This is another chapter in my never ending quest to find inexpensive items made for other purposes that will be useful for LF work. I spent last week in Yosemite. Our route takes us up to Fresno, and then on Hwy 41 to the park. On the way, that route passes through Oakhurst, which has a large Von's supermarket that caters to the locals, and to all of us passing through on the way to Yosemite. As always, we stopped to pick up last minute items that we realized we had forgotten, and I stumbled across their "back to school" section. Lo and behold, I spotted something beautiful in the lunch box section.
Shown below are nice little insulated containers labeled "access bag n' pack" on the tag. The word "extreme" is emblazoned on the front of the bag. They looked about the right size to hold 4x5 film holders, and it turns out they are. For the grand price of $4.99, I grabbed one. It holds 8 holders comfortably. With 8 you can still close the lid if you want. You can squeeze 9 holders in to it, but you won't be able to close the top. I used it inside my Kelty Redwing to keep the holders from sliding around. My old solution was kind of crummy - an Eagle Creek pouch that was ill suited to the task (but free since I already had it). The bag also folds up nicely when it is empty. They come in different colors, so you can sort by exposed/unexposed, or film type. The one I bought worked so well, that we stopped on the way home and I bought another.
Von's is part of the Safeway chain, so these might also be available in Safeway stores. If not, the tag has an e-mail address that you can use to find out where else you might find these - accessbag@aol.com.
Compared to other similar pouches dedicated to LF use, these are a bargain. The LF pouches I have seen take 6 holders and cost considerably more.
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