When were FILMPACKS introduced?

**Bill_1856** · 14-Sep-2014, 09:50

I have several examples of 9x12 cameras from the late 1920s and '30s, which consisted of the camera, three plate holders, and a film pack adapter, so they must have been available then. Yet reading about Dorothea Lange in the mid thirties, she used Bag-Mags for her Graflexes.
In fact, most Large Format work was probably done on film pack -- certainly all that in WW2.
They were discontinued sometime in the early '90s, presumably from lack of demand.
I have three Tri-X packs left in my freezer, saved for some future special occasion, hoping that they haven't gone bad. Boy would I love to have more!

**Dan Fromm** · 14-Sep-2014, 10:38

They were discontinued because the old ladies who made them retired.

Premo sold pack film in 1907, it may have been introduced earlier.

**Jim Noel** · 14-Sep-2014, 13:00

Don't worry about the three packs in your freezer. I have a dozen left in mine and they present no problem other than a little more filmbase fog when I pull one out for use. The last was last month.
The Bag mags for the Graflex used standard sheet film. The film n film packs is slightly larger in both dimensions, or I should say in all 3 dimensions. In hot dry conditions, which Lange worked in a lot, the film packs were subject to streaks caused by static electricity which formed if the film tab was pulled woo quickly.