5x7 film holders

Curt · Mar 10, 2008

Is it me or are 5x7 film holders getting harder and harder to find? I was looking for three and found that most were the wood variety with metal tops. I couldn't find any Fidelity plastic newer models. At that point I searched though all of my trunks and found four more I had hidden away. I have 20 of the newer Fidelity holders and a bunch of nice wood and metal holders, older ones. I think that this number is going to just fine but was surprised at the cost of the very few still out there for sale. I know that Badger has Shen Hao 5x7 holders at $66.00 for those who need to buy immediately, I was looking at bidding but it's too thin. I guess if I were starting I would have to buy 6 or 10 of the Shen Hao wood holders, I'm luck to have the holders I have, it makes it harder for someone to start in 5x7 I imagine with the lack of holders and the new ones being a bit higher.

Curt

photomc · Mar 10, 2008

Curt, you are correct they have become a bit harder to find in the past year. There has been quite a bit of discussion about 'new' holders coming from Fotoman, along with the whole plate (WP) size. Last I heard, the new holders were being tested, but check the Dead Link Removed on Fotoman's site for the most recent information. Good luck, I was lucky to find 6 new Fidelity 5x7 holders at a local store.

Nick Zentena · Mar 10, 2008

I found a bunch from KEH when I stopped looking. They get some every so often and they sell for very reasonable prices. I think the highest I paid was $6 per. Not the latest models but good quality older users.

TheFlyingCamera · Mar 10, 2008

There are now new Shen-Hao made wood 5x7 holders available. I have a dozen of them now; they have displaced my old plastic and my older wooden holders entirely. Badger Graphic has them; they are approximately $70 each. Not cheap, but they are new; they are under warranty; and unlike the plastic ones, the light trap for the darkslide is accessible via four screws, so when (not if, but when) the light traps wear out, they can be replaced and rebuilt.

BradS · Mar 10, 2008

yeah, I think that all the hype about 5x7 holders is just that...hype. I have had no trouble finding and buying modern plastic holders in decent condition for reasonable prices. Ignore ebay and all the other sources of on-line hype and hysteria. Check with well established reputable, local camera stores that cater to professionals. Often they have some stashed away and are happy to get them out of inventory.

Dan Williams · Mar 10, 2008

I just searched for "Film Holders" on ebay and came up with quite a few 5x7 but. Judging from the prices they are going for, the sellers seem to be pretty proud of them.

Dan

Justin Cormack · Mar 10, 2008

In the UK I have only found half plate not 5x7 - its a bit annoying, as there are only a very small number of films available in half plate. And I only have 2 holders. Metric sizes also occasionally available, but film even harder to get than half plate. I would really like to be able to shoot Ilford film in 5x7. I use Acros shipped from Japan (which is not available in 5x7).

PHOTOTONE · Mar 16, 2008

The older wooden 5x7 holders can work just fine. I have and use plenty of them, and sometimes I have to rebuild them, including putting in new felt for the traps, but with a putty knife one can usually pry up the wood surrounding that end of the holder and then glue it back in place. The old glue often will let go with very little pressure. Also, some brands of older 5x7 holders had metal plates retained with screws over the light traps, rather than glued wood. On older Agfa-Ansco holders the light trap felt and spring metal centers are removable from the end of the film holder by removing two screws. You can gently pry the whole thing out, replace the felt, then work it back in.

Don Dudenbostel · Apr 12, 2008

I just received a dozen new Shen Hao holders a week ago. After examining them closely I am a quite disappointed in them. First of all the wood is very soft and two of the holders have lost part of the light trap that engages in the grove in the film back. IMO the wood is much too soft for film holders and will easily be damaged. The grain of the wood was such that it was not strong enough in the more delicate areas. Second and more important is I see a warp in the wood where the slode goes in and the trap is located. When I insert them in my Canyham back they seat in the middle but not quite at the sides. This would allow light to enter and fog the film from the sides and trap. The wood on the trap end where the slide enters is quite thin and flexes easily. Third the grooves where the film slides when loading is rouch in a number of the holders. A couple were quite hard to load.
The wood looks and feels like pine which is too soft for durability. I don't understand why they didn't use something like maple or walnut and possibly use a metal piece where the felt trap is located with a metal bead that would engage with the groove in the camera back.

Sal Santamaura · Apr 12, 2008

Don Dudenbostel said:
I just received a dozen new Shen Hao holders a week ago. After examining them closely I am a quite disappointed in them...

My suggestion is to return them and order 5x7 holders from Chamonix. Hugo Zhang sent me a couple of Chamonix 5x7 holders for evaluation. After examining them (including disassembly to confirm double light traps) and making some pictures with them, I concluded they are the finest sheet film holders made today. They are exquisite in both form and function, besting even my Lotus holders. As a result, I ordered 14 Chamonix 6 1/2 x 8 1/2 holders, and will probably purchase some in 5x7 too when my finances recover.

Chamonix 5x7 holders cost approximately twice what Shen Hao 5x7 holders sell for. In my opinion, based on your description of Shen Hao's holders, as well as similar comments others have posted about them, Chamonix holders are definitely worth the difference.

Don Dudenbostel · Apr 12, 2008

Sal:
Thanks for the information. I have somewhere around 20 Lisco and Fidelity that are fine but fear that they will give out one day and leave me without holders. I've been using some of them for nearly 40 years now and have some serious wear on some. I may add a few of the Chamonix from time to time and slowly put the old holders back in storage.

jimgalli · Apr 16, 2008

Scratching my head trying to figure out which virus rides along inside every wooden holder? Aren't the new ones from Shen wood? You'd think they carried Leprosy. Since 5X7 holders are now nearly extinct I'll happily trade 5 5X7 holders for 2 6 1/2 X 8 1/2 FILM holders. Wood is OK.

dpurdy · Apr 16, 2008

One of the good things about camera swap meets. I got 15 lisco 5x7 holders for a buck each. Of course thas was probably 5 years ago.
Dennis

Don Dudenbostel · Apr 17, 2008

Seems like problems come up no matter how simple the solution. I sent the Shen Hao holders back to Badger without a hitch. Jeff is a great guy and made no fuss about refund. I deceided to buy some more older wood holders and take my chances and rebuild the ones I could. I discovered Eastman holders could easily be rebuilt if needed so I purchased a quantity of them to find they won't seat in my Canham. The ridge on the holder is about 1/16" nearer the slide side of the holder. The Canham tolerences are much tighter in this regard than my Sinar and they simply won't seat. It looks like I will need to get the groove in the trap enlarged about 1/16" amd then they will work.

freygr · Apr 18, 2008

Don Dudenbostel said:
Seems like problems come up no matter how simple the solution. I sent the Shen Hao holders back to Badger without a hitch. Jeff is a great guy and made no fuss about refund. I deceided to buy some more older wood holders and take my chances and rebuild the ones I could. I discovered Eastman holders could easily be rebuilt if needed so I purchased a quantity of them to find they won't seat in my Canham. The ridge on the holder is about 1/16" nearer the slide side of the holder. The Canham tolerences are much tighter in this regard than my Sinar and they simply won't seat. It looks like I will need to get the groove in the trap enlarged about 1/16" amd then they will work.

If I were you I would look for a back to use with the Eastman Holders as by enlarging the the light trap could cause light leaks!

Gordon

Don Dudenbostel · Apr 19, 2008

freygr said:
If I were you I would look for a back to use with the Eastman Holders as by enlarging the the light trap could cause light leaks!

Gordon

There's about 5/8 inch extra wood forward of the trap in the back. it only needs to be enlarged by 1/16 inch roughly. this will bring it to about the same size groove as my sinar. I can't imagine this causing light leaks. IMO the back was either improperly grooved or the tolerences are just too close. This is one thing I've noticed about Canham. I ordered one of the Linhof metal adapters made by Canham so I can use my Linhof boards on the wood 5x7. The tolerences on the adapter are so close that some of my Linhof boards fit, some fit very tight and some wil not fir at all. Some snap in but I have to use an exacto blade to wedge between the board and the adapter to get the lens off. Tolerences IMO are just a little too tight and when the weather warms up I might not be able to get any of my boards to fit the adapter. Anyway, in any case there will still be about a half inch of wood between the film and light when I enlarge the groove. I figure sinar knew what they were doing when they designed their back and I've had no problems for nearly 40 years.

photomc · Apr 19, 2008

Don, have you contacted Keith about the holders not fitting? From what I have heard, he would be more than happy to help solve the issue, I think.

Curt · Jun 19, 2010

PHOTOTONE said:
The older wooden 5x7 holders can work just fine. I have and use plenty of them, and sometimes I have to rebuild them, including putting in new felt for the traps, but with a putty knife one can usually pry up the wood surrounding that end of the holder and then glue it back in place. The old glue often will let go with very little pressure. Also, some brands of older 5x7 holders had metal plates retained with screws over the light traps, rather than glued wood. On older Agfa-Ansco holders the light trap felt and spring metal centers are removable from the end of the film holder by removing two screws. You can gently pry the whole thing out, replace the felt, then work it back in.

It's interesting to reread this thread I started a couple of years ago. I recently decided to look at some of the old wood 5x7 film holders and one I had drilled out the rivets and upon inspection found that the felt was no longer folded around the brass on one side. If the locking screws are taken out the end will come off and the entire brass/felt plate will come out for fix or replace. Since the brass has been sitting for who knows how long with the slide in I found that it only needed to be bent outward a bit.

I also noted that some old wood holders actually had screws and not rivets. So the chronology was probably screws, rivets, then plastic fusion. The inside of the wood holders can be as clean as the plastic ones. The slides appear to be made of the same material, new or old. The one constant. There was a deviation to plastic and some had metal slides but the majority have slides that I believe is Garolite.

With the new holders coming from China I see that the top plates are again fastened with screws. It would appear that the older design is making its way to the newer holders. The price of course is a pain in the wallet.

Curt · Jun 19, 2010

jimgalli said:
Scratching my head trying to figure out which virus rides along inside every wooden holder? Aren't the new ones from Shen wood? You'd think they carried Leprosy. Since 5X7 holders are now nearly extinct I'll happily trade 5 5X7 holders for 2 6 1/2 X 8 1/2 FILM holders. Wood is OK.

Jim, you are correct, there seems to be an attitude toward the wood holders. I've found that they can be a good find. Mine have metal septum's and Garolite slides. The wood that was used to make them was a superior choice and none I have are warped. Some of the black stain has rubbed off and there might be a need to check the felt but considering the inability to repair the plastic models I see the wood models as a plus.

Curt

5x7 film holders

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