I'm new to 4x5 and started with Kodak Readyloads in T-Max400 and Ektachrome. Pr oblems: Some are totally exposed to light, some have streaks along the side of t he film, some look just fine. I have a new Polaroid film holder for the Toyo 4x 5 camera, and after some initial problems, the polaroids come out OK. Need some HELP to use these Readyloads, so I can get down to the business of making pict ures! Thanks...
You need to get the Kodak Readyload holder and not try using them in the Polaroid holder. If you already have the Kodak holder, just follow carefully the directions in the Readyload pack and you should have no problems.
You'll hear from some people that Readyloads have a design flaw that renders them worse than useless (the holders, I mean, not the people), and others who probably wouldn't shoot 4x5 if it weren't for Readyloads. I'm in the latter camp; I just finished a job where I shot almost 300 Readyloads. One of the 300 didn't come out, but I'm not sure enough it wasn't my exposure mistake to blame it on Kodak.
Good luck!
using Kodak Readyloads successfully seems to be a personal thing. I have tried t he Kodak system several times since it was introduced with at least three differ ent generations of Kodak holders, each experiment has resulted in a consistant f ailure rate (due to light fog) of 25-30%. I think this is due to Kodak's design criteria of two sheets per packet. But clearly there are people who have better success than I. Contrast this to my zero failure rate with the Fuji QuickLoad s ystem (I probabably shoot at least two cases a year of QuickLoads) for the past three years. I shoot so much QuickLoad that I just wore out my QL holder! So my suggestion is to try the Fuji Quickloads, noting that Fuji will probably b e releasing two new films in QuickLoad this year in the United States: a color n egative and a new E-6 daylight balanced transparency: RDPIII.
If you elect to stick with the Kodak Readyloads, all I can suggest is practice.
And when you get the ready load holder don't forget to push the release button when reseating the film sleeve. It expands the little metal end and allows a good fit. Your failure rate will go down to near zero. I almost gave up on RL's until shown the correct proceedure. Polaroid holders won't accept RLds consistently.
Thanks for the tip James, I'll try that on my next go round. If it is really tha t simple however, why are Kodak tech reps actively asking photographers photogra phers if they think a single sheet per packet design would solve the failure pro blems?
I had light leak problems when first using the RL holder. Since then I have learned to hold the groundglass and camera back together when pulling and inserting the dark slide. I have been 100% leak proof since. I do have long fingers, so this might not work for everyone.
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