Chamonix Holders - Worth the Cash?

[StoneNYC]

You must have fools for clients.....

No, just young girls who don't even know what film is half the time. Everything mysterious looks interesting to them, especially nice looking wooden devices.

[Kirk Gittings]

Any client who cares about anything but the final product is a fool. Any client that makes assumptions about the photographer based on the equipment he uses is usually a poser himself and wanting his photographer to be a fellow poser too (change the sex of the pronouns to taste).

[Christopher Barrett]

I got 6 Chamonix holders for my 4x10. They are absolutely lovely. The wood is well shaped, the carbon fiber darkslides are a beautiful touch. Really nice stuff. For 4x5, I can't imagine why anyone would use anything besides the common and inexpensive standard holders. I used Fidelity holders for years until we went to Readyload and carried maybe 45 holders on the road. They work. They hold the film and keep it light-tight. What else could you want?

Unless you want REALLY pretty holders for some reason...



CB

[vinny]

Any client who cares about anything but the final product is a fool. Any client that makes assumptions about the photographer based on the equipment he uses is usually a poser himself and wanting his photographer to be a fellow poser too (change the sex of the pronouns to taste).

can we get this on a t-shirt?

[Kodachrome25]

I got 6 Chamonix holders for my 4x10. They are absolutely lovely. The wood is well shaped, the carbon fiber darkslides are a beautiful touch. Really nice stuff. For 4x5, I can't imagine why anyone would use anything besides the common and inexpensive standard holders. I used Fidelity holders for years until we went to Readyload and carried maybe 45 holders on the road. They work. They hold the film and keep it light-tight. What else could you want?

Lol! So it is ok for you to love all the nice things about your 4x10 holders but not OK for a user of 4x5 to have the same thing? Gotcha....

I got them because they are super light and really well made. 2/3rds of my holders are either like new or new, time, gas, food and all the rest is money for me so why the hell not have some really great film holders???

There seems to be some kind of country club law against that here. Kind of silly....like those people who call them selves "Large Format Photographers" instead of just photographers...

[jnantz]

...

[richardman]

How could a thread about HOLDERS be 4 pages already and threatening to descend to "you rich swine posers" vs. "you cheaparses"? Does it really matter whether someone is shooting with a $10 lens vs. $10,000 Dreamagons? Why so much hate?

Facts: Chamonix holders look nice, slightly lighter. If one can afford it and want it, why not? It's not like it's anyone else's money.

If you can't afford it or don't want it, great. There are plenty other choices.

[Sevo]

Lol! So it is ok for you to love all the nice things about your 4x10 holders but not OK for a user of 4x5 to have the same thing? Gotcha....

I'd take plastics over wood any time. But I'd have a hard time finding a plastics cast frame 4x10" (or other odd size) holder...

[RichardRitter]

So why pay a hundred dollars plus for a holder when you can buy a wood holder that is the same thing but painted black and 40 years old for 5 dollars it does the same thing. If you are in the right place at the right time they could even be free.

You may have to spend a little time with the holder to re-tape the bottom and re-felt the light trap.

In the 4 x 5 size plastic is a very good way to go.

When I was working as a tool and die maker way back. I was working on R & D parts for the fiber optic line and learned how you can transmit light. Knowing what I know and what I have seem in the last few years with all the different holder out there I would go with all black holders. Clear finish will transmit light. Black on the other hand will not.

[StoneNYC]

So why pay a hundred dollars plus for a holder when you can buy a wood holder that is the same thing but painted black and 40 years old for 5 dollars it does the same thing. If you are in the right place at the right time they could even be free.

You may have to spend a little time with the holder to re-tape the bottom and re-felt the light trap.

In the 4 x 5 size plastic is a very good way to go.

When I was working as a tool and die maker way back. I was working on R & D parts for the fiber optic line and learned how you can transmit light. Knowing what I know and what I have seem in the last few years with all the different holder out there I would go with all black holders. Clear finish will transmit light. Black on the other hand will not.

The inside is flat black and the finish stops on the inside edge, also by now if there were ever a light issue someone would've spoken up about it with the holders.

I find it funny that of all people you think that only buying used is the way to go, first of all not everybody has the machining and tooling capabilities to repair a broken holders, but also if we don't support new large-format gear, there won't be anymore,., The lens market is proof of that. Everyone said that buying new lenses is silly because you can get used lenses at a fraction of the cost, so everybody did that, and now there are no new lenses being produced, I think one company still has a few in stock but I doubt that will last long, same with the shutters because no new lenses are being sold, the shutter industry had to stop making the copal shutter.

It's all penny wise and pound foolish thought processes, if it really matters to you and you want a better chance that your images won't be ruined by damaged holders, you're more likely to have success with the new holder.

As I mentioned, especially with 4 x 5, I don't think there's as much a need for new holders, but that's all really about the physical size and stress on the joints over time, the larger holders will have more of that and will end up bending and cracking and becoming loose are much more quickly than the smaller 4x5's so it's more a matter of physical size as to the risk of a worn out one.

It's the same thing with large format and ultra large format cameras, if no one's making them the ones that exist will slowly where outcome of the joints will fail and it will be more difficult to find light tight ones that will hold up to strenuous long term hiking conditions. The joints will become less stiff and it will be more play in the camera and your shots will look like crap in the wind.

If I could figure out how to buy some holders from your website in 8x10 size I would have gone to you first before Chamonix.