Prepping Quickloads for development

[phaedrus]

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to large format photography, so forgive the dumb questions. I
have a Fuji Quickload II holder and lots of 4X5" Acros film in Quickload
packs on the way from the supplier, and while I can imagine using them in
the field to make exposures, I can't for the life of me imagine how you get
the film out of the envelope for development. Is a peel-off affair? How do
you avoid putting kinks in the film? Do you simply cut off the plastic parts
at either end before developing? I have a developing tank that stands 12
films on edge.
Thanks for any advice that helps avoid wasting film,

Phaedrus

[Eric Biggerstaff]

It is easy. In a dark room, pull the end clip off with a sharp "jerk", it should pop right off. The film will then slide out the open end. The plastic parts at either end will peel off and will leave you with a nice sheet of film ready to process. It only takes a few seconds per sheet to complete the process.

Good luck and have fun, it is a great film.

[darr]

Phaedrus,

Quickloads peel apart at the red arrows indicated in the scan. These areas can easily be found in the dark since there is a ridge where the film and plastic meet. FWIW, I prep the film for development in my darkroom as follows:

1. pop the bottom metal strip off
2. slide the film out of the envelope
3. locate top part of Quickload where film and plastic meet and separate by slowly pulling apart.
4. locate bottom part of Quickload where film and plastic meet and separate; this is also where the film notches are easily located after the film parts have been separated.
5. I load them into Jobo tanks and develop using D76 or Illford DD-X.

[Ralph Barker]

As mentioned, the metal clip comes off fairly easily - slipping a thumb nail under the edge makes it even easier. You might, however, find it convenient to leave the clip on initially, and just pull the whole film/tab assembly from the paper sleave. The plastic attachment tabs are sort of peeled from the film as shown in the attached. (All in the dark, of course.)

[phaedrus]

Thanks folks, that looks easy!
Phaedrus

[Mike H.]

Another thing you might try is to "sacrifice" a single readyload/quickload to education. Doesn't cost THAT much to learn from it. Take one and, in normal room light where you can see exactly what is going on, apply all the instructions you were given above. Then save it so you can re-educate yourself again in the future if you have to refresh your memory. Works great.