Re: Blotchy pattern on 4x5 negatives
Stuart, after emailing a number of senior people at MAC, it was Rita again in service who informed me that they would be issuing a refund. I suspect it was Brenda Hipsher (brendah@macgroupus.com), the Toyo brand manager for MAC, who finally authorized the refund. But I can't be certain. I've since returned the holders and am currently still awaiting my money back.
In the meantime, I purchased 1 box of the redesigned Toyo holders from Kumar (in this thread) for testing. Upon initial inspection, they are perfect. Same great build on the holders but this time with very solid black aluminum dark slides. I couldn't get light to show through them, but just for comparison, I'm running a similar test before ordering more. But I can't fathom that they'd let any light through. The slides are solid metal. And not cheap, thin metal that you can bend by hand (thinking of the dark slides on my RZ) — no, these are very solid. And quite good looking too. My bad slides and the bad replacements were both 18g and the new metal slides are 35g. But you don't need to weigh them to tell the difference. It's really obvious.
Knowing that solid metal slides are available, I can't imagine being ok with semi-transparent plastic slides. I'm not willing to take the unnecessary risk.
From what I can tell, no one in the U.S. carries this redesign yet. But they are available in Japan. Many thanks to Kumar for hooking this up. I anticipate ordering the full set soon.
Good luck.
Re: Blotchy pattern on 4x5 negatives
Thank you Matt,
That is very helpful. I spoke with Rita Carter and she responded immediately and apologetically to rectify the problem. She said that their first batch of replacements from Japan had been plastic, but now they are aluminum. So I am just going to have her replace them for me!
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Re: Blotchy pattern on 4x5 negatives
Final update: here's the test with the new aluminum slides. One sheet was exposed to direct sunlight for a morning, and the other sheet was left in my window for an entire long weekend, which included times of direct sun and also clouds. Both came back without a trace of light. This is how dark slides are supposed to operate.
Attachment 161081
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Re: Blotchy pattern on 4x5 negatives
I am new to 4x5 and recently bought a Toyo 45AX. I also bought 3 boxes of film holders (6 film holders total). The dark slides seem to be plastic. I just ran into the problem you are describing on this thread. See attached image. I have not used 2 of the holders - they are still in the sealed box. I have written to see if I can exchange these for the newer ones. Thank you for this thread!Attachment 208012
Re: Blotchy pattern on 4x5 negatives
Quote:
Originally Posted by
davidpalermo
...
I also bought 3 boxes of film holders (6 film holders total). The dark slides seem to be plastic. I just ran into the problem you are describing on this thread.
...
David, were the 6 Toyo film holders brand new or used?
If they were new, then why after over 3 YEARS does MAC Group still have defective products in their inventory?
Did they think we would not notice? :eek:
Terry
Re: Blotchy pattern on 4x5 negatives
Quote:
Originally Posted by
B.S.Kumar
As Daniel found out, not all the older slides had problems with opaqueness. The new dark slides are made of aluminum, unlikely to cause this problem. MAC must have pulled some of the older composite slides from stock holders and sent them to you. I am talking to Toyo about marking the aluminum slides to distinguish them. The aluminum slides weigh 35 grams each, and the composite slides are 21 grams. Weigh them and see which ones they sent you.
Kumar
Kumar,
May we still order the new Toyo 4x5" sheet film holders with the aluminum darkslides from you?
If so, what is the price + how much for shipping and handling to Atlanta, Georgia 30319?
Thank you.
Terry
Re: Blotchy pattern on 4x5 negatives
These were new boxes but have plastic dark slides. I have not heard back from Toyo yet. I hope to replace them with the aluminum dark slides.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Re: Blotchy pattern on 4x5 negatives
Terry,
The moderators would frown if I post a sales post here. Please see this post I created just now:
https://www.largeformatphotography.i...o-Film-Holders
Kumar
Re: Blotchy pattern on 4x5 negatives
Does anyone know if this ever happened with the Toyo 8x10 dark slides?
Re: Blotchy pattern on 4x5 negatives
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kiwi7475
Does anyone know if this ever happened with the Toyo 8x10 dark slides?
This issue came up only with a batch of 4x5 slides. 8x10 slides were not affected.
Kumar