Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

[gary mulder]

Once I tested 60 4 x 5 film holders, linhof, fidelity, toyo, arca swiss, sinar, grafmatic, with a laser micrometer. About 45 where within ± 0,2 mm tolerance. The other 15 where up to 0,6 mm of. Strangely 5 of them where arca swiss examples. The other ones where equal shared.

[amansjeanphilippe]

hello
I use Linhof holder with sprimg loaded film presser and ejector.
it's one and half thicker than wood holder or fidelity but
film is well maintained
there no tape hinge but pivot screw
lightightnes is made by chicanes for the loading side and black felt on the dark slide side.
there are fully disassemblable for restoration (if screw mounted)
I use ten of them since... a quarter of century, may be the only good thing linhof products.
I use grafmatic too
I have a lot of fun with them used with graflex. It works well too and are easy to rebuilt.
J.Ph.

[Thingy]

Then there's always a Linhof Vacuum sheet holder which holds 3 sheets of 5x4 film and the vacuum ensures they are absolutely flat. Perfect for macrophotography I should imagine. The price tag is rather offputting however. A secondhand was sold on RW last year for over £600!

[amansjeanphilippe]

hello
vacuum holder are quite borring to use and rare...
in the same way, you have sinar single sheet holder, fully metal made and mad price...
My point of view is a good holder:
1) have to fix the sheet (that don't move, that don't do noise when you check the loaded holder)
2) have to respect the distance of image plan to film (so the ref is the from of the film and not the back....)
3) have to keep film reasonably flat...
4) have to be serviceable...

fidelity like holder are not good
linhof spring holder are very good
grafmatic holder are good
that's all

J.Ph.