Bad Holder?

[Two23]

I have a hodge podge of 4x5 holders, including an older Fidelity with plastic bottome an metal pulls on the darkslides. They look older. I've been having problems loading it on one side. Three times now when I did load it and try to use it, the film somehow catches on the darkslide when I put it back in. The film then either ends up on the outside of the darkslide, or it pops out of the holder and goes into the bellows! Is this one likely trash, or is it fixable somehow?


Kent in SD

[Daniel Stone]

with the low, low price of 4x5 fidelity and lisco regal II holders these days(most of mine were $4-6 each, some lower!), just trash it and keep the slides for spares.

just my $.02

-Dan

[mandoman7]

Bad holders leak light, they don't have problem keeping the film in position typically.
This is happening because you're not getting the film in the right groove when loading. You can mistakenly get the film in the groove that is for the darkslide and that is why it flops around when your put the darkslide back in. There are some guides that you can feel in the dark that you slide the film under to make sure you're not making this mistake. This is particularly likely with 8x10 film, and I always make sure I can feel the film going under the guides when loading.

[Chauncey Walden]

In this case, it sounds like the film is not going into the groove on the far end. With the dark slide pulled far enough out to clear the entire opening when loading, slide a fingernail along that far edge while pushing the film in to get it to go in the groove. A quick check on the other end is to make sure the film is totally in the recess in front of the flap.

[David de Gruyl]

I don't know if I am the only one doing this, but I load film with the darkslide in about 1/2-3/4 of the way. You basically can't screw up when you do that.

[Gary Tarbert]

Bad holders leak light, they don't have problem keeping the film in position typically.
This is happening because you're not getting the film in the right groove when loading. You can mistakenly get the film in the groove that is for the darkslide and that is why it flops around when your put the darkslide back in. There are some guides that you can feel in the dark that you slide the film under to make sure you're not making this mistake. This is particularly likely with 8x10 film, and I always make sure I can feel the film going under the guides when loading.Know that feeling! very first 8x10 colour sheet i ever exposed Velvia 100 (so not cheap)fell on the ground at my feet !!, I now load all of my sheet film with the darkslide just before the groove. Cheers Gary

[Two23]

I took a close look at the holder in the light, and practiced with the sheet that popped out. Turns out the problem was "operator error." The guides for the film start a little further up than I thought they did, and I was actually not getting the film started in them. I reloaded the holder in the dark with fresh film and had no problem.


Kent in SD

[mandoman7]

Nothing like a little dry testing for learning about our equipment.:)

[speedfreak]

Yeah, I don't usually pull the darkslide past 1/2 way when loading or unloading. And when pushing the film in while loading I lift up on the end to make sure the it's where it's suppose to be.

[E. von Hoegh]

I don't know if I am the only one doing this, but I load film with the darkslide in about 1/2-3/4 of the way. You basically can't screw up when you do that.

Ditto.

[J Ney]

I took a close look at the holder in the light, and practiced with the sheet that popped out. Turns out the problem was "operator error." The guides for the film start a little further up than I thought they did, and I was actually not getting the film started in them. I reloaded the holder in the dark with fresh film and had no problem.


Kent in SD

I used to have that exact same problem... glad you got it squared away!