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Thread: 4x5 Film Loading. Handling film surfaces, and loading technique? Need your expertise.

  1. #11

    Re: 4x5 Film Loading. Handling film surfaces, and loading technique? Need your expert

    I believe washing hands and drying them is the most important precaution. The surface of modern films from fuji, kodak and ilford seems to be really hard ( I don't know about rollei, adox etc wchich are said to be old style film).

    I have never managed to damage the film surface during loading and I've stopped worrying about damaging the emulsion. Fingerprints don't seem to end up in developed negatives and emulsion is not easily damaged by pressing it with fingers. Well, long and sharp finger nails can do damage I guess...

    Your real enemy is dust! Try to load in darkroom or if you have to use changing bag clean it often enough.

  2. #12

    Re: 4x5 Film Loading. Handling film surfaces, and loading technique? Need your expert

    I pinch the end if the film between my thumb and either my index or middle finger to pick up a single sheet, and have never damaged a piece of film this way. (My experience includes commonly available major brands as well as the old-school, high silver content films that have a softer surface.) Whenever possible I restrict my handling to the area that's going to end up as the film rebate. When I need to help guide a sheet into a holder, I restrict myself to touching only the back of the sheet.

    Like others, I wash my hands thoroughly before I start. I also use alcohol to dry my hands, to avoid picking up lint from a towel.

  3. #13
    http://www.spiritsofsilver.com tgtaylor's Avatar
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    Re: 4x5 Film Loading. Handling film surfaces, and loading technique? Need your expert

    Like most of the folks above, I wash and dry my hands before loading or unloading. Since I am a "righty," I clasp the sheet in the right hand feeling along the edges that the notches are in the top right hand corner. Then feeling the ridges (groves) with the index and middle finger tips on the left hand on both sides of the holder where the sheet slides into, I slide the sheet into the groves using the index finger of the right hand until it is fully inserted. I use Toyo holders exclusively and the flap will not fully close if the film is not correctly inserted so I feel around the flap end and if it is not flush with the rest of the holder then I know the sheet is not correctly inserted on one or both sides.

    So far I have not had a finger print appear but I avoid touching the emulsion side as much as possible. The main thing in my experience to be careful of is avoiding sharp flexing of the sheet as it will cause a spark of static electricity to develop on the sheet which will appear on the negative. So handling gently is the rule here.

    Thomas

  4. #14
    Dave Karp
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
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    Re: 4x5 Film Loading. Handling film surfaces, and loading technique? Need your expert

    Don't worry about touching the emulsion side. I wash and dry my hands, and try to hold the film by the long side. I take my thumb and forefinger and touch one to rails that retain the film. I slide the film under my fingers and, therefore, under the rails. Once enough of the film is under the rails, I push it in with one finger. Sometimes I just leave the two fingers from the other hand over the end of the rails, and just slide the film under my fingers for the length of the film. That never caused a problem. It is almost inevitable that you will touch the emulsion side, either by accident, or something gets snagged, or whatever. Not a single problem so far.

  5. #15

    Join Date
    Jul 2007
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    near Seattle, WA
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    Re: 4x5 Film Loading. Handling film surfaces, and loading technique? Need your expert

    Thid video may be useful.

    http://www.butzi.net/articles/filmload.htm

  6. #16

    Join Date
    Mar 2010
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    The Netherlands
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    Re: 4x5 Film Loading. Handling film surfaces, and loading technique? Need your expert

    Maybe I am the first one, but i do see finger prints on my neg.
    With fp4+ i did not see this, but with agfa apx100 and adox film, i do see fingerprints if I hit the surface.

  7. #17

    Re: 4x5 Film Loading. Handling film surfaces, and loading technique? Need your expert

    When loading film, I open the film box and take all the film out, then turn it 90 degrees to the box and put it back in at an angle so that the short edge without the notch is resting on the bottom of the box and the edge with the notch is sticking up, resting on the top lip. This makes it much easier to pick the film up.
    Haven't seen fingerprints on either portra 160 or the ilford b&w films/

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