Loading 4X5 Film Holders

[octobarra]

Thank You for the Video! (and for Sacrificing your film) :)

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks octobarra

[porousman]

Another incredibly helpful video, saved me much pain!

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks porousman

[BerndtOtto]

Thanks a lot. Very helpfull !!!

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks BerndtOtto

[master777999]

Very great video! Thank you for the demonstrations.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks master777999

[peteb0yd]

Appreciate your sacrifice, thankyou

[coopersachs]

So helpful. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. I just got a 4x5 camera and this really taught me how to use film holders. Much appreciated.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks coopersachs 

[OptomisCrashdown]

can you load and unload the cartridges under a safe light? or are they too sensitive?

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

@OptomisCrashdown

If it is Back and White film yes, if it is color film there really is no safe light for color. I did buy a color safe light and it was so week I just turned lights anyway.

[vatchyo]

Thanks, this helped a lot!

[decurion99]

thank you so much!

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks decurion99

[louie2003louie]

Nice video. Thank you!!

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks.

[hmvmanuk]

I'm just about to start in 5x4 photography and this video is very helpful. One thing, though; do you clean out your film holders before loading them? If so, what do you use to do the cleaning? The dark slides on my holders, which I purchased used, have a lot of finger marks on them. Should I clean these off with a de-greasing agent? Thanks.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Interest question. I hold the 4X5 holders around the edges and I have done that for so long I forgot to say why, Film same way. It is to keep them clean from figure prints. I would use just a LITTLE alcohol and a soft cloth and repeat until their clean. But always test first, you would not want to take the paint off or melt the plastic. Thanks.

[hmvmanuk]

Thanks very much for your speedy reply. I'll probably use enamel paint thinners as I know this is ok on plastic models. As regards cleaning the insides of the film holders, would you recommend canned air or simply a blower brush and is there a technique for cleaning the felt light-trap?

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Paint thinner? Well make a test first. You could also use a very small amount of dish soap on a moist cloth and wipe it off with another moist clean cloth. Yes a can of air would be good to use on the insides and also a small clean pain brush.

[chrishahnphoto]

Extremely helpful video. I'm currently a photo major in college. I saved up a fair amount of money but currently can't decide between a Mamiya RB67 or a Graflex 4x5. I think your videos got me jonsing for a 4x5 now!

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

I think either camera would be a good idea. You will learn a lot about photography using a manual camera. Most of settings on my digital cameras are manual, I do use auto focus, but not all the time. I have another video you may like, it is called "A Gift". Thanks.

[Cgoodfella253]

great video brew. thanks

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

THANKS!

[thatbboyAli]

good video tHANX

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

THANKS!

[jazzclarinet2006]

Thank you so much for posting this. When I finally get my Graphic this video will prove invaluable. I like what you did showing the detail of the film as well, just one of the many reasons I want to do large format.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

I hope video helps. I have a number of 4X5 slides, and always when I look closely at them I see things I did not see when I was standing there. I drove around and up the back side of a mountain across from Salt Lake City UT to take a non-tourist picture of the Bingham Mine. Just remarkable, I did not see the train until I looked at the slides. Thanks.

[jppestana1]

A great help for the novice LF user. Nicely done.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks!

[fodera6]

Nice to-the-point tutorial. My friend let me borrow his Super Graphic 4x5 + Schneider 90mm f/6.8 Angulon and he didn't have time to show me around the camera. I figured out the camera without trouble but loading the film holders was a bit perplexing and this made it perfectly clear. Thanks!

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

I am glad it helped. Have fun with that camera!

[HD7100]

I also developed my own 2-1/4 slides taken with a Yashica twin lens and using Ektacolor film. If I remember right there was nine chemical steps to develop transparancies. Thanks for the video.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

I think that's right. Lots of steps and the temperature control was very critical.

[HD7100]

Very interesting to know that there is someone who still works with chemical photography. When I was in the army back in the 1960s I bought a 2-1/4x3-1/4 Speed Graphic and loaded my holders many times. I also had a multi film pack for it and also a 120 roll-back. I took many pictures with that camera and I developed and printed the film myself. I miss those days but I sure like my modern digital camera.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thats a very nice camera! I liked doing darkroom work but I dont miss the hours of work and maybe having no results. The control that you have with digital is astounding. It really amazes me every time I use PhotoShop. Thanks.

[jim874]

Hi Rick

hope all is well with you. PLEASE do a video on how you scanned the slide. I have a lot of trays of 35mm slides that I would love to scan, but my scanner is not set up for slides... and any attempt to scan them comes out pretty bad.

73

Jim

WA8SDF

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Hey Jim,

Thanks! The scanner I use is an Epson 4990. It scans paper or film. When I scan paper it uses a lamp in the bottom bed of the scanner. When I scan in film it uses a lamp in the lid or top of the scanner. So the light projects through the film.

Rick

[Hammondlover2]

I miss traditional photography. My mother keeps saying "digital is easier" but I still thinks traditional is better. Back in my first semester at college I did traditional B/W SLR stuff. We did everything from removing the film from the containers and placing them on the reels in pitch black, to developing them with the developer, bath, fixative etc. You wouldn't catch anybody dead with Fuji up here in Rochester though, LOL.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

LOL, up there Fuji would be the antichrist. I doubt that I will use my darkroom again and that is sad because it is great equipment and the cameras too. But I like digital. It is easier to get just usable results, which is all too common today. If you want great results, it still requires as much work if not more, but the results are absolutely predictable. It still surprises me that I was able to read the time on wrist watches in this video. "NIKON D200 and 24-120" Thanks

[mariopica]

VERY interesting. Thank you very much.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

THANKS!

[bonecrime]

At 2:25 I see some swedish text! :D

[joernone]

Rick,

I'm not a photog guy, but this was interesting.

That Fuji film is the greatest. During the 1980s I was in London, England and ran out of camera film. I went down into their subway (the Tube) to buy more. They have small stores down there. All they carried was Fuji Film. I'd never heard of it, but it was any port in a storm, so I bought a roll. When later developed, I was amazed at how great the pics looked. Been using it ever since.

Thanks,

John

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks John,

I have used lots of Fuji film and lots of Kodak film. Kodak actually left a promotional film box full of 120 roll PORTRA film on my door step. To bad I was not home because I would have talked them out of some 35mm too.

That sheet of film is from a container 3x8x12 full of Fuji 4X5 shots of the west. I need to do get busy and scan them all in. The detail is amazing. Rick

[coolbluelights]

And the detail is amazing too, you could never get that with a digital cam!

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

That sheet of film is from a container 3x8x12 full of 4X5 shots of the west. I need to do get busy and scan them all in. The detail is amazing. Thanks again.

[coolbluelights]

wow! I've always wanted to get into photo processing, I actually made a camera from a kit that used photographic paper as film, then you had to transfer it onto another piece of kodak paper and develop that to get the picture, I made the bathroom into a darkroom^^ it was alot of fun! enlargers are expensive though :( Also wow there are alot of laguages on that box! I recognized Dutch and German

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks. Yes it is a lot of fun and very interesting. Sounds like the camera you made was similar to early cameras and I bet it was fun to use. I always like watching the image appear in the developer tray. It always seemed like magic.

[Organgrinder010]

This is amazing because I had just processed 4x5 negatives last week! I had no idea you were into large format photography as well. Seems to be such a rare art these days.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

That is great that process your own film. That means you actually know something about photography. Digital has already surpassed film, pixels are now smaller than film grain. But I have noticed lots of digital commercial pictures that are not really good, however it is exposed correctly. I know people who have $8K digital cameras and the way they use them you can get the same results with a $200 cameras. It amazes me.

[Organgrinder010]

I completely agree. In my opinion there are way to many cameraphiles out there who care more for their equipment than the pictures they take. Digital is wonderful for instant results, but with nothing to lose, composition of shots are generally sloppy. With film, sometimes you only get one shot at it, and the pressure is on to get it right.

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Exactly!! Two many rely on the auto functions of the digital camera. I turned off all auto functions on my digital camera bodies. I do use the auto focus on my Nikon lens most of the time but not always. I only use RAW files for processing and the results are very good. You may be interested in this video "NIKON D200 and 24-120" I discovered I could read the time on the wrist watches.

[BadEditPro]

Fascinating!... I have never seen anybody do that process before. Can you get Kodachrome in sheets like that?

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

Thanks.

The information I found on the web indicates that 4X5 Kodachrome sheet film has not been available since the early 1950s. It was interesting to find out that Kodak made Kodachome in 8X10 sheet film and the ASA was 8. WOW!!!

[BadEditPro]

ASA 8? Yes, WOW! I asked about Kodachrome because i used to shoot a lot of that for 35mm slides. The resolution was always so good that it seemed logical to me that it would be available in sheet format. I'm surprised to learn that is not. :) JC

[AllAmericanFiveRadio]

I just looked in my freezer and I have a roll 35mm Kodachrome.