8x10 Film Holders...

[John Kasaian]

Another item that can really help is to lightly wax the dark slides----helps them to insert and draw easier. A spritz of Pledge on an old t-shirt works fine.

 

[Craig]

Thanks, I'll try a book bindery, I never though of that.

 

[Mongo]

I'll second John's recommendation on waxing the dark slides, although I just run the edges through a slab of beeswax and the buff them with an old t-shirt. I have nothing against Pledge...the beeswax just happened to be handy the first time I tried this, and it worked so well that I've never tried anything else. I re-wax the dark slides about once every three to four months and have had no problems with binding.

Like others here, I find the old black wooden Graflex holders to be a personal favorite. They're generally inexpensive, light, and I've not had one yet that needed a serious repair when I received it...I think I have ten of them. Just some re-taping and a thorough cleaning, and they've been good to go. I have some ancient Kodak holders (unpainted), but they're more difficult to repair and the failure rate is much higher than with the black Graflex holders.

 

[John Kasaian]

Onestopdown,

Just curious, what films do you use that are thinner than others? I know aerial film is pretty thin, but which commercially cut films should I suspect will cause a problem?

 

[cjarvis]

I'm a Graflex/Kodak wooden user. The style with the aluminum top and aluminum plenum. Light, cheap and most importantly in 8x10, they don't warp; they hold film flat.