I shoot Astia, Provia and Velvia and have never seen the holes. I also shoot Acros 100 and YES it DOES have the holes and you will find other threads on them in the archives here.
I shoot Astia, Provia and Velvia and have never seen the holes. I also shoot Acros 100 and YES it DOES have the holes and you will find other threads on them in the archives here.
RVP 50 has a rounded notch only (no holes) for identifying film in the dark. I looked at about 100 frames, and about 2% had the extreme edge of this notch incure into the actual film exposure area. I don't recall any issues printing, because I usually enlarge to 11x14 so there is some cropping. Fuji Acros has small hole which is useful for hanging film to dry by a bent paper clip or similar hook. About 50% of the time this has incured into the film exposure area, and only creates a problem when I contact print those (very infrequently).
I use my Kodak Readyload holder exclusively, with Kodak film and Fuji film. I've had two sheets of Fuji Velvia fail on me (pulled all the way out of the holder) out of 1000 (?) or so. The Kodak holder is slightly smaller and has a slip case, so it goes in the pack. The Quickload holder sits in storage closet.
The only trouble with doin' nothing is you can't tell when you get caught up
Bill, sorry, I am afraid I have confused you. The holder absolutely positively cannot slide in under the back like a regular film holder. I have zero 4x5 holders of the regular kind. I have no ground glass that can move back, at least not in 4x5. I have them in 5x7 and 8x10, but not 4x5. Sorry, securing the Readyload is therefore necessary, not optional.
One of us is indeed confused. You say that your cameras have GRAFLOCK backs. The ground glass portion of a Graflock back is spring loaded and all of the above mentioned film holders will slide in place without removing anything. This is the same as what Linhof calls an International Back, and it works the same way. The other option on some older 4x5 cameras was a GRAFLEX back, and none of the above holders (including Polaroid) will fit them. It seems to me that something is being overlooked here which is making a simple problem into a big deal. Please feel free to contact me off line if I can help. bmitch@comcast.net.
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
Not that this is going to help solve any mysteries, but I'm holding a sheet of Velvia 50 in my hand right now. It was from a Quickload (I've never purchased any color sheet film loose). The writing in the rebate (from left to right holding the film horizontally) reads: "FUJIFILM RVP 58953 CF CAJA QL".
No hole. And I know the hole of which you speak, because it's what keeps me from using Acros in 4x5. The hole is a deal breaker for me...and Acros would easily be my favorite film in all formats if not for that *%&^ing hole.
The Velvia that I'm holding was purchased a little over two years ago via the 'net from B&H. (That one box is the only color film I've purchased in 4x5.)
This does make me wonder if the punch-hole in Velvia is a newer introduction...perhaps something they started doing in the last two years.
My Readyload holder bought just over a year ago (Cat. 893 7542) has no slots for attaching to a graflock back. Other than that, it is black, red release button, single sheet with mostly white text.
However, I'm intrigued... What camera has a Graflock back but no sprung ground-glass holder?
OK, here goes so those searching in the future can easily get all their answers from one convenient place in the archives.
quickload
readyload
graflok
hole
slots
All Fuji *negative* sheet films, loose or Quickload, 4x5 or 8x10, have a drying hook hole that intrudes into the image area. Degree of intrusion varies with how a particular Quickload holder positions the film. The more a Quickload holder has been used and/or the harder one pulls when withdrawing the envelope to make an exposure, the more intrusion. If your Quickload holder is really "stretched" and/or you pull very hard, it's conceivable exposed film area could be so off-center as to include the notch code. Fuji *transparency* sheet films have never had a hole but do include notch codes. Standard holders and Readyload holders vary in actual image area size and positioning, thereby making precise hole intrusion prediction difficult. Try with your particular holder to see.
Kodak has manufactured several versions of its single-sheet Readyload holder. Iterative changes were incorporated to, among other things, eliminate edge reflections from the film frame opening and to deal with reported light leaks. In the process of addressing light leaks, Kodak decided to eliminate the Graflok slots. Earlier single-sheet Readyload holders had them, current production (as of the date of this posting) does not.
I find Acros of sufficient value, especially for very long exposures, that I simply compose knowing where the hole is and disregarding that strip of useless film area. If you don't want to rely on memory, try marking it on your viewing screen.
Bill first: This description from www.butzi.net/articles/lfchoose.htm may help:
Most 4x5 photographers (and almost all 8x10 photographers) are used to the first method. Instead, mine uses the Graflok (sometimes misspelled Graflock) back. I hope it is clearer now. I do not have the kind of Graflok that Bill mentions, and I never even seen it (but it may be common anyway). Is there a picture on the net anywhere of this kind?The second issue is how the film holders attach to the camera back. With 4x5 cameras, generally the ground glass is spring mounted, and you pull the ground glass frame away from the camera and insert the film holder underneath. The spring loaded ground glass frame then serves to hold the film holder tight to the camera back.
On cameras with a 'graflok' back, the spring loaded ground glass frame can be removed, and film holders with slots in them (like the Polaroid holder, grafmatics, or roll film holders) can be attached using slide out tabs which lock it in place.
Please permit me to emphasize that when a ground glass is attached to one of my cameras with a 4x5 Graflok back, the ground glass cannot be physically moved back any distance whatsoever to insert anything. To attach any sort of film holder, the ground glass must be disconnected.
The term "spring loaded" as used in the quote can cause some confusion. Does he mean spring loaded as in a way to slide a film holder directly in front of the ground glass. I think not, because he would not then have had a reason to distinguish these two way of attaching film holders. I think "spring loaded" in this context refers to the shiny metal levers that you must push to attach the Graflok ground glass to the Graflok back. Another common way to attach a film holder to a Graflok back is to engage some sliders into slots in the side of the film holder---such for a Fuji Quickload. Sometimes instead of slots, the Graflok back sliders just extend all the way to grasp an outer plate and hold the film holder in place---the Linhof 612 roll-film holder uses the latter approach.
Dave and Sal, thanks for the information---you give me new hope for Velvia and Provia in Quickloads! And thanks to everyone else for your help too.
Bob, my Readyload holder is just like yours: Same purchase date, catalogue number, and vivid-red release button. And to satisfy your curiosity, I have three kinds of cameras with unspringable Graflok backs: First, I have some Vistashifts and Graflex XL cameras that take oddball Graflex XL--to--4x5 Graflok adapters; second, I now have a Gaoersi 4x5 shiftable point-and-shoot camera; third, I have 4x5 Graflok backs rigidly attached to reducing backs for my 5x7 and 8x10 cameras.
Sal, do you think there is any hope that Kodak will soon reinstate the Graflok slots?
Jerry, two suggestions 1) tell us what 4x5 camera you are using. 2) check out:
www.graflex.org/speed-graphic/features.html#GraflockBack
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
Jerry, I have to second Bill's point. It sounds as though you either have a very strange camera with a non-standard back, or, more likely, that you're missing something about how Graflok backs work. The Graflok back was designed to accept both types of film holder - those that slide in, such as the standard Fidelity cut film holder, and also holders that are secured by the sliding clips, like many roll-film backs. The Kodak Readyload holder should slide in just like a Fidelity holder, even if it doesn't have any grooves to accept the sliding clips. I have seen more different 4x5 camera models with Graflok backs than I can count, and I have never seen one that did not function in this way.
What specific camera(s) are you using?
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