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View Full Version : Film Holders - Do you flip your frommitzes, or just get rid of them?



Ed K.
7-Aug-2007, 00:27
Those little wires that hold the dark slide. Even when new, they have a habit of just getting in the way; and a magic sensor mode that makes them fly open when they are supposed to protect the slide from coming out. I use tape over the dark slides when a holder is exposed and in transport. I'm thinking of pulling them out, because there isn't any tag that warns of the liabilities for removing them (like the mattress tag!). What do you think?

Diane Maher
7-Aug-2007, 05:37
I use them. I put a rubber band over some of my holders too. I think you should leave them. Not everyone will want to use tape to keep them closed.

Ole Tjugen
7-Aug-2007, 06:08
One thing I'm less fond of than missing "frommitzes" is tape residue on the holders.

Keep them. And if you want double protection - use rubber bands, not tape. ;)

Eric Rose
7-Aug-2007, 06:35
With out the little wires the magical radio signals are not received by the dielectric layer created by the emulsion and substrate thusly resulting in a non-Adams swirling of only Z6.5 photons near the epicenter of the of the visual universe as contained within the film holder. To remove the wires risks severe negative charge build up and possible damage to the concentricisity of the local crop circles.

David A. Goldfarb
7-Aug-2007, 06:52
Tape leaves tape residue.

Ralph Barker
7-Aug-2007, 07:11
I think Eric nailed it. :D

JPlomley
7-Aug-2007, 09:52
I use rubber bands for one other reason. Having taken the time and patience to set up and compose (about an hour), I find waiting for the wind to stop to be rather frustrating. So you can use your elatic bands to try and peg off insects in flight or ants crawling along the ground :D . Yeah, I know this is juvenile, but it's better than falling asleep.

Jim Rice
7-Aug-2007, 10:22
The wild card in Eric's hypothosis is the length of the doohickies. At 1/4 wavelength (assuming the film area becomes the ground plane) the radio thus recieved is going to be, like, a bunch of Gigahertz. Maybe some super secret government stuff up there. Next thing you know the NSA will be tracking you and that can't engender good karma. ;)

Vaughn
7-Aug-2007, 11:58
My choice isn't on the polling list.

I don't use them, but neither do they cause me any grief...so I don't worry about them. I have maybe lost one negative in 30 years of LF use due to an accidently pulled slide.

Occasionally they get in the way while loading/unlaoading film, but not so much as to be a bother.

Vaughn

riooso
7-Aug-2007, 19:34
Rubber bands work great! When a holder is empty I put the rubber band crossways so that I know it is an empty holder.

Richard Adams

Andrew O'Neill
7-Aug-2007, 19:51
I flip 'em. They screw down tight on some of my older holders and that I like. They don't on my newer ones and I hate that because they never stay where they are supposed to be. I can't count how many times I've pulled a holder out and accidently snagged the slide on another holder, pulling it out slightly and ruining the film. Elastics are the best thing for that...according to a colleague of mine.

John Kasaian
7-Aug-2007, 22:31
I even make new ones to replace the missing ones I'll need on my "new" old holders---one more advantage that wood holders have over the fantastic plastic ones.

Hollis
7-Aug-2007, 22:58
I have my hairless Ecuadorian boy-servant Esteban hold my holders for me. If anything is amiss he knows there will be hell to pay.

Bruce Barlow
8-Aug-2007, 04:18
Just lost an exposure becuz the frommitz wasn't engaged.

I load 10+ holders at a time, and with a habit of locking the frommitz on the just-loaded side of the holder, I never get confused as I listen to Hendrix in complete darkness. No unloaded sides, no fumbling with a side already loaded.

Then, I use them religiously in the field. Except the other day when one got unfrommitzed...

evan clarke
8-Aug-2007, 07:40
I use mostly the new-style Riteways with the little button. I have several new Toyos and a large assortment of Fidelities and Liscos. I only use them as a last resort...Evan Clarke

Jack Flesher
8-Aug-2007, 08:05
I pull the pins -- *hate* em!

And FTR, painters BLUE masking tape does NOT leave residue on the holder, even after several months of storage. I keep a roll with my holders and use about a 5" length with the emulsion marked on it taped it over the ends. So far this system has worked perfectly.

Cheers,

Turner Reich
8-Aug-2007, 09:54
I don't pull them but see them as useless, the idea was ok but it doesn't work well and they get in the way at the wrong times. Just another gizmo to get in the way. I figure if the operator doesn't know when and how to pull the slide then they need some further practice.

ditkoofseppala
8-Aug-2007, 13:40
Hooo hummmmm . . .

Shen45
8-Aug-2007, 18:38
Rubber bands work great! When a holder is empty I put the rubber band crossways so that I know it is an empty holder.

Richard Adams

Now that is a very good tip. How many times have I opened a holder in the darkroom only to discover it isn't empty!

I always use rubber bands and put each holder in a press seal plastic bag.

Steve

Glenn Thoreson
8-Aug-2007, 20:19
I flip my lid more often than I flip the frommitzes. :D