Riteway film holders

[Leigh]

I have four Riteway film holders. I like them because they have transparent dials you can set to number the sheets of film. Fidelity film holders don't have any thing like that, and you have to cut notches to accomplish the same sort of thing.
But it seems that Riteway film holders are no longer available.
Are there any other 4 x 5 film holders which are available, except for the old standard Fidelity film holders, which have similar features?

Hi Leonard,

There are no similar holders from other makers that I know of.
It's odd, since the same company made Riteway and Fidelity during that time period.

I like them because it's very easy to identify the exact holder and side for any sheet.
I label every holder with a number and A or B for the side, then set the same number on both sets of dials.

When I process, I do all the A sides first, then all the B sides, so I can distinguish between them.
This has an added benefit in that I often take duplicate (safety) exposures. If a problem occurs during the
A-side processing I can correct it and still have a usable negative from the B side.

Like you, I really love these. I have almost a hundred of them.

- Leigh

[mikebarger]

On some used holders I've bought there was a clear tab with a black number on it on each holder/each side. There were like little post it notes. I haven't ever seen anything like that before, kinda of a neat idea.

[Vaughn]

I just keep good notes and pay attention to which negatives I am developing so I know which is which when I go to store them and write the info on the negative sleeves. I blow it sometimes, but I usually I only take two of each scene, and can usually see the difference between the negs (exposure or development changes).

But I did get a set of 8x10 holders that someone had drilled small holes in the rails inside the holder that hold the film in place. This allows the light to expose small round areas in the rebate of the film. Of course, if the area occupied by the hole only receives a Zone 0 exposure, nothing will show up on the rebate. But it is an alternative to filing notches in the holder.

[Fred L]

Notching the flaps is the what I do as it doesn't intrude on the image whereas the Grafmatic wheels do and hence why I pulled them out.

I know some people have a system,ie- oval notch equals 5, v notch =10 etc and something else represents a single digit. kinda like roman numerals basically. so V, something, something would =12 etc etc.. I'm not that organized so my holders are all random notched as I don't think sequential numbering is that important.

[Roger Cole]

You'd have to notch them I guess. In a way, this would be even better for this purpose than the Riteways because the number wheels can be moved, even accidentally. I've done it. All my holders are Riteways. (I have 11 of them, which seems to be plenty enough for me.) They are not supposed to work in Linhof cameras but they do work in my particular Tech III.

I don't do one side at a time though. There are wheels on both sides, and I set them differently, so the sides of my 11 holders are marked 01 through 22.

I also like them because the slides lock in place and can't be accidentally removed. This also means they don't fit in quart ziplocks, but they fit nicely in 6x9 antistatic bags, which are better anyway.

[Bob Salomon]

Linhof Double Sheet Film Holders and the Linhof Glass Plate/Sheet Film Holders were available either numbered from 1-12 or unnumbered. They were numbered by a frisket that the factory installed at the bottom of the holder that put a number on the edge of the film, away from the image area. If you are at all handy it is quite easy to make a cut out in the holder and insert your own frisket.

Linhof holders have been out of production for many years but are not that difficult to find.

Fidelity/Lisco/Riteway were one in the same company and all of them are no longer manufactured.

[Bob Salomon]

\They are not supposed to work in Linhof cameras but they do work in my particular Tech III.

These Riteway holders had an automatic darkslide lock. Modern Linhof cameras would not release the lock. Other then that feature not working in a modern Linhof the holders themselves do work in a Linhof. The III was different then later model Technikas so it is possible that it would release the automatic lock.

[Bob Salomon]

On some used holders I've bought there was a clear tab with a black number on it on each holder/each side. There were like little post it notes. I haven't ever seen anything like that before, kinda of a neat idea.

That was how Linhof numbered their holders. They also put the same number on the darkslide to identify which side of which holder the film was in.

[Roger Cole]

These Riteway holders had an automatic darkslide lock. Modern Linhof cameras would not release the lock. Other then that feature not working in a modern Linhof the holders themselves do work in a Linhof. The III was different then later model Technikas so it is possible that it would release the automatic lock.

Well if it didn't release the darkslide holder I'd feel safe in saying "they don't work" in that camera. How could you use them?

But they do work ok in my Tech III. That's good to know, and I've often suspected it was the later models that didn't work...or release the DS lock if you prefer.

[Bob Salomon]

Well if it didn't release the darkslide holder I'd feel safe in saying "they don't work" in that camera. How could you use them?

But they do work ok in my Tech III. That's good to know, and I've often suspected it was the later models that didn't work...or release the DS lock if you prefer.

Pre-release the lock with a toothpick or other small item that can be taped over the lock.