Is my 5x7 failing to hold film flat?

[Riverman]

I've shot my first four frames of 5x7. I used a wooden Kodak 5x7 holder. The darkslide and the interior of the holder is metal. I have noticed on all four negatives that at one end of the film (opposite end to the notch code) the image on the negative is curved slightly. The image edge is not vertically straight. I'm confident that I loaded the film correctly but it looks to me as if the film has buckled a bit in the holder. Would you agree? Please see linked.

[Gem Singer]

That's not a defect. Your film is being held flat.

Old wooden film holders were built that way.

[Riverman]

Thanks Gem. I have noticed that my old wooden 5x7 holders do not have a vertical groove at the darkslide end (the only grooves to guide film loading and aid flatness appear to be the two parallel ones on the horizontals). Some tests indoors with a blank sheet of film seem to show that in these old holders, the film does tend to bulge outwards at that end after the darkslide is pulled out. This is a bit annoying.

My modern 4x5 plastic holders do seem to have a vertical groove, holding the film flatter at the darkslide end.