I know 5x7 holders are getting harder to find...

[Nate Battles]

...but damn!!!

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Fidelity-Del...QQcmdZViewItem

[janepaints]

You'd think that someone--perhaps a chinese manufacturer?--will notice this trend and start making/offering 5x7 holders for a reasonable price--there's obviously a niche market for the 5x7s".

I ain't fussy. Older wooden holders are A-OK by me as long as they work--plus, they're user-repairable/maintainable, within reasonable limits.

I bought 6 older wooden 5x7's on ebay last weekend for $62. Have my black tape, clamps & wood glue at the ready, just in case. But at $10-and-change a holder, I'm thrilled.

Left me more $$$ to spend on film....

....knock on wood

[rob]

I got my 8 5x7 holders a year ago. The first 2 from ebay, mint, both for $20. The other 6 from azo forum, they were new-old-stock fidelity in boxes, all for $150. They are all still very clean, I guess I could make money of them in the $bay, but no, I still like shooting with my horseman 5x7 LX.

[jetcode]

I just bought 4 Shen-Hao 5x7 holders after watching this auction. Another earlier auction had 4 Fidelity's going for $167.50. This borders on ridiculous.

[Michael Kadillak]

I absolutely LOVE it. About seven years ago I made the statement on the old forum that 5x7 was about to make a serious comeback and was met with stiff opposition that it would fade to black because there would never be enough users to justify any company cutting sheet film for it. My goodness how things have changed and for the better I might add.

Fortunately, the one thing that was in abundant supply at that time were brand new sheet film holders. And I decided that I would stock up and take this variable out of the equation.

Unfortunately now that the demand has exceeded supply I expect that it will be a while before this situation gets rectified. But it just takes one entrepreunerial individual to see the light for the whole problem to go away.

5x7 is a marvelous format so continue to express your interest in holders, cameras and sheet film and all will eventually be well again. Keep the faith. The alternative is simply unacceptable.

Cheers!

[janepaints]

5x7 is a marvelous format so continue to express your interest in holders, cameras and sheet film and all will eventually be well again. Keep the faith. The alternative is simply unacceptable.

Cheers!

I second that emotion! Only recently I've resumed photography, turned-on after seeing LF (and med. format) B&W negs printed via scanning & inket--or contact-printed on POP.

Going through my prints from the 1980's I noticed this: The highest percentage of good images tended to've been done on either 5x7 or medium format cameras. Tho I dearly loved my old 8x10" Agfa, only a handful of good stuff came from it. I shot more 4x5" than any other format, but little of it seems good now.

Yet I'd shot so many good negs using a rickety 5x7" Eastman 2-D using a funky 8" Dagor or a 177mm "Annie Got A Stigma, Matt!" Kodak lens salvaged from some jazz-age folder.

But when the Agfa appeared I HAD to buy it and so my homely old Eastman was forsaken--probably sold or traded-off. After all, the 2-D wasn't gleamy, fewer movements, no extension rail etc. The 2D's black paint was flaking off, while the Agfa's fine woodworking & lovely metalwork glowed.

I was so smitten with the larger & fancier camera that I never noticed how uninspired were the images I made with it. Til' now.

Can't ya hear Joni Mitchell singing "don't know what ya got 'til it's gone"?

5x7": it's got that big ground-glass thing going on, big-enough contact-print thing too...lighter & cheaper than 8x10...not much $$$/bulkier than 4x5. My Seneca 5x7" Chataugua camera feels almost weightless.

Perhaps my eye & brain just 'gets' or 'feels' the elongated 5x7" rectangle better than the more square-ish 8x10/4x5 rectangle. (Tho the square of TLR viewing screens ALWAYS gets me all hopped-up. Go figure.)

[Turner Reich]

I collected over 25 over a couple of years, the good ones, I got lucky once and got a load of 4x's, 5x's, and 8x's in a huge box that was too heavy to carry. I had to clean the dust off but under it all were unused holders that had been sitting in an attic. Almost all of mine are the newer ones but I do have some wooden holders too.

I love 5X7 photography, cameras, holders, the size of the negative and print, the ability to carry it all and the lenses that make it possible.

[Capocheny]

You'd think that someone--perhaps a chinese manufacturer?--will notice this trend and start making/offering 5x7 holders for a reasonable price--there's obviously a niche market for the 5x7s".

Hi Jane,

There IS a Chinese company who makes beautiful holders but they're certainly not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. However, that said, they really are beautifully made and they use first class materials.

And, I agree... 5x7 is a wonderful format to use.

Cheers

PS: The company name is Chamonix.

[jetcode]

You can get wood Shen-Hau holders at Badger now for $67 each, fotoman is rumored to supply plastic holders at some point for $75 each. I am not aware of 5x7 holders from Chamonix.

[Paul Droluk]

For those interested, here's a Fotoman update... the first pre-production run of 5x7 and Whole Plate (6.5 x 8.5) film holders is scheduled for next week. Assuming that additional tweaking of the molds will be required, we anticipate product being available around the end of December.