Question about old wooden film holders

[TLOCK]

I inherited an Empire State No. 2 camera in excellent condition. It came with a bunch of wooden film holders.

I'm completely new to large format and I was watching a video on youtube on how to load the film. The gentleman in the video said the holders should have tracks for the film inside of them.

My holders do not have tracks. They're in decent shape though. The dark slides stick a bit but I figure out could probably lubricate them somehow.

Should I be using these holders? Will they cause huge problems? Is it worth it to invest a couple hundred bucks into modern holders?

I've attached some photographs to show what I'm talking about.

Thanks so much!
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[Steven Tribe]

Your Empire State has not been used in the modern era, which means that it only takes coated glass negatives. Metal sheaths were available to convert them for taking modern sheet film. These fit well and are available used. They can be at very reasonable prices.
Modern 5x7" plastic holders are unlikely to fit (dimensions and light trap) and the distance may not match with the ground glass position (focussing distance).

If you do a site search for "sheaths" - you will find some illustrated examples.

[TLOCK]

Thanks so much for that information. I would have just tried to set the film in the holder.

Cheers!

[Jim Jones]

You might cut plates of metal or other stiff material to the size of glass plates and slightly thinner, and attach the film to the plates with tape at the edges. The plates should be painted black.

[Craig Fransen]

I faced the same challenge with my Century Grand Senior (1906 or so). I couldn't figure out why my ground focusing glass was inserted backwards, until I realized that the photographer had converted to sheet film. He used film holders within the wooden holders previously used for glass. This moved the focal plan back, roughly one glass width, so flipping the ground glass moved that focal plane back roughly the same amount.

I did take some shots with the wooden holders: http://public.fotki.com/cfransen/old-photographs/centurys-rebirth/

As a beginner, I've found that it is inexplicably hard to get the dark slides back in on the wooden holders without fogging, especially under pressure (like say, at a wedding taking a critical picture of the bride and groom). So I've decided to give myself every advantage. I've found that modern 5 x 7 holders fit perfectly in my camera. So I forego a bit of historical accuracy and happily use new holders.