How many is enough? I think I have more than 20? holders, but never go with less than two (4 shots), and usually not more than say, 6-8 holders (12-16 shots).
How many is enough? I think I have more than 20? holders, but never go with less than two (4 shots), and usually not more than say, 6-8 holders (12-16 shots).
I typically carry four film holders with me when I'm away from the car. There are likely another 6-8 in a bag in the car. I use padded cooler bags which my local Menard's hardware store was selling at a very good price some years ago at the end of the summer season; each one has a shoulder strap and carries four holders easily, six if you care to stuff them in. I fit two holders to a 2 1/2-gallon zip lock plastic baggie I buy at my local Spartan store.
On those rare occasions where I know I'm heading to a subject-rich environment, I've been known to carry a dozen holders in a soft-sided cooler bag slung over the shoulder opposite the one carrying the camera (I have an 8x10 B&J Grover monorail.) There's room for a couple of lenses (all I have,) plus the accessories. It's a lot of weight for a guy with a bum knee so I don't do it a lot, or if there's a lot of climbing, but with a dozen holders I've never run out of film in a single session. Frankly, I could likely get along with six to eight, so I'll say that half a dozen film holders is a good number. Your mileage may vary.
Mike
Politically, aerodynamically, and fashionably incorrect.
It is rare that I'll go anywhere with less than three holders, but five holders will fit in a zip lock bag so I'll most often take along a bag or two (5-10 holders/10-20 shots) and it is usually more than enough film for the day.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
Thanks, I think that a ziplock bag for all film holders, is a great idea.
My 8x10 B&J Grover, still needs a back and film holders, I have not found a back yet. I imagine/hope to find one, for parts, with ratty bellows on e-bay that will come with them...cheap! Any other ideas?
I've had good luck with the seal top (ziplock) pink anti static bags from staticbags.com. I use one bag for each holder. They are 4 mil and wear pretty well. On the website, the link is at the bottom of the left side panel of offerings. This site also sells small quantities-many others require a purchase of1000.
Comments concerning holders.
There is a slight difference in holders. In my large format class we did some testing a few years ago as a student was having intermittant focus issues, and while Fidelity/Lisco were good and some of the older brands such as Graflex/Kodak were OK, by far the best, in 8x10, were the Toyo and the ones from AWB(filmholders.com). Next the Fidelity.
It was amazing the variation in the placement of the septums. Often one side too close and the other too far from perfect for sharpest focus.
4x5 were even worse, but again the Toyo's were the most consistent and closest to perfect we could find. The Linhofs with the springloaded pressure plate were also excellent. We used a mill table and a precision caliper to measure the depth to the septum for the tests.
By the way, the Kodak Readyload and Fuji Quickload with their spring loaded pressure plates were also excellent in their final incarnations, when the film was available in that form. The Rightway with the numbers and the large plastic handles were the worst in 4x5.
Merle Deardorff had a collection of holders. He showed me the various differences in "Standard" as in the national bureau of standards and what others made. This was in the early 80s. I was lucky enough to buy around 50 Kodak holders. But these did not match the Ground glass frame on my Deardorff. I had to add thickness by about .020 thou to the frames pads and now everything is uniform. Deardorff did this as a service to customers in the 30s to the 60s. As I recall they used plastic Fidelity holders as a "standard" because they became very popular in the 60s.
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Thanks Rod, I'll keep that in mind while I am looking, probably mostly on e-bay. Appreciate the info.
2 hundredths of an inch??? How did you figure that out? It must have been a common problem. I would 'assume' that 0.02 in would be taken care of by DOF. Well, live and learn.
I know I would not have the ability to figure that out. ???trial and error???
Bill
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