Asian source for ULF Filmholders?

[John Jarosz]

In another thread, Kerry Thallman and others were discussing 4x10 filmholders and the possibility that those holders will be manufactured in Asia sometime in the future.

I'm contemplating dipping my toe into ULF in the future by converting a Kodak 8x10 2D to 8x20. I just got the donor camera. :-)

So my question for the gurus is: Does anyone think there enough of a ULF market (worldwide) for the Asian manufacturers to get into supplying holders? (or have inside information?) Filmholders are a showstopper right now for me, maybe in the future I can afford $475/holder, but not right now (I think one would need 3 double holders for this to be a reasonable setup). I can see myself fabricating everything but the holders. I don't think $475 @ for holders is unreasonable given the difficulty and US cost-of-living and the small volume of manufacturing. I'll end up paying that much when I pull the trigger, but the costs could come down with some mass production manufacturing.

Obviously this is a long term project, nothing is going to happen immediately.

I suppose standardization would become an issue at some point. Seems odd that we would be talking about dimensional standards for new filmholders at this point in time of photographic history.

Thanks

john jarosz

[Ted Harris]

John, as the other threads have noted there is no standardization in ULF holder sizing. Given the sizes and necessary tolerances we are dealing with I believe it is more a question of the variable costs for skilled labor than it is the costs for mass production. No matter what, IMO, there will always be a good bit of hand work involved.