Film holder manufacturers

Bruce Watson · Aug 15, 2006

Who are the volume manufacturers of film holders these days, and where are they located? For that matter, what are the correct company names?

The only company I've been able to find is Fidelity Manufacturing Co. in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

What happened to Lisco, Riteway, Elite, and Regal? All gone? Are there any others left?

ineffablething · Aug 15, 2006

The shop that produces Lisco, Riteway, and Fidelity used to be located right next to Calumet in Los Angeles. Calumet owns the company. It was essentially a one man operation. That gentleman (whose name escapes me right now) retired a few months ago. That cast the whole operation into jeopardy. The word from my contacts at Calumet is that they will no longer be producing large format film holders. Kind of a bummer to say the least.... Again, this is hearsay from my friends who work at Calumet, but they have told me to stock up....

W.

Bruce Watson said:
Who are the volume manufacturers of film holders these days, and where are they located? For that matter, what are the correct company names?

The only company I've been able to find is Fidelity Manufacturing Co. in Los Angeles, CA, USA.

What happened to Lisco, Riteway, Elite, and Regal? All gone? Are there any others left?

Michael Kadillak · Aug 15, 2006

I use Toyo holders in 4x5 and 8x10 and find them very well made albeit a bit pricey. To bad they do not make them in 5x7 as I would stock up on these as well.

Capocheny · Aug 15, 2006

Bruce,

There's a company called, AW Bent, that makes large format film holders... I'll have to dig out the proper name and address later on.

Will post it here.

Cheers

TheFlyingCamera · Aug 15, 2006

Cacopheny - do you mean AW Brubaker (AWB)? He specializes in very finely handcrafted wood film holders for ULF sizes. Same with S&S film holders. Their film holders are quite pricey, because they are hand and custom made. Worth it no doubt, but still pricey.

Bruce Watson · Aug 15, 2006

ineffablething said:
The shop that produces Lisco, Riteway, and Fidelity used to be located right next to Calumet in Los Angeles. Calumet owns the company. It was essentially a one man operation. That gentleman (whose name escapes me right now) retired a few months ago. That cast the whole operation into jeopardy. The word from my contacts at Calumet is that they will no longer be producing large format film holders. Kind of a bummer to say the least.... Again, this is hearsay from my friends who work at Calumet, but they have told me to stock up...

Oh, ouch. I had a feeling that there was just the one company making all the (commercial) film holders. And now that one is leaving the field. That answers one question anyway.

Capocheny · Aug 15, 2006

TheFlyingCamera said:
Cacopheny - do you mean AW Brubaker (AWB)? He specializes in very finely handcrafted wood film holders for ULF sizes. Same with S&S film holders. Their film holders are quite pricey, because they are hand and custom made. Worth it no doubt, but still pricey.

Yes, as a matter of fact, you hit the nail on the head. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have his website in my bookmarks any longer.

All I can say is that AW is a very, very busy fellow but he does produce a gorgeous product from the 2 that I've seen.

So, if you have the website address, would you kindly post it for Bruce?

Thanks.

Cheers

JG Motamedi · Aug 15, 2006

AWB: http://filmholders.com/

Oren Grad · Aug 15, 2006

Bruce Watson said:
Oh, ouch. I had a feeling that there was just the one company making all the (commercial) film holders. And now that one is leaving the field. That answers one question anyway.

Bruce, the Toyo 4x5 and 8x10 holders may be manufactured by someone other than Fidelity - whether it's Sakai itself, I don't know.

raucousimages · Aug 15, 2006

I understand that Sakai Special Camera Co. Has the Toyo film holders made by a sub-contractor in Japan. Basicly a small one man shop with a couple of part time assistants. Sounds like what we had here. I had no idea the U.S. brands were all under one operation.

raucousimages · Aug 15, 2006

The good news is that we can still get 5X7 and 8X10 from Sinar. $352.50 and $564.50 EACH! I am glad I held on to my old Alkon holders.

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