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Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 10:53 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by Darwinean_John
Badgers have recommended Toyo film holders to me.
Any advice will be warmly welcomed.

Re: Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:06 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by timparkin
Darwinean_John wrote:Badgers have recommended Toyo film holders to me.
Any advice will be warmly welcomed.
I've heard Toyo are better but slightly heavier.. I've got Fidelity ones which were cheap off ebay (10 for £8 each)

Tim

Re: Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:20 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by jennym
I have Lisco and Fidelity holders and both are fine. If you buy used holders and you find the white strips are a bit manky or the pen won't come off, they clean up well with a spot of neat acetone.

Re: Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:38 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by IanG
jennym wrote:I have Lisco and Fidelity holders and both are fine. If you buy used holders and you find the white strips are a bit manky or the pen won't come off, they clean up well with a spot of neat acetone.
Try Isopropyl alcohol or meths first, acetone can attack the plastics of some holders.

It's usually possible to get excellent condition second-hand Double Dark-slides for less than £10 in the UK, it's work contacting companies like Bob Rigby, Robert White, Teamwork etc. Someone had a deal of 5 for £30 recently.

Ian

Re: Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:59 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by dave_whatever
IanG wrote:Someone had a deal of 5 for £30 recently.
Ian
Yep, that was peterwalnes. I got a set from him, its worth phoning cos I get the impression he has a fair few darkslides not listed on his site. Its a very good deal in comparison to Ffordes standard rate of about £9/10 each :shock: . Mifsuds also had some in at £7 each.

In terms of brands I've got some lisco/fidelity (basically identical) and also one fairly modern looking Toyo. The Toyo does look nicer but in all honest I doubt there's any meaningful difference in performance - these things don't have a very hard job to do.

Re: Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 9:22 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by dave_whatever
dave_whatever wrote:Mifsuds also had some in at £7 each
I've just noticed mifsuds are also listing a wista "filed" camera for sale. I can only assume this is a model that folds flat enough to fit in a ringbinder. :lol:

Re: Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 1:35 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by lostlandsuk
I like Toyos - they seem very well made and have been trouble free for me. The s/h ones I've bought also seem to have been fairly bomb-proof!
Phil

Re: Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 1:40 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by hmvmanuk
I got my used Toyo holders from Peter Walnes. They were £40 for 6 and were in very nice condition.

Gavin

Re: Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 2:36 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by Thingy
Just to be different*, I have both Toyo & Fidelity holders, but I prefer the Fidelity holders. Their dark slidey bit feels less flimsy than the Toyo ones! Also I've got used to the Fidelity ones and that circular dimple on the lower right hand side when loading. The Toyo ones have a dimple on the upper right hand side, which is a bit disconcerting. :twisted:

*I think the correct UKLFPG terminology for this is Parkinism! :wink: :lol:

Re: Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 2:42 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by lostlandsuk
I've not used Fidelity, but I went with Toyo because someone (can't remember who) recommended them . . . .
As for Toyo's bomb-proofness, I stood on a loaded and exposed one on a recent hill trip in my BIG boots - thought I'd damaged it, but apart from a few marks it was fine - there's a nice Vibram imprint in the slide though :$
Phil

Re: Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 1:43 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by Thingy
Robert White recommend the Toyo DDSs.

Re: Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 5:55 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by Sal Santamaura
Both my Lisco/Fidelity and Toyo 4x5 film holders (plastic dark slides) weigh 5.9 ounces.

I vastly prefer Toyo and have 10 purchased new more than a decade ago. However, since the manufacturer moved production out of Japan, the plastic used exudes an abominable stench. See these threads:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/ ... ht=reeking

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/ ... p?p=368638

As of today, still no change in my experimental results. Those three-year-old samples"airing" in the garage continue to smell as bad as they did when I posted about them in July, 2008.

Unless you can find some clean used Toyo holders and subject them to your own sniff test, I'd suggest buying new Fidelity holders:

https://www.badgergraphic.com/store/car ... ail&p=1264

They might operate less smoothly than Toyo, but at least one can stand to be near them. :) I purchased a couple of dozen recently since, as best I can determine, all Fidelity production has been shut down and when remaining stock is sold there will be no choice other than Toyo.

Re: Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 6:19 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by hmvmanuk
I've just tried the sniff test on my Toyo holders and there's no abominable stench from them. Mine are all plastic, including the dark slide. Five out of the six have the name "Toyo Cut Film Holder 4x5 inch Made in Japan" printed in blue but one has the legend "Toyo Cut Film Holder 4x5 Sakai Special Camera Mfg. Co. Ltd. Japan" moulded into the panel. This one has slight differences in the moulded ridges on the body and is made in a shinier plastic. Is that one of the ones made outside Japan? It still doesn't smell bad, though!

Gavin

Re: Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 6:39 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by Sal Santamaura
hmvmanuk wrote:I've just tried the sniff test on my Toyo holders and there's no abominable stench from them. Mine are all plastic, including the dark slide. Five out of the six have the name "Toyo Cut Film Holder 4x5 inch Made in Japan" printed in blue but one has the legend "Toyo Cut Film Holder 4x5 Sakai Special Camera Mfg. Co. Ltd. Japan" moulded into the panel. This one has slight differences in the moulded ridges on the body and is made in a shinier plastic. Is that one of the ones made outside Japan? It still doesn't smell bad, though!

Gavin
I suspect that either final assembly or simply packaging is still done in Japan to permit the "Made in Japan" marking. All the smelly new ones I've seen (4x5 and 8x10) were marked that way. I have no idea how to determine conclusively where a given sample was made other than the sniff test. If yours don't smell bad, use them and enjoy! They're what I'd use exclusively in that situation.

Re: Recommended 4x5 Film holders?

Posted: Sat Feb 06, 2010 5:18 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00
by Thingy
My 2 new Toyo's have no smell. They just "feel" flimsier. Perhaps you bought the Ecofriendly batch made with whale oil? ;)