Ready-Load Systems

[david_f._stein]

Anyone using these regularly? Preferred holder and why. Was this something the industry just gave up on. Seems like with refinement and practical pricing it held great promise.

[james___]

If you mean Kodak Readyloads yeah I use them and like them. They are

very convenient. James

[simon_gammelin]

There are many, many threads relating to Quickloads and Readyloads

under "Film and Holders" in the "Older Messages" section of this

website, and every time the question comes up it seems to start a

flame war between Kodak and Fuji partisans. I use hundreds of Kodak

Readyloads (mostly b&w) and just as many Fuji Quickloads (color) per

year without a problem (except the cost!). There have been endless

debates about which system is better; the Fuji system may be a better

design (albeit twice as wasteful from an environmental perspective)

but for b&w shooters (except those who go grey market with Neopan) and

compactness (i.e., when traveling overseas with a few hundred sheets)

Kodak has the edge. Whatever you use, please don't complain on this

forum if the film envelopes don't work flawlessly in anything but the

maker's own holders. In other words, use Readyload in Kodak's holder,

and use Quickload in Fuji's holder. Good

[simon_gammelin]

. . . luck, and one more note:

 

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Whichever company (Kodak or Fuji) is first to sell rapid loads in the

US with color negative film will get a huge market edge. Despite the

pleading of countless customers, Kodak STILL hasn't produced 160 neg

film in Readyload (tho B&H has listed it for sale for almost a year; I

talked to Kodak and they said "we still plan to eventually"), and Fuji

isn't marketing any color neg film in Quickload format here either. In

light of negative film's popularity for scanning and the booming

growth of film-to-digital processing, such sluggishness is quite

baffling. FWIW...

 

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ext

[ellis_vener_photography]

I use the Fuji Quickload system (holders and film) and have for

the past five to ten years but then 99% of my large format

photography is color transparency. I have had zero problems

with this system. I tried the Kodak Ready Load products, holders

and film but had a very high failure (film being fogged at at one

end) rate with the first three iterations of the system and so I

gave up on the Kodak Ready Load system as a viable tool.

Kodak has recently begun field trials of a new version of the

Ready Load system, supposedly a single sheet packet like the

Fuji Quickload and a vastly improved holder so this holds some

promise.<P>

Early last year I spoke with a Fuji Professional products rep and

he said they were going to be bringing out a Quickload version of

NPS or NPL. It may not be distributed in the US because of the

demand. Evidently (and you might want to take this with a grain

of salt) the Quickload production line is already running at full

capacity and Fuji's management was looking at the cost vs profit

of dedicating another production line to Quickload products.

[lloyd_chambers]

With regards to either system versus hand-loading film:

 

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I hike a lot with a backpack. A Readyload type system is essential,

both because of reduced bulk over film holders, and dust and sand

problems if you try to load in the field. Plus I like to shoot

pictures, not waste time loading and unloading film holders.

 

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This weekend I'm going on a 8-day photo workshop with Tom Till down

the Colorado river. Tom, who has shot 4 X 5 in the area for 35

years, feels that Readyload or Quickload is essential due to the

sand.

[sal_santamaura]

Ellis: more details please! Beyond fixing the fogging problems

(hopefully), does this new ReadyLoad system in field trials improve

film positioning at all? Also, has Kodak given any indication of when

it might hit the market? Thanks for sharing anything you can pry

loose from your contacts.

[william_marderness1]

I tried the Kodak Readyloads when I started with LF. They worked fine

for me. I never lost a sheet due to light leaks.<p>I stopped using

them after a few weeks, though. They cost too much, the film I wanted

to use was not available in readyload packets, and loading my own

holders was easy enough. Now, the readyload system seems gimmcky to

me.

[michael_kravit]

I just got back from a trip to New Mexico. I shot 60 Kodak T-Max 100

Readyload packets (120 sheets of film) using a Kodak Readyload

holder. This evening I finished processing the film. I had a minor

light leak in one packet, 50 packets were perfect.

 

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It is my feeling that a great majority of the problems described with

Readyloads are due to operator error.

 

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When I first started using them I had a 30-50% failure rate. I

eventually learned to remove the packets slowly and carefully. Since

that time I have had no more failures than I have had with film

holders.

 

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Travelling with the 4x5 throught the Southwest was a joy using the

Readyloads. I could not imagine using film holders on a trip of this

type.

 

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Good Luck

Mike

[julio_fernandez]

Quick and Ready Loads: One potential disadvantage to both is that

the pulled out sheet adds additional 'sail' area for the wind. A

floppy sheet attached to the camera and swinging about in a windy day

can spell unsharp pictures. This was a hint passed to me by a well

known landscape photographer. The fact remains that very sharp

landscape photos are taken with Quick and Ready films. See Jack

Dykinga's recent "Desert" book. Guess the remedy is: always carry an

umbrella, even in the desert.

[glenn_kroeger]

Mike:

 

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You said you shot 60 packets, 1 had a minor light leak and 50 were

perfect... what about the other 9? Did they fail?

[david_f._stein]

Thanks for the excellent responses (and, yes, I had read the

other stuff on the board.)

[ellis_vener_photography]

<I>"Quick and Ready Loads: One potential disadvantage to both

is that the pulled out sheet adds additional 'sail' area for the

wind. A floppy sheet attached to the camera and swinging about

in a windy day can spell unsharp pictures."</I> Possibly, but I've

never had it happen for me even when shooting in some very

windy locations like commercial airports. To be safe I some

thing lightly hold the jacket. Not so tight as to create a rigid "sail"

but just enough to absorb and minimize any possible vibration.

My instinct is that any condition that could cause the jacket to be

a source of unsharpness is also going to play havoc with an

extended bellows too.

[larry_huppert1]

The other situation where I've found quick/ready-loads don't work is

when photographing an interior shot into a mirror where the camera is

situated below the mirror (if your to the left or right of the mirror

it doesn't matter because you can always reverse the direction the

film pulls out by rotating the back). If your this close, the pulled-

out flap will end-up in the recorded photograph - you see it in your

Polaroids.

[brian_c._miller]

I started out with an older Polaroid holder, and Polaroid film on

sale. Then I found that Kodak is designed to work in the Polaroid

holder, and I bought some boxes of expired Kodak Readload, and never

had a failure. (Fuji also works in the Polaroid holder, right?)

[james___]

Be careful investing in a Polaroid holder thinking you can shoot

Readyloads in it. The Polaroid holder is designed for single sheet

Polaroid film and Readyloads are thicker because they contain two

sheets. You won't always be able to extract the packets from the

Polaroid holder without problems. To be safe and have a trouble free

system use the Readyload holder that was designed for the Readyload

system. James

[glenn_kroeger]

Ellis the soothsayer has triumphed again!

 

<p>

 

Here is the info on the new Readyload... supposedly they fit the Fuji

QL holder!

 

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http://www.kodak.com/global/en/professional/products/films/readyload/r

eadyloadMain.shtml

[glenn_kroeger]

Tmax films are conspicuously absent from the announcement of single

sheet ReadyLoad packets?

[pemongillo]

Not only is T-max not included, Kodak announced in their webpage that

double sheet readyloads will be discontinued ! Is T-max gone ?! I

have e-mailed kodak with this question and will report back with the

answer.