When I shoot 4x5, I avoid standard film holders. In fact, I own none in 4x5. Instead, my cameras all have Graflok backs. My ground glass must be detached from the Graflok back to shoot 4x5 film. But which packaged-film holder---Polaroid, Quickload, or Readyload? Obviously, when using instant film I should use a Polaroid holder, but my concern here is when using slow slide film. Unless I am missing something, it seems that all three options have great problems from my standpoint:
The Polaroid 545 holders are really heavy. I would rather not use them just because of their weight. Furthermore, there is some question as to film flatness when used with non-Polaroid film, though in my very limited tests the 545 appeared to offer better film flatness than my Quickload.
The Fuji Quickload holders are good except for two problems that, when combined, I consider deal breakers: The first problem is that with Fuji film a rather large circle in the lower-left corner of the image is missing. The film is simply not there, as if paper-punched out. Insane! I either have to crop a major portion of my image away, or I have to fake that area in Photoshop. However, I could still maybe use this holder if not for the second problem---it works poorly with Kodak film. It seems widely reported that the failure rate of Readyload film in a Quickload holder is too high for almost anyone.
The older style of Readyload holders, which attempted to hold two sheets of film simultaneously, have failure rates that are just too high. So it looks like Kodak film in a modern Readyload holder is the best idea, and this would be so for me except for this last piece of insanity: It has no mechanism to connect securely to a Graflok back! It fits, but you cannot use any of the three or four available ingenius techniques to attach it to a Graflok back. There are no grooves, no latches, nothing to help attach it to the Graflok back.
Have I missed something? Has someone figured out, with a modification perhaps, how to attach the Readyload to just a Graflok back (without relying on a spring-loaded ground glass to hold it in)? Why no public outcry, no senate investigation, for Fuji's decision to put holes in your image? Does Readyload film have a similar disgusting hole?
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