Wearing powder free latex exam gloves during the film cutting surgery protects the film from finger prints and smudges. I try to keep the work area clean and do the cutting on a humid day for dust suppression. Cool dry air full of static is trouble. A cheap Friskars roller cutter works fine after you work out the measurements and do a little practice.
Here is the method taught to me by Jay Dusard for cutting down 8x10 to 4x10, it works fine for me. I use a cardboard template taped to my rolling cuter. I'm sure the same template will work for the guillotine cutter; you'll have to extera careful in the dark. First of all, the exact short dimension of 8x10 film is 7-15/16". Half of that is 3-31/32". If you happen to miscut an 8x10 sheet you will end up with with two unusable sheets-- one that won't go in the holder and one that will fall out of the guides. Here's what you need to make; Take a piece of cardstock about 6" x 11". Glue a strip 2"x 11" 4-ply mount board down along the left long edge of the card stock, leaving 3-15/16" of the card stock projecting to the right. Tape the template to the bed of your cutter so that the shoulder formed by the 4-ply is exactly 3-31/32" from the cutting edge. Cut another piece of 4-ply 3-1/2" x11"; you will use this on top of the film. Cutting; Place a clean sheet of paper under the cutter where the film will fall. In the dark place a sheet of 8x10 film, emulsion side down, on the template(blade should be up). Push left edge of film against 4-ply shoulder. Place hold-down piece on top of film, it should seat snugly against shoulder and not be riding up anywhere. Pat right edge of film to left, assuring that it is snug to the shoulder;the hold-down will asure that the film is not riding above the shoulder somewhere. CAREFULLY shear the film with the blade. Pick up the right half of the film, turn it over and at this point I use a small pair of sissors and clip a small piece of the upper right corner, Jay loads each sheet into his holders as he cuts them so he doesn't need to do this. Pick up the left half of the filmand turn it over. I cut a whole box of 25 sheets at one sitting and load into boxes. I haven't have any problems with this method, I have a lot of little corners I have cut off to clean up but so far I haven't loaded any of them with the film! Jay, being the fine fellow he is, gave me permission to post his method of film cutting, Jay Dusard can be reached at jbard@theriver.com Hope this helps
What 5x7 and/or 13x18 films are there left anyway, I've been using T- Max 100 only with two bath developers ? By the way I use an old and very nice Plaubel Peco Universal III 13x18 with a Durst 138 enlarger (which was a gift beeing not used )for making photopolymer engravings apart from an Ebony SV45 TE, a Leica m6 and a Kodak DC4800 digital snapshot camera that came with the full photoshop 6 for the price of the camera alone nearly. Well slightly out of the topic exept for the film and 5x7 which is a very fine fomat having better proportions in my wiew than 4x5.
Stephen, I too have considered consoladating my 4x5 and 810 systems into one. What really got me interested in this arrangement was Keith Canhams 5x7 metal MQ. The beauty in my eyes, you can attach his new 6x17 back, (due out in a few months) and have everything you need in one format, while not being that much larger than 4x5. Check out the specs on the MQ 5x7. Of course, the only real pain is cutting the film... but its a small price to pay for this smaller field kit, specially if space is very critical on long hikes. I am wondering at size prints you feel 4x5 becomes inadequate, or less sharp then you would like?
The only style of 5x7 film that will be hard to get is color negative. Everything else is available. Badger Graphics also now has Across 5x7.
steve simmons
I would like to take a moment to thank everyone for all the comments, suggestions, and recommendations you have so generously provided. You all have been very helpful.
This website has become a vital source of information for me. I live in isolation as a large format photographer and the only contact I have for my love of photography is here. The information and experiences recorded on this website is amazing and its value is immeasurable.
In my opinion this website is nothing less than a world class act.
Thanks again!
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