Over the years - sheet film holders question - your most preferred and maintenance

[Drew Wiley]

Lisco & Fidelity are basically the same thing. There are some minor differences in both over the decades, with the later holders having less brittle darkslides than the earlier ones. It' all I've ever used, and still totally reliable. I treated them with antistatic spay and routinely blow them clean. Don't leave em in hot sun where they might warp. A number of the 8x10 ones I've converted to precision adhesive holders. And I have just one aluminum Hoffman 8X10 holder in the lab, which I modified for vacuum drawdown.

[Michael R]

Only ever used Fidelity (4x5). I’d like to get a few Toyo holders so that I have some extras but I’m afraid of the stink. I can’t handle smells.

[esearing]

I'm likely in the minority - I like the older plastic Riteway and Lisco's for 4x5. They are compact and with their age the slides go in and out smoothly. I rarely clean them but I do not live in a dusty area and they stay in a pack or case when not in use. I have an old wooden 8x10 holder I bought with a DIY pinhole camera that doesn't get much use but it is really light weight.

The teak wood holders on my Chamonix 5x12 are beautiful to look at even if a bit tricky when re-inserting the dark slides. And they come with individual cases.

[Vaughn]

Of my 5x7 holders, I have a couple of these older holders that give me such a wonderful rebate. I should look at my records and see exactly which holders give me this rebate...I have been letting it be random the past few decades

Edit to add: The stink of Toyos. I do not believe I have heard of any definitive cause. But I had an interesting run-in on some (cheap) black-out curtains. Where ever the curtain material was touching the printing on the inside of the plastic bag it was sold in, the curtain started to dis-color and stink horrendously. Some interaction of the solvents in the printing inks and the curtain material. And once exposed to the air, got worse and worse.

Just wondering if those Toyo darkslides got cleaned at the factory with the wrong solvent. mysteries

[Doremus Scudder]

I'm likely in the minority - I like the older plastic Riteway and Lisco's for 4x5. ...

I'll join the minority here I dislike the newer 4x5 holders with the pressure locks and the longer handles (too long for my ZipLocs!). I prefer the older plastic Riteway, Lisco and Regal holders, but have a few wooden Graphic holders that are serviceable and look really nice after "painting" them with a Sharpie.

I just wish that the darkslides were interchangeable between holder types...

Best,

Doremus

[unityofsaints]

Fidelity plastic ones (not sure what the difference is between Elite and Deluxe?) for both 5x7" and 8x10". They're lighter than wooden ones and much less likely to have stiff darkslides and I also constantly mix up the darkslides which makes for even more issues inserting / withdrawing them. I will say though that they seem to be ever so slightly more likely to have internal flares or double images.

[Greg]

The teak wood holders on my Chamonix 5x12 are beautiful to look at even if a bit tricky when re-inserting the dark slides. And they come with individual cases.

I rate my Chamonix holders the best that I have ever used. I also found that re-inserting the dark slide was a bit tricky to do smoothly, especially with my 11x14 Chamonix holders. I finally sat down and repeatedly inserted its dark slides with the holder inserted in the back of my camera. Camera was on a tripod. After about three sessions of doing this dozens of times, I finally got the technique down of smoothly inserting them. Hard to explain except that the more firmly I tried to insert the dark slide, the more difficult and "tricky" it was. I'm now able to smoothly insert the dark slides, slowly and with very, very little force/pressure. I grip the dark slide with only two fingers. At first I practiced inserting the dark slides with the holder in my lap or on a table... not the way to go. Turned out to be harder to do than with the film holder in the back of my camera. Again hard to explain. It all felt was like the first times I was practicing loading roll film onto SS reels.

[Keith Pitman]

Fidelity plastic ones (not sure what the difference is between Elite and Deluxe?) for both 5x7" and 8x10". They're lighter than wooden ones and much less likely to have stiff darkslides and I also constantly mix up the darkslides which makes for even more issues inserting / withdrawing them. I will say though that they seem to be ever so slightly more likely to have internal flares or double images.

I number the dark slides the same as the holders so they always go back into the same side of the same holder.

[Ig Nacio]

Hi,

Thank you very much for your messages and all the valuable information you have shared with me : )!!!

Very kind regards,

Ig

[Vaughn]

I number the dark slides the same as the holders so they always go back into the same side of the same holder.

Interesting. My darkslides are never out of their holders long enough to get mixed with other holders.