get around to trying it), because I'd rather save the money if a slight change in procedure will result in acceptable results.

[Bob Salomon - HP Marketing]

""Universal" this is a name which I think was started by Linhof."

Linhof, as well as some other manufactures, call their back International not Universal. This was to avoid using another company's trademark.

However it should be noted that up to the early 1980's Linhof did distribute Graphic manufactured film holders in Germany that they purchased directly from Graphlex, Singer or the successor company in Florida. This went on until the defect rate from Florida reached more then 80% at which time they stopped selling and importing that product line.

[Ernest Purdum]

Oops! I goofed. I was, of course, confusing the two words.

[Jean-Louis Llech]

Jay, the price of the Sinar Zoom 2 is 3,994.95 US Dollars at B&H.

[Jan Nieuwenhuysen]

Did they actually ever sell one, Jay-Louis?

[Michel Roig]

Robert White sells them at £995. That is considerably cheaper but still is a lot of money...

http://www.robertwhite.co.uk/Sinar.htm