BTW, I could use a few more (plastic good quality) 4x5 holders :-) I will put a call-for-help in the FS/Wanted section :-)
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BTW, I could use a few more (plastic good quality) 4x5 holders :-) I will put a call-for-help in the FS/Wanted section :-)
For those of you who don't know Chris, he shoots architecture like I do. I consider him a consummate professional.
8x10 film holders are a funny business. When I got my camera there was a used gear dealer in Shutterbug that sold 2 plastics for $30 or 3 woods for $35---Clayton Classic Camera, I think. Most of my 8x10 film holders came from him. Now if you're lucky $50 will get you a used film holder from a dealer while on eBay you'll pay $90 or 100 for a single holder!
Mine are all either Graflex "Made for Eastman Kodak" or Lisco Regal IIs. They look worn, but work fine. Any problem children get voted off the island and into the cannibal box until there are enough parts to put together a Frankenstein-holder. Then it's back into nursery. I think I have around 20 at last count.
I enjoy fixing up old 8x10 film holders. I'd like to learn how to replace the velvets but so far I haven't found any instruction.
clayton classic camera ..
just bought graflex stuff from leon hertzson and before that
a mil.D3v from some guy in arizona ...
i did manage to get all my 8x10s used and about the same price / style as you
from mpex. also got loads of plate holders from him
even cheaper than the film holders. never had a problem, and saved enough money probably
5 100 sheet boxes of film ... i'd rather spend my $$ on film + chemistry and paper anyways.
...
This is sort of what I meant.
Kirk, as I said I have fidelity/lisco in 4x5 (22 elite plus 3 older metal ones) and they are fine, I have 4x5 Grafmatics and they are fine. I probably wouldn't replace them however if I would, it would be for 5 Chamonix and load each with 10 sheets of Velvia50.
The 5x7's I can't talk about.
8x10's after all the bad experience with half going bad at $50 each (that's 4x $60=$240...) I COULD buy 4 more used and risk 3-4 of them being bad, or order 1 new guaranteed one, plus I can't sell these... So I'm out $240 buying used.
I agree at $10/4x5 holder or less, the 4x5's make sense used, but not 8x10 no way, not after my bad experience, lost potentially EIGHT (potentially more) 8x10 color sheets that haven't been sent to the lab and possibly 4 sheets of 8x10 EFKE IR820 plus a trip through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick from Connexticut... So truly the used holders cost me almost $3,000... Now how many holders could I have had for that?
But I agree the 4x5's make more sense used.
Harder formats of course plus as someone mentioned they don't always fit the ANSI standard so best to buy them made for your specialty format.
Cheers and Respect to Kirk and Chris and Dan who know more than me and have differing opinions, one thing they all agree on, the final image is most important even if the client doesn't respect your gear ;)
Also I plan to use my new holders for 25 years too ;)
What does that have to do with someone buying new, used or both new and used holders or not? No one is dumb or out of touch for choosing to do things their way if they choose to, as long as it works. I'm very successful in a highly desired niche in photography because I do things my way....
hmmmm get up on the wrong side of the bed? It has to do with introducing him to people who may not know him.
Ok, well it still is about film holders, we can all buy and use what we want for whatever the reasons, consummate professional or not. So I treated my self to a dozen new film holders, money well spent I figure, ymmv....
Hmm...just a data point here but I bought 12 8x10 holders from various sources for roughly $25-$40 a piece last year. Every last one was perfect save one that had a tiny little gash in the DS that I fixed with liquid electrical tape.
Some people want "piece of mind" with their holders, some people know how to get the best bang for their buck or just simply how to fix little problems that aren't a big deal, others just have more money than sense.