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Thread: Bad News About Film Holders

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Jun 2004
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    Unhappy Bad News About Film Holders

    I do not know if this has been posted to this site or not, but if it has please excuse me for a duplicate post. For several days I have been trying to find 5x7 film holders. None of the stores with websites that I checked have them, either out of stock or on back order.

    This morning I checked Bruce's Field Camera Store website to see if he had any for sale. When I went to the film holder section of his site this is the message that I found: "All of the Fidelity, Lisco, and Riteway filmholders are out of production. They were made by the same companywho is turning their back on large format. We have a limited supply which we will sell to camera buyers and previous customers only. 4x5 and 8x10 in stock."

    Bruce's is not the only store that is out of 5x7 holders. Here is a list of all the stores that I know that do not have them. Adorama, B&H, Bruce's, Calumet, The View Camera Store and Badger Graphics. I also checked Fine Art Supply's site and their catalog still shows that 5x7's are in stock. However, if anyone is interested in purchasing any it would probably be a good idea to e-mail them first just to be certain. All of the stores that I checked still have good supplies, at least for now of 4x5 and 8x10 film holders, but for how long.

    I do not know if this news qualifies as a disaster or not, but I would say that it is very close. Hopefully, the company that manufactured all of the film holders will sell the equipment to someone else who is interested producing film holders. I hope that a different company will take over production before the price of film holders go throught the roof. If anyone on this list knows of any stores that are still selling 5x7 holders would they be so kind as to respond to this thread. Also, watch for stores that are out of 4x5 and 8x10 holders, if things get to that point. This could be even worse than
    another company annoucing that they are exiting the film production business. It will do us little good to have all the film we want, but nothing to put it in to use it.

  2. #2
    tim atherton's Avatar
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    Re: Bad News About Film Holders

    there was a recent (at the time not so dire) thread on this... but I can't remeber the thread title.....
    You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn

    www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog

  3. #3
    Eric Biggerstaff
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    Re: Bad News About Film Holders

    Jeff,

    If I remember correctly, Calumet is actually the company who ownes Fidelity, Lisco and Rightway. I saw a thread recently that they closed down the manufacturing of the holders and will work through the remaining inventories of stock and parts.

    I am sure someone will correct me if I am not correct.
    Eric Biggerstaff

    www.ericbiggerstaff.com

  4. #4
    tim atherton's Avatar
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    Re: Bad News About Film Holders

    Quote Originally Posted by Eric Biggerstaff View Post
    Jeff,

    If I remember correctly, Calumet is actually the company who ownes Fidelity, Lisco and Rightway. I saw a thread recently that they closed down the manufacturing of the holders and will work through the remaining inventories of stock and parts.

    I am sure someone will correct me if I am not correct.
    and it was basically one old guy in a workshop who made them and he had retired...?
    You'd be amazed how small the demand is for pictures of trees... - Fred Astaire to Audrey Hepburn

    www.photo-muse.blogspot.com blog

  5. #5
    Film and Darkroom User
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    Re: Bad News About Film Holders

    Fotoman make 4x10 and 8x10 film holders. Perhaps they could be persuaded to manufacture other sizes?

    Barry

  6. #6
    naturephoto1's Avatar
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    Re: Bad News About Film Holders

    I can not say if they have any in stock, but Badger Graphic lists 5 X 7 holders on their site:

    http://www.badgergraphic.com/store/c..._detail&p=1265

    Rich
    Richard A. Nelridge

    http://www.nelridge.com

  7. #7

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    Re: Bad News About Film Holders

    Badger does list them on their website, but there is also a notation indicating that the 5x7's are out of stock. If this were late March or early April I would write all of this off as a really bad April Fools Joke, but it is not. Looks as though the Grinch has landed, ladies and gentlemen.

  8. #8

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    Re: Bad News About Film Holders

    If there is a market, there will be a product. Price will be another matter.

  9. #9

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    Re: Bad News About Film Holders

    Of course one the biggest questions in all of this is how long, provided that there is someone willing to buy the equipment, will it be before production can start up again.

  10. #10

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    Re: Bad News About Film Holders

    FWIW I've found new holders to be prohibitively expensive compared to all the gently used stuff thats around, and I am in the market for 5x7 holders myself. If you really want "new" badly enough I would think you'd be able to order them from S&S and possibly Argentium (since they are building special "square" holders, how difficult would it be for them to make conventional ones?)

    Should China start building them, I hope they learned something from those awful tilt-alls they dumped on the market awhile back.
    "I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White

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