Film coming out of holders 4 x 5

When I attemped to put the dark side back, black side out, two

different times the film came out and was in the bellows. What

happened?

Hey, a question I can answer as a total rookie, as I did the same thing not long ago. You are probably misloading your holders, leaving the film along the rails for the darkslide. Grab one of those pieces of fogged film and load a holder in the light. When you load it, make sure you are sliding the film into the correct channel starting near the bottom of the holder. Just double check it in the light, practice a couple times, and it shouldn't happen again.

FWIW, when I load holders I only pull the darkslide out 1/2-1" or so, enough to open the trap. This seems to help the film find its way into the proper channels and if it does start out in the slots for the darkslide, you'll know it immediately. Practice in the light a few times and again with your eyes closed before your next loading session. Good luck!

The first time I used sheet film holders in the field, my

companions were greatly amused when I removed the holder from

the back standard and a sheet of 4x5 film gently floated

from the camera to the ground.

 

There is an article on www.butzi.net about loading large format

film holders that was helpful to me. After reading it carefully

I practised with a scrap sheet of film in the daylight until I

got it. Maybe it will be helpful....

I keep the thumb and idex of fingers of my left hand right on the beginning of the film track so I can feel the film slide right under. I really have to stretch (and use my middle finger) for 8x10's but it works every time

When loading film holders, after sliding the film into the tracks on both sides, and before closing the light trap,test to make sure the sheet of film is in the tracks by inserting a finger nail under the film at the round depressed cut-out at the bottom.Try to flick the film out.If it doesn't pop out, the film has been loaded properly into both tracks. Then, close the light trap at the bottom. The darkslide will slide in all the way, smoothly and easily,if the loading has been done correctly.

I second the fingernail thing.

I do dat too. In fact I do all of the above, loading with the darkslide only open slightly farther than the tracks, the finger and the nail things. Mido's are a whole nother animal tho ;-)

Hi, I am a newbie on this forum, and new with 4x5 photography.I find that this forum is a great resource for all sorts of info re: photography.

As a newcomer to 4x5 I expect to experience a long learning curve using the equipment, and to LF photography as well. This forum is helping me a lot.

This weekend I went and did a shoot for the first time, using used equipment, as I did not want to invest a lot of money up front. I experienced film popping out of the holder after exposing, and also jamming in the holder after the exposure, and re-inserting the dark slide. It is likely that I loaded the film incorrectly, but can the film sheet shrink substantially in cold weather, and so leave the track after the slide is removed? It was quite cold, about 0 degrees C. Also, should I buy new film holders rather than the used ones I have now?

Fred B

What John Kasaian said...

 

I have never had this happen in the two years I have been using LF and I am the second most ham-fisted guy on the planet. I attribute this to the fact that I leave the slides in most of the way: makes it almost impossible to misload the holder as far as getting the negative in the correct place goes (plenty of other ways for me to mess up though.... ;-)).

 

Fred: if your holders are light-tight they will be fine. Follow the suggestions above and you will not have that problem again. The only other cause I can think of is if your holders are metric and your film Imperial (or is it the other way around?).

 

Cheers,