DIY Film holder - ideas?

Hi,

Since I use my own pinhole camera but it's only one shot camera I would like to make film holder for two piece of paper. Did anyone have simple and cool project for film holders that block light correctly and can share here with me?
I would like to do it from wooden plywood. I have some ideas but I do not know how to block the light leaking when I put out dark slide.

I made a 14x17 film holder, but that wasn't simple and took a few modifications to make it light tight.
What size holder do you want?
4x5 would be cheaper and easier to just buy one. Other than that if you were using ply you could add some stoppers to prevent the dark slide from coming out. Still would need something to prevent light getting in. I buy felt from the craft store.

try a strip of felt folded over to create a teardrop shaped profile with the pointy end towards the opening of the darkslide slot and glued just along that edge.

mvons said:

Hi,

Since I use my own pinhole camera but it's only one shot camera I would like to make film holder for two piece of paper. Did anyone have simple and cool project for film holders that block light correctly and can share here with me?
I would like to do it from wooden plywood. I have some ideas but I do not know how to block the light leaking when I put out dark slide.

Click to expand...

hi mvons
as long as you know the Tdistance it might not be too hard... I have made big cameras and big film holders ( 11x14 )and small ones ( 4x5 ) out of foam core and black mat board and black masking tape. what I did was a 3 part holder ... the middle part you put the paper on then you folded over the mask to hold the paper down and on the other side you folded over another big piece. they were taped on the edges and bottom to assure light didn't sneak in, and a sheet of 1 ply mat board was cut to turn into a dark slide. I din't think you will have troubles with Tdistances with a pinhole camera, but that's the distance the ground glass is from the lens and the film / paper plane has to be the same distance for things to be in critical focus. have fun !
John

If you are going to leave the dark slide in (and have a good way to indicate exposed film without reversing the dark slide), then black velvet or felt should suffice, though the nap will wear and crush over time. Dark slide seals have to both protect the film when closed, and prevent light bouncing around the camera when on the camera and withdrawn.

Commercial film holders usually have at least one sprung side (using finger stock) to keep the light trap closed.

If you are working to the ANSI dimensions, there is not a lot of space between the camera back reference surface and the film to install a spring light trap. If you toss out standard compatibility, or want to make a really non-standard format, then you can make the dimensions whatever you like if the camera can handle it.

Leaving a large dark slide partially inserted risks damage, or having a breeze displace the holder. I do it with roll-film holders which are designed to work that way, but do not with 4x5 and up.