Material for Replacement 4x5 Dark Slides

BobUK · Jan 31, 2025

I have a couple of second hand 4x5 cut film holders with crazed dark slides. Not obvious until held up close to a desk light.

My first choice for making replacement slides was Tufnol, Paxolin, Phenolic Resin boards. To me they are are one and the same thing. Available in black with 0.6mm thickness. The material seems to be relatively free of static. Problem is though it is sold in large sheets for around £80 a sheet. I could buy a new set of film holders for that sort of money.

have seen PVC replacement slides being sold from China. I wonder about static with PVC.

My Bronica uses brushed stainless steel as a slide on the film magazines. So I am wondering about using plain, unpainted brass sheet.

Could someone please recommend a sheet material suitable for making replacement dark slides that is relatively static free?
Thanks.

darkroommike · May 31, 2025

I came here to ask a similar question but let me throw out some thoughts.

Maybe you can find an offcut of your preferred material, or contact the distributor, they may have a full sheet with a bad area.
PVC slides, not too much money, could try one, maybe give it a good rubdown with an unscented, antistatic dryer sheet.
Brass would also work (and probably aluminum). Old photo books published formulas for blackening brass, and you could anodize aluminum.

Doremus Scudder · May 31, 2025

With used 4x5 holders being relatively cheap on the used market, especially ones that are in bad condition, it would seem prudent to check if one could find a replacement darkslide by buying holders in bad condition, but with good darkslides. Keep in mind that you'd need the same brand and model, since darkslides from different brands are often not interchangeable (Fidelity and Riteway holders made in the same factory at the same time might be an exception).

Heck, a few good used filmholders might be cheaper than buying a sheet of the appropriate material.

Best,

Doremus

reddesert · May 31, 2025

For 4x5, I agree with Doremus that used film holders and dark slides are fairly common.

DIY darkslides and materials are sometimes discussed for larger formats including larger than 8x10, where DIY may be the only option. Search for other threads about DIY darkslides, for ex https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/garolite-grades-for-darkslides.37528/
Be careful because there are grades of synthetic material / resin such as circuit board substrates that are not fully opaque, even in black.

RalphLambrecht · May 31, 2025

BobUK said:
I have a couple of second hand 4x5 cut film holders with crazed dark slides. Not obvious until held up close to a desk light.

My first choice for making replacement slides was Tufnol, Paxolin, Phenolic Resin boards. To me they are are one and the same thing. Available in black with 0.6mm thickness. The material seems to be relatively free of static. Problem is though it is sold in large sheets for around £80 a sheet. I could buy a new set of film holders for that sort of money.

have seen PVC replacement slides being sold from China. I wonder about static with PVC.

My Bronica uses brushed stainless steel as a slide on the film magazines. So I am wondering about using plain, unpainted brass sheet.

Could someone please recommend a sheet material suitable for making replacement dark slides that is relatively static free?
Thanks.

I used the plastic sheets you mentioned, and they worked fine. The replacement dark slides did too and saved a lot of labor and tools. However, I used an antistatic brush on both.

blee1996 · May 31, 2025

I would like to ask a related question: are there any opaque paint/tape that can be used to patch up a small crack? I had one 8x10 film holder with a cracked dark slide.

Maris · May 31, 2025

The 3M type 850 black polyester tape I use for patching camera bellows also patches cracked dark slides very nicely. The tape is very black, very thin, very strong, with a superb no-bleed, no-creep adhesive. With all those superlatives you'd expect it to be expensive. My roll cost $100 but it has been really useful to do lots of light-excluding photographic repairs.

campy51 · Jun 3, 2025

Used holders are probably the cheapest thing you buy for large format.

BobUK · Jun 3, 2025

Maris said:
The 3M type 850 black polyester tape I use for patching camera bellows also patches cracked dark slides very nicely. The tape is very black, very thin, very strong, with a superb no-bleed, no-creep adhesive. With all those superlatives you'd expect it to be expensive. My roll cost $100 but it has been really useful to do lots of light-excluding photographic repairs.

So far the cheapest price for the tape that I can find is around £200 British pounds!

There is some good information in these answers, and I am very grateful for every ones input.

Thank you all.

Patrick Robert James · Jun 3, 2025

You could use metal too. Studio Pro holders have metal dark slides for example. Aluminum is pretty inexpensive.

One thing to consider is if your dark slides are knackered, what is the condition of the rest of the holder? Might just be worth getting new holders.

Rod Klukas · Jun 6, 2025

Doremus Scudder said:
With used 4x5 holders being relatively cheap on the used market, especially ones that are in bad condition, it would seem prudent to check if one could find a replacement darkslide by buying holders in bad condition, but with good darkslides. Keep in mind that you'd need the same brand and model, since darkslides from different brands are often not interchangeable (Fidelity and Riteway holders made in the same factory at the same time might be an exception).

Heck, a few good used filmholders might be cheaper than buying a sheet of the appropriate material.

Best,

Doremus

Doremus,

The Riteway holders were never made in the Fidelity factory. However Lisco holders were made their for a while.

Also Riteway were the most inconsistent of the plastic holders. This is a real problem for use with Wide angle lenses.

Toyo were really fantastic, and Fidelity and Lisco quite good, as well.

blee1996 · Jun 6, 2025

Maris said:
The 3M type 850 black polyester tape I use for patching camera bellows also patches cracked dark slides very nicely. The tape is very black, very thin, very strong, with a superb no-bleed, no-creep adhesive. With all those superlatives you'd expect it to be expensive. My roll cost $100 but it has been really useful to do lots of light-excluding photographic repairs.

Thanks for the suggestion of 3M Tape type 850. I bought some locally for a good price, and will try it on the 8x10 cracked dark slide!

eli griggs · Jun 6, 2025

BobUK said:
I have a couple of second hand 4x5 cut film holders with crazed dark slides. Not obvious until held up close to a desk light.

My first choice for making replacement slides was Tufnol, Paxolin, Phenolic Resin boards. To me they are are one and the same thing. Available in black with 0.6mm thickness. The material seems to be relatively free of static. Problem is though it is sold in large sheets for around £80 a sheet. I could buy a new set of film holders for that sort of money.

have seen PVC replacement slides being sold from China. I wonder about static with PVC.

My Bronica uses brushed stainless steel as a slide on the film magazines. So I am wondering about using plain, unpainted brass sheet.

Could someone please recommend a sheet material suitable for making replacement dark slides that is relatively static free?
Thanks.

Brass blackened well with "Liver of Sulfur" should work well and finding it in the correct thickness should be easy.

IMO

AERO · Jun 7, 2025

Modellers plastic sheet is available in various A4 thpcknesses from Model Shops for slides. Cut it with craft knife/scalpel.

Doremus Scudder · Jun 7, 2025

Rod Klukas said:
Doremus,

The Riteway holders were never made in the Fidelity factory. However Lisco holders were made their for a while.

Also Riteway were the most inconsistent of the plastic holders. This is a real problem for use with Wide angle lenses.

Toyo were really fantastic, and Fidelity and Lisco quite good, as well.

Rod,

I'm obviously confusing Lisco with Riteway. Thanks for the correction. FWIW, I have Lisco, Fidelity, Fidelity Elite, Riteway, Graflex (wooden) and some other off-brands of holders. They all work just fine as long as they are in good working order. I've never experienced an issue with Riteway holders and short lenses. Could you elaborate a bit?

Best,

Doremus

Rod Klukas · Jun 11, 2025

850 Scotch tape in Black is an excellent tape to repair many things on holders and Bellows, and perhps cameras.

Rod

Rod Klukas · 2025-08-16T15:08:09-0400

Maris said:
The 3M type 850 black polyester tape I use for patching camera bellows also patches cracked dark slides very nicely. The tape is very black, very thin, very strong, with a superb no-bleed, no-creep adhesive. With all those superlatives you'd expect it to be expensive. My roll cost $100 but it has been really useful to do lots of light-excluding photographic repairs.

Maris,

Herschel also gave us the terms: Negative and Positive.

Material for Replacement 4x5 Dark Slides

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