R Flanders
17-Feb-2009, 04:33
Hi,
I've recently purchased a Polaroid 550 pack film holder for use with Fuji FP-100c45, the 10pack of instant film that seems to be the only readily available instant 4x5 film left. My understanding was that the holder would work with this type of pack but I'm getting some very spotty results.
Almost but not quite all shots contain a light vertical stripe down the middle of the image. At first I thought it was a fog stripe from a bent gasket, but duct tape changed nothing. The stripe is about the width of the tabs that are used to pull each sheet out of the holder, so I suspect that the wad of tabs inside the holder is pressing on the film and interfering with the flow of the chemistry somehow when I pull them through the rollers. Maybe I'm loading the film pack improperly, though I keep trying to do it differently. It just seems there's no good place to put the tabs.
There is a little plastic gasket in the front of the holder which is bent as if to receive these tabs, but loading them so that they stick out here does not seem to solve the problem. Neither does duct tape. The rollers seem fine. Some images are perfect.
Anybody experience this? Any suggestions?
attaching a pic of bad to worse striping showing incomplete dispersal of chemistry,
then one of the end of the holder pointing out the "bent gasket" that I'm talking about.
I've recently purchased a Polaroid 550 pack film holder for use with Fuji FP-100c45, the 10pack of instant film that seems to be the only readily available instant 4x5 film left. My understanding was that the holder would work with this type of pack but I'm getting some very spotty results.
Almost but not quite all shots contain a light vertical stripe down the middle of the image. At first I thought it was a fog stripe from a bent gasket, but duct tape changed nothing. The stripe is about the width of the tabs that are used to pull each sheet out of the holder, so I suspect that the wad of tabs inside the holder is pressing on the film and interfering with the flow of the chemistry somehow when I pull them through the rollers. Maybe I'm loading the film pack improperly, though I keep trying to do it differently. It just seems there's no good place to put the tabs.
There is a little plastic gasket in the front of the holder which is bent as if to receive these tabs, but loading them so that they stick out here does not seem to solve the problem. Neither does duct tape. The rollers seem fine. Some images are perfect.
Anybody experience this? Any suggestions?
attaching a pic of bad to worse striping showing incomplete dispersal of chemistry,
then one of the end of the holder pointing out the "bent gasket" that I'm talking about.