As my readyloads dwindle...

[Gunfleet]

I wonder if anyone has tried reloading them? Of course, first you've go to get the packets back from the processor. Crazy I know, but... I'd just much rather use a readyload than a fidelity slide.

 

[wildbill]

Sure they have. Is it worth the time/effort over loading a holder?

 

[keithwms]

Not crazy at all. Go for it and let us know if it works!

 

[Gunfleet]

I know. What a fuss. But they're lighter, and all the fiddling about is at home in a warm darkroom, with little fiddling on a frozen hillside. We're not all lucky enough to live in sunny LA!

 

[keithwms]

If you become adept at it, I wouldn't be surprised if you could make a mint loading them for people with all manner of interesting films I adore them for travel. After shooting a few packs of 8x10 polaroid and seeing how clever that system is/was, I was even thinking about adapting the ready/quickload idea for larger sizes like 5x7.

 

[DREW WILEY]

How on earth can anyone reload them? Now that's a Houdini act if there ever was one! Buy up what
you can find, freeze it, and after that, it's going to be a film tent.

 

[keithwms]

Actually Drew I did reload a fuji quickload just for fun, and form that one experiment that I determined that the only tricky part is going to be the clips. I wrote to Mr. Fuji politely asking if they could sell me some fresh clips but alas they didn't respond. If you can get clips or re-use the old ones then you're set, the rest is easy. There is a little adhesive patch that could probably be subbed for some double stick tape or rice glue or whatever.

You can make these things from scratch, really. Surprised a business hasn't popped up to make use of all those quick/readyload holders.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Congrats Keith. How many did you do, and how much dust and light leaks did you get? It's about fifty times easier just to load a conventional holder. The closest thing to a halfway house were the
various lightwt holders made by Mido, and even these are prone to leaks. I too am annoyed by the
disappearance of Quickloads and Readyloads, but only used them on longer backpacks anyway,
and still have enough for one more trip. But the last thing I need is to come back from a week of
lugging across the canyons and over the passes and have wasted shots due to film flaws. Reliability
is even more important than saving weight.

 

[keithwms]

Well, you know what Drew, only those who innovate are rewarded with new capabilities.

 

[DREW WILEY]

Keith - I innovated enough to make a Quick/Ready filmholder more reliable than any Fuji or Kodak sold, and that holds the film flatter too. I have entire darkrooms filled personally built custom equipment. So I'm one of last folks you'd want to accuse of failing to innovate. But reloading old potentially linty paper sleeves hardly seems like a worthy venture. There are several people attempting to find new solutions, but it isn't all that easy, much less realistic if one is trying to make a buck. If you just want something reloadable with any kind of film, it was invented way back -
try looking for the older thin-style Mido sleeve system.

 

[keithwms]

Well if you have it then why not sell it!!! A lot of people have want and need...

I just really don't understand why you assume it isn't worth doing, Drew. Just look at the price differential between "ordinary" sheets and the ready/quickloads. So then you basically have a paper sleeve and the time it takes to load them. Let's see, you do one per hour and you're already making minimum wage

Anyway I like the quickload system, it is brutally simple. Very hard to see where one could go wrong.

 

[Renato Tonelli]

I think the MIDO is a pretty good idea and it can be loaded with your choice of emulsion. I wish I could find one for 5x7.

 

[DREW WILEY]

The Mido II system was briefly made in 5x7 and even 8x10, but not the previous Mido sleeve system.
The sleeves were lighter but harder to load. I was also a bit suspicious of the vinyl of the sleeves
outgassing, but haven't heard actual complaints from anyone still using them. I sold mine and kept
only my II-style 4X5 holders. Nowadays its incredibly difficult to break even on the patent for some
niche product like this. I see clever start-up gadgetry all the time which isn't realistic to mass produce, especially once some overhead is factored in. The problem with a mass produced system
like Quickloads and Readloads is that you also need a real industrial cleanroom setup. Too bad that
Fuji can't just pick up where they left off; but right now they're probably trying to figure out which
LF films to kill off outright, not revive.