Mido Film Holders Reborn???

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

While persuing eBay, I cam across the following text at the end of a listing for a 10¾" Dagor (Item # 130026823414).

"I am the inventor of the Mido Thin Film Holder. I will be remanufacturing them, Inquirely welcome. Thin film holder of any size from 4x5 and up can be manufactured as long as the original sample holder is furnished."

I sent the seller (eBay ID: 10pura) a message offering to send a sample 4x10 Mido II holder and asking how much new 4x10 holders in the Mido II style would cost and how long it would take to make them.

My interest is sincere. I'm shooting 4x10 again and would love to take a 4x10 camera on some extended backpacking trips. While I am fortunate to have several beautiful 4x10 Lotus holders, they are considerably heavier and bulkier than the Mido II holders. I did have problems (excessive light leaks) with the Mido II holders I used with my 4x10 Wisner back in the mid-1990s. Hoever, I believe the problems were manufacturing/quality control issues, not design issues. If the manufacturing/quality control issues can be worked out, I believe the design has promise.

What I find most unusual is that I was told many years ago that Mr.Mido, the inventor of the holders that bore his name, passed away after a prolonged illness (unfortunate as he seemed like a genuinely nice person). So, who is this person on eBay claiming to be the inventor of the Mido thin film holders? Is it a relative or business associate of the late Mr. Mido? According to their eBay ID, they are located in St. Louis, which is where Mr. Mido resided when I corresponded with him in the mid-1990s. Are they sincere about their efforts to re-introduce the Mido thin film holders. Hopefully, I will get a response to my inquiry. Incidentally, a couple years ago similar type listings showed up on eBay. I sent an inquiry then and never got a response. I don't recall the eBay seller's ID and no longer have a copy of my original inquiry.

Anyone else out there know anything about this seller or the current status of Mido film holders?

Kerry

[David A. Goldfarb]

I saw an ad like this a couple of years ago and I also inquired and received no reply. As I recall, he was selling modified Mido holders for odd formats, like sheet film holders for rollfilm formats that would require cutting down rollfilm.

[tim atherton]

The original maker was Shin-ichi Kumanomido, his original address was Pershing Ave in University City, St Louis (a good few years ago)

My understanding from someone who knew him well then was that he did indeed pass away....


That auction you mention in 2002 or so did also say the person was the original maker of the mido holders....

(BTW - the 8x10 mido's I have have been doing fine - there is a real knack to using them. Once that's licked, the light leaks seem to go away - mind you, this summer I learned not to transport them long distances by car while loaded (and possibly tightly packed...) - the film and the darkslide are so close you can get abrasion on the centre of the film)

[Brian Vuillemenot]

Hi Kerry,

Glad to hear the possibility of additional 4X10 holders being available, as I'm currently looking for some. Please keep us posted if you find anything positive!

[photographs42]

Good news for Mido fans. I just had a phone conversation with Mr. Kumanomido and he is, in fact, alive and well and living in Olivette (St. Louis) very close to my office. He did have a very serious illness a few years ago but is now doing well and is indeed the person who placed the item on ebay.

He has the original dies to make 4x5, 5x7, 8x10 and 4x10 Mido holders and can make any size if you are willing to pay for the dies (that would be rather expensive but if there were enough demand it might be considered).

I mentioned this forum thread to him and said to let you know he was back in business. He can be reached at:
Shin-ichi Kumanomido
816 Aldan
Olivette MO 63132

Phone: 314 567-5520

Jerome

[Kerik Kouklis]

Wow! This is amazing. I was sure he had passed away, too. I have a set of 8x10 Mido II holders and like them (although my 8x10 work is all collodion these days, so I don't use them very often). They are a little finicky, but once you get the hang of it, they're great.

[Charles Hohenstein]

He has the original dies to make 4x5, 5x7, 8x10 and 4x10 Mido holders and can make any size if you are willing to pay for the dies (that would be rather expensive but if there were enough demand it might be considered).


Considering the price of 11x14 film holders, it might be worthwhile making the dies, if enough people would order the film holders. But then, I have never seen a Mido film holder, so I don't know whether they would work for ULF. I also don't really understand the references to getting the hang of the way they work before good results can be expected. What is there to get the hang of?

[Christopher Perez]

If someone gets ahold of him, please post price and availability of his various holders.

4x10? With Fotoman coming out with their camera??? Kerry, you dawg, you! :)

[tim atherton]

cool! "rumours of my demise" etc...

[Ron Marshall]

Paul Butzí's site has info on Mido holders and comparisons to Fidelity and Graphmatics.

The weight of 6 loaded Mido holders is 27.6 ounces, 6 loaded Fidelity 36 ounces. (28.3 grams per ounce)

http://www.butzi.net/reviews/filmholders.htm

[CXC]

I want one for 8x10.

[Sal Santamaura]

cool! "rumours of my demise" etc...A search of the Social Security Death Index returns no matches for Kumanomido. I wonder how those rumors got started!

[tim atherton]

Considering the price of 11x14 film holders, it might be worthwhile making the dies, if enough people would order the film holders. But then, I have never seen a Mido film holder, so I don't know whether they would work for ULF. I also don't really understand the references to getting the hang of the way they work before good results can be expected. What is there to get the hang of?

Talking about 8x10, and I don't have one right here, but they are essentially like regular film holders, but only about 1/4" thick. As such, a lot of things we take for granted with regular film holders don't always apply.

For one thing, they are somewhat more flexible and slightly more fragile.

You can't just rip out the darkside and slap it back in again - if you don't seat it quite right and flex the slide on putting it back in, you can cause a light leak, for example. Also, because the darkslide is only a fraction away from the film, you have to be a bit more careful loading etc.

And because it doesn't have pronounce "shoulders"where the darkslide goes in, it's much easier to find you have grabbed the top of the darkslides rather than the holder, when pulling them from a bag or case - and have thus pulled the darkslide out 2" rather than the whole holder...

So yes, they are a bit more fussy. But the big big plus is that they weigh in at between 1/3 to 1/2 of a regular holder and take about 1/3 of the space. So for 8x10, I can easily carry 10 -12 holders in a back pack with the camera - and transport even more easily.

[photographs42]

I spoke with Mr. Kumanomido again about price and while he is just getting back into production he has a few left from previous production runs. He said a 4x10 would probably run about $150.00 from current stock. (He kind of came up with that price on the spur of the moment so I don’t we should hold him to it but it is a ballpark idea.)

I also asked him about 11x14 and he said he had a prototype for that but had no camera to test it on.

I e-mailed him the address of this forum and suggested that he might like to join us in this conversation and I think he might do that. If you would like to e-mail him directly, his address is: skumabear@sbcglobal.net.

He welcomes your e-mails but lets hope he joins us here.

Jerome

[Mido Holder]

This is Shin-ichi Kumanomido, the inventor of the Mido filmholder. I had a series of serioius health problems and now have recovered enough to resume making film holder again. I have some old die cut materials left to assemble for 4x5, 8x10 and a few 4x10 and 5x7. For those interested in 11x14 holders, I have one prototype sample made by hand cut madrial. To make 11x14 dies (required for each layer of material including darkslide), it is very costly, but if there are enough people interested in I will have dies made. For any serious person interested in testing the protopype 11x14 holder, please contact me. Any other odd size film holder can be made, but I need a sample holder to measure all dimensions.

Sincerely,

Shin-ichi Kumanomido

[Ron Marshall]

I hope your health continues to improve.

Would you be able to tell me what you anticipate the price to be for the 5x7 holders?

[alec4444]

I'm interested in 11x14 filmholders too, and I would gladly go in with anyone wanting to place an order.

I'd also like to test it, but since I'm new to ULF and I haven't shot a single sheet of film in my camera yet I probably shouldn't be the person to test them.....unless you wanted to find out if "any idiot" could use them... :D

--A

[Mido Holder]

This is Shin-ichi Kumanomido. I have come through a series of major health problems, and now am back into photography and Mido film holder making. I have some 4x5s, 8x10s left over material ready for assembly, and a few 4x10s and 5x7s. I will accept orders from the forum members, but the current stock is limited. I will make also other formats as long as
the photographer supplis me with a sample hilm holder of the format.

Shin Mido

[Gordon Moat]

Cool stuff. After reading the short Butzi review and description, I am left with more questions than answers. I currently use mostly Kodak Readyload and Fuji Quickload holders. I would be very appreciative of anyone who could describe their experiences using the Mido holder, especially anyone who could compare it to the Readyload/Quickload holders.

A large part of the Readyload/Quickload convenience is dropping off film at the lab. I rarely ever process my own film. If the Mido system can be used as a drop-off set-up, or if it must be dropped off complete with holders at a lab, or emptied for lab delivery, it would be helpful if someone could comment on that usage scenario.

While I am happy with most of the film I can get in Readyload/Quickload, there are some films that are not avaible that way that I would like to use. At first glance, it seems the Mido holder might be something I would like using, if it is really like the Readyload/Quickload system. I have little interest in using regular holders. Thanks in advance for any comments.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

[Capocheny]

I've only heard of these famed holders in the past and have always wondered what the differences were between them and the modern holders.

So, in essence, it's safe to assume that the differences are that they are thinner and far lighter than the modern counterparts?

If this is the case... for those who are interested, perhaps it's a good time to get together and place a good size order to make things financially feasible for Mr. Kumanomido.

I'm interested in 5x7 and 8x10... and, maybe a few 4x5s.

Gordon,

IIRC, from seeing some that were listed on the bay... they're more like regular holders than ReadyLoad/QuickLoads. So, again, if I'm not mistaken... you would still unload them like you would for regular filmholders and take them to the lab in the same film boxes.

For the experienced users... am I correct on this?

.

Thanks for the heads-up Kerry! :)

Cheers

[photographs42]

Cool stuff. After reading the short Butzi review and description, I am left with more questions than answers. I currently use mostly Kodak Readyload and Fuji Quickload holders. I would be very appreciative of anyone who could describe their experiences using the Mido holder, especially anyone who could compare it to the Readyload/Quickload holders.

A large part of the Readyload/Quickload convenience is dropping off film at the lab. I rarely ever process my own film. If the Mido system can be used as a drop-off set-up, or if it must be dropped off complete with holders at a lab, or emptied for lab delivery, it would be helpful if someone could comment on that usage scenario.

While I am happy with most of the film I can get in Readyload/Quickload, there are some films that are not avaible that way that I would like to use. At first glance, it seems the Mido holder might be something I would like using, if it is really like the Readyload/Quickload system. I have little interest in using regular holders. Thanks in advance for any comments.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio (http://www.allgstudio.com)

As Tim said, they are like regular holders as opposed to the readyload type. I had the original model which was very thin and, as I recall, held one sheet of film. I had 6 of them and I never quite learned to use them. I gave mine to a photography instructor friend/customer in Peoria quite a few years ago. The model II is double sided and much improved over the model I had.

Jerome

[photographs42]

Shin e-mailed me a while ago that someone in Kansas City had contacted him by e-mail about testing the 11x14 and Mr. Kumanomido has lost his e-mail address.

If you are that person and you read this would you please e-mail him again.

I am about to drop out of sight for a while. I have 4 prints to perform the three M’s on (Mounting, Matting and fraMing) to deliver in Chicago tomorrow when we go up for my Son’s wedding this weekend. I’ll check back in Sunday night or Monday (maybe later tonight if I get my work done).

Jerome

[Michael Jones]

This is Shin-ichi Kumanomido. I have come through a series of major health problems, and now am back into photography and Mido film holder making. I have some 4x5s, 8x10s left over material ready for assembly, and a few 4x10s and 5x7s. I will accept orders from the forum members, but the current stock is limited. I will make also other formats as long as
the photographer supplis me with a sample hilm holder of the format.

Shin Mido

Shin Mido:

Do you know the prices for the holders you currently have material for? Will this be for the holders alone or do you also have the clamshells? Thank you.

Mike

[Mido Holder]

Hi, Mike,

Over10 years a go I was selling 8x10 and 4x10 at $125, and the quantiy of the current stock material is very limited, so I will sell at amodest increase of $150 each and same price for the clamshell until the stock runs out. Other problem is the availability of the darkslide material which was custum made for me. I have to check with the old supplier to see if he can still make it and at what cost. If not, thickness of the holder could increse up to 0.030 inch, which means the clamshell thickness have to be changed also.


Shin Mido

[Kevin Crisp]

I am very interested in 5X7 if it becomes available. Thanks. Kevin Crisp

[Brian Vuillemenot]

Hi Shin Mido,

Do your 4X10 holders fit the Wisner 4X10 or the Canham? I have a Wisner 4X10 that I am looking for film holders for, but the dimensions are a bit different than other 4X10 camera backs, like the Canham, Shen-Hao, and Fotoman. Thanks!

-Brian

[alec4444]

Shin e-mailed me a while ago that someone in Kansas City had contacted him by e-mail about testing the 11x14 and Mr. Kumanomido has lost his e-mail address.

If you are that person and you read this would you please e-mail him again.

There's quite a few 11x14 people here. Someone must have a free day and a couple of sheets to throw at the cause.... Step up, people! :)

--A

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

Hi Shin Mido,

Do your 4X10 holders fit the Wisner 4X10 or the Canham? I have a Wisner 4X10 that I am looking for film holders for, but the dimensions are a bit different than other 4X10 camera backs, like the Canham, Shen-Hao, and Fotoman. Thanks!

-Brian

Brian,

The 4x10 Mido II holders and clamshell I have fit the Wisner 4x10 cameras. In fact, Mido was the original supplier of 4x10 holders for Wisner when Ron introduced his 4x10 cameras back in the early 1990s.

Since the design uses a clamshell as a spacer, it would be possible to make a clamshell to use the current 4x10 Mido II holders in a camera that is compatible with the Canham holders. In this case, it's not the holders that are camera-specific, it's the clamshells.

At one point, I considered having a 4x10 back made for my Toho (for backpacking) that would use the Mido II Wisner-size holders and having another clamshell spacer made to use the same holders with my Swiss-Lotus (for everything else). However, since I have acquired several of the very, very lovely 4x10 Lotus holders, I never got around to getting a custom clamshell made.

In any case, the system of thin holders + clamshell spacer may also provide an economical alternative to other formats where there is more than one "standard" (such as 7x17). I would think it would be more economical to manufacture all the holders in the same saize and then provide clamhells to match specific cameras/standards.

Kerry

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

This is Shin-ichi Kumanomido, the inventor of the Mido filmholder. I had a series of serioius health problems and now have recovered enough to resume making film holder again. I have some old die cut materials left to assemble for 4x5, 8x10 and a few 4x10 and 5x7. For those interested in 11x14 holders, I have one prototype sample made by hand cut madrial. To make 11x14 dies (required for each layer of material including darkslide), it is very costly, but if there are enough people interested in I will have dies made. For any serious person interested in testing the protopype 11x14 holder, please contact me. Any other odd size film holder can be made, but I need a sample holder to measure all dimensions.

Sincerely,

Shin-ichi Kumanomido

Mr. Kumanomido,

First, let me say, I am thrilled to learn that rumors of your untimely death are untrue. I am also glad to hear that you have recovered from your former illness. This is all very good news.

I am the one that sent you the email last night inquiring about your 4x10 holders. Thank you for the response. I am a bit of an evangelist for the 4x10 format, and I am also a large format photogapher who likes to backpack. So, I appreciate the weight and size saving design of your thin film holder system.

Welcome back!

Kerry Thalmann

[Chris Pandino]

Shin e-mailed me a while ago that someone in Kansas City had contacted him by e-mail about testing the 11x14 and Mr. Kumanomido has lost his e-mail address.

If you are that person and you read this would you please e-mail him again.

I am about to drop out of sight for a while. I have 4 prints to perform the three M’s on (Mounting, Matting and fraMing) to deliver in Chicago tomorrow when we go up for my Son’s wedding this weekend. I’ll check back in Sunday night or Monday (maybe later tonight if I get my work done).

Jerome
That was me. Resending...

[David A. Goldfarb]

I'd be willing to test the 11x14" prototype. I'd be very interested in 11x14" Mido holders.

[alec4444]

Any Update on this? Chris / David, do you get the sample 11x14 holder yet?

Shin Mido, if the 11x14 test is successful, at what price would you offer 11x14 holders?

Thanks!
--Alec

[David A. Goldfarb]

No, but we haven't worked out anything concrete. I just said I'd be willing to test it, if he needs me to test it.

[alec4444]

Thanks David. Sounds like Chris Pandino may have beaten you to the test. Chris, were you able to test the 11x14 holder? Did you even get it?

--A

[Chris Pandino]

Hey guys.
It has been a month since I sent Shin my camera & filmholder dim's, but never heard back. I figured he was busy or had personal matters to deal with, so haven't bothered him.

I'm in no hurry to use it, I just wanted to help the guy out. I'm an engineer with some experience in mechanical and product design, so I thought I might be able to provide some recommendations that could benefit all ULF users.

I guess I'll try to raise him again...

[Renato Tonelli]

Apologies for resurrecting this very old thread: any more information about any new Mido holders?

[bobpin]

Apologies for resurrecting this very old thread: any more information about any new Mido holders?

x2 :rolleyes:

[europanorama]

Paul Butzí's site has info on Mido holders and comparisons to Fidelity and Graphmatics.

The weight of 6 loaded Mido holders is 27.6 ounces, 6 loaded Fidelity 36 ounces. (28.3 grams per ounce)

http://www.butzi.net/reviews/filmholders.htm
only archived now. maybe someone can sava data and upload in the files here.
https://web.archive.org/web/20071026052533/http://www.butzi.net/reviews/filmholders.htm

[europanorama]

from archived butziwebsite151441

[europanorama]

FILMHOLDERS
From archived butz-website
cannot upload-too big larger than 19.5.....
trying as pdf
151442

[Drew Wiley]

There were two distinctly different series of Mido holders. The earlier version used a vinyl sleeve over the film. The second version was like a thin regular double sheet film holder, with a separate clamshell spacer. This saves about a third your usual carry weight on half a dozen holders, and takes up less pack space too. I never got along with the earlier type. But I still have a dozen of the second 4x5 version along with two clamshells. These never got much use because not terribly long after, Readyload and Quikload paks came out, yet with growing pains of their own. With the Mido system you have to be careful that no light leaks get between the clamshell and the inner holder itself, once the darkslide is pulled. I had a few minor accidents with them, but overall, bagged most of my shots just fine. Hard to say if I'll use them again. He apparently made very few 5x7 and 8x10 holders.

[Drew Bedo]

There could be a viable Kickstarter project here.

Any one who takes a LF kitg into the field will love to save weight.

Anyone using a format other than 4x5, 5x7 or 8x10 would love a light weight, affordable film holder.

What about an open sourced file for 3D printing?

[MikeS]

Hi All.

This is my first post since re-joining the forum, I've been away from it for almost 10 years! Does anyone have pictures of the Mido II system they could post? I have a 4x5 Mido setup that I had basically almost forgotten about until just the other day. I've been fairly ill, and continue to be so, and because of this my Linhof has become almost too heavy for me to handle anymore, so foolishly without doing enough checking I decided to get a Travelwide! Of course missing the kickstarter put me at the mercy of the used market, so I managed to buy a TW setup with the 'proper' 90mm Angulon (I already had a few of my own, but what the heck, it saved me the effort of doing all the calibration as this one was installed by the folks that made the Travelwide, & had just had a CLA, something none of mine have had lately). I primarily shoot my Linhof handheld, and focus using the coupled rangefinder, so I primarily use grafmatics, and in fact I have about a dozen or so of them. After finding out that the tw won't use the grafmatics without major surgery, I pulled out the case that has my 'regular' cut film holders, I only have maybe 5 or 6 of them, and most of them are 9x12 with only 1 being 4x5. They turned out to be my next big let down. While their outside dimensions are all identical even tho they're for 2 different film sized, apparently Linhof film holders are a slightly different size than the US standard for 4x5 film holders, first off they're as thick as a grafmatic even tho they only hold 2 sheets of film, but worse yet, they're too tall to fit inside the walls of the travelwide's back!

Now comes the point of this message, while reading thru the 45 page long travelwide mods thread on this, and in passing somebody mentions the idea of remaking the Mido holders, and that gets me thinking that I have a Mido holder, and 5 film holders that each hold 2 sheets of 4x5 film. Until reading this thread I didn't realize that I actually had the earlier Mido system that more closely resembles a Fuji quickload or Kodak readyload in operation except that it's double sided, so it's probably more like the earlier kodak readyloads that were dual sided, but I'm not sure of that, I've never seen a dual sided readyload, and of course because you load your own film in it, you can have any 4x5 film that's available, and not limited like with the other 2 systems. I have the Mido holder along with the 5 film holders, along with an instruction sheet all in a Kodak Readyload box, and the film holders each have a plastic bag to keep them clean, when I put the Mido holder into the travelwide, it fit like a hand going into a glove! I was truly amazed at how well the holder fit into the travelwide camera, so I loaded a couple of the film holders with some Ilford Ortho+ and when we get some nice weather on a day I'm feeling healthy enough to get out I'm going to try the system out! If this doesn't work out, then it's back to modifying the travelwide to accept my grafmatics!

-MikeS

[EdSawyer]

Welcome back! Personally, I'd scrap the travelwide and get something better that will take all the holders you want. Something like a Cambo Wide with a 90mm lens on it.

[Drew Wiley]

I sold off my sleeve-type Mido system years ago and replaced it with the Mido II clamshell system, but then largely forgot about that once the Quickload & REadyload concept was perfected. I should probably sell of the Mido gear one of these days. One more task on the backburner. It worked fine if you were careful, but I never used it much. Besides Quickload, I got heavily addicted to 8X10 for quite awhile.

[xkaes]

There were actually TWO versions of the ORIGINAL Mido holder. Even most Mido users don't know this. These holders are not marked as "Model 1", "Type 1", etc. in any way. They are just called Mido holders. But this is common in photography. A company develops a camera, such as Nikon with the FM. They didn't call it the FM1, but when they developed an "improved" version, they called it the FM2. Same with the original Mido holder. Mido came out with a II holder, but there were two versions of the I holder. It is basically impossible to visually tell the difference -- you need to look at the instruction sheet. It has a diagram of the holder with dashed lines where you have to adjust the holder for use.

If anyone has any Mido I (version 2) holders that they want to sell, I'm might be interested if the price is right. You'll need to have the original instruction sheet to determine what you have.

[Wayne]

Did Mr K pass away again? :confused:

[duff photographer]

Did Mr K pass away again? :confused:

No. He was ill for a while but got back to his feet again. It's assumed he's still knocking around somewhere (at least he was about a year ago).

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Compactness is nice, but did MIDO film holders hold a candle to Quickload/Readyload for dust control? (As in, what were the sleeves composed of and is it anti-static?) Dust is a huge problem in the Desert SW

[Willie]

Compactness is nice, but did MIDO film holders hold a candle to Quickload/Readyload for dust control? (As in, what were the sleeves composed of and is it anti-static?) Dust is a huge problem in the Desert SW

My Uncle used them when he was teaching in College in Bishop, CA. Would go through Death Valley, through Nevada, Utah and Idaho deserts as well as Anza Borrego area in SoCal using them in 4x5. He really liked them and found no dust problems in use. He kept things clean. Only reason he has stopped using them is he moved to larger film sizes.