Film Holders

[revdocjim]

So here goes another slightly embarrassing question. Is there a standard procedure for which side to have out or in on the slide, to indicate the presence of film in the holder and whether it has been exposed?

I have 5 holders of various brands. Some of the slides are black on one side and red on the other (along the tab). Others are black on one side and silver on the other. I haven't decided (or been told) which color stands for what, so I'm always nervous that I'll get mixed up while out shooting and in fact I did lose a couple sheets of film due to such confusion.

[Roger Thoms]

I always use the black to indicate that the film has been exposed.

Roger

[bgh]

I always use the black to indicate that the film has been exposed.

Roger

As do I. I also put a rubber band around the film holder to indicate that film is inside, whether exposed or not (and, hopefully, to stop me from opening it. Not that it has stopped me in the past, of course....).

Bruce

[Brian Ellis]

My method was white = empty holder, black and holder right-side up in zip lock bag = unexposed film in holder, black and holder upside down in zip lock bag = exposed film in holder. There's lots of different ways, none perfect. Just come up with a way that you're comfortable with and that you can remember.

[Preston]

White: Empty or Unexposed. Black: Exposed.

I use a rubber band on loaded holders. When a holder has been exposed, I put them upside down in the bag. I keep empty holders completely separate from loaded ones.

--P

[Mark Woods]

White: Empty or Unexposed. Black: Exposed. I also keep loaded film holders in a plastic bag completely separate from empty holders that are not in a bag and are waiting to cleaned and loaded.

[drew.saunders]

I also do white for unexposed or empty, and black for exposed, but when I re-load them, they go in the fridge, so white and not in the fridge is empty, white and in the fridge is loaded and unexposed.

[Leigh]

Well, just to be a contrarian...

Black = no light = unexposed
White = light = exposed

I keep unloaded holders physically separated in the darkroom, on a shelf. If a question arises, I can always turn off the light and open the holder to see if it has film or not.

- Leigh

[lenser]

White-unexposed. Black -exposed. When empty, I keep the dark slide only about half inserted which makes it very obvious, and put them in a large zip lock to keep dust out.

[Lenny Eiger]

I get the largest zip-lock bags I can find and put about 5 holders in each. A sharpie indicates what kind of film I have in the bag... A lot of folks use rubberbands as the slides can vibrate out in the car - if you store them vertically. I use a clam-shell box to hold them and stack them sideways - and I've never had a problem. And of course, black means exposed - one has to align one's self with the history of the medium... ;-)

Lenny