A Silly Idea? Taping Film to Holder

[Bruce Wehman]

I do this frequently when shooting sunrises. It prevents the film from popping when the sun hits a cold camera. The only thing you need to do differently is to store the film face-to-face. If a little adhesive pulls off and comes in contact with the emulsion it will tear out a little chunk. The shiny surface of the adhesive won’t affect the image. You can put a pencil mark on the slide just above the tape and push the film against it just before you insert the holder into the camera. Test it a few times before using good film. As mentioned, it helps to fuzz up the adhesive a little to relieve its aggressiveness and use a very small piece – no larger than ¼” sq.

[David Vickery]

Unless you are doing the kind of studio work that David A.G. mentions this is completely unnecessary and may cause more problems than it supposedly solves. Thousands of people have used thousands of 8x10 film holders for over a hundred years now and they ( and I) never had problems with film buckling in the larger film holders. Except for very specialized situations, its a myth!

[Ellis Vener]

When I was assisting in a commercial studio in the early 1980s we would use a small piece of double stick tape near the center of the holder for the infrequent occasions that we shot 8'x10" and the camera was tilted down toward the set. Mostly these were shots of jewelry and watches and even at f/45 or f/64 (on Kodak Ektachrome EPR 64) every bit of flatness helped. If you are doing work where the camera isn't pointing down I'm not sure it will be worth your while to do this.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Okay David V. if it's a myth then how do you explain my sheet of film shifting in it's holder?? Notice I said "shift" not buckle. By placing tape I never had this problem again. I just used cheap double- sided tape. I discovered that sometimes sheet films aren't cut exactly the same size. This can cause shifting. I hope shifting never happens to you.

[james mickelson]

If there was a large problem, or even a small problem with film buckling a lot then there would be a lot of people using this solution. But with all of the billions of 8x10 images made in the last 90 or so years, there hasn't been a need for it. There are occassional pops and buckles but this shouldn't be a huge concern I wouldn't think. The film stays fairly flat 99.9999999999% of the time. I wouldn't worry about it at all. Even my ancient holders keep the film fairly flat even when shooting up in the Bristle Cones at sunrise in the fall. If the film is going to deform, it will deform around the tape anyway. Always shoot both sides for the same image. Film is cheaper than going back to shoot it again if anything is amiss.

[David Vickery]

Hey Andrew,
Yes, there is a big difference between shifting and buckling. The "Buckling" that many have worried about on this forum and others is the myth. Shifting; however, is completely different. But I would still maintain that tape is Not the answer to that problem. I have found that film may shift in any film holder of any size, but it is most likely to happen in 4x5 film holders. The best way to solve this problem is to tap the bottom(whichever side is down) of the film holder just before you insert it into the camera back. In my experience shifting is most likely to happen when the film holder is in the vertical position. When I first started with 4x5 work about 15 years ago I had a hard time understanding why the first of two duplicate exposures had sort of a double image and the second exposure was always good. It was usually on vertical images and it took me a long while to figure out that I needed to seat the film before inserting the holder into the camera. And again, I think that using tape is more trouble than it is worth by a long shot.

[J. P. Mose]

Well I am glad I asked the question. I honestly thought that film "pop" was much more of an issue with 8x10. I think what led me to this impression are threads on lens comparisons. I have often read that film flatness is more of a concern than minor differences in lenses....this led me to believe that this is a common problem.

I am new to 8x10....a lot to learn! Thanks for you help.

[Clifton Posey]

I use 8x10 sinar adhesive film holders and they add a degree of sharpness not possible without them! They use a 3M adhesive pad in them and are very flat and well made holders. With product photography that generates hundreds or thousands of dollars per shot, $539 is not bad. I bought one off ebay recently for less than $200.

Clif