jayzedkay
Member
On recently acquiring a 9x12 Donata, I bought some repro-reptums to go with the septumless plate-holders that came with the camera.
I bought them from Alternative Photography Supplies in poland, see link below.
www.alternativephotographicsupplies.com
At about 10 quid each, to me they are a no-brainer compared to the indefinate process of finding over-priced OEM septums,
invariably in poor condition, going through the process of making them useable
They took a while to get to the UK, I was about to contact APS to enquire about status, but then they were delivered.
ordered on the 17/05 and delivered on the 04/06, but not an issue to me. I suspect they could made to order?
Anyway, overall they look good, to me?
I do feel they need a little fetling, but not an issue, and possibly expected realistically.
Main thing is the corners, where the sheet is folded over with a mitre.
They 'flare' out a touch and some have a very small colleciton of coating that manifests into a drip/bump of paint.
I must stress that this is very minor, but does cause a tight fit when inserting the septum into the holder at those corners.
They could be left alone, but I think a minor flatting, possibly gentle filing to make the corners more square will pay dividends and result in a nice easy fit.
I have seen OEM septums, where the sheet is folded over, not in a mitre. But perpendicular to each other.
This would be an inprovement on the manufacturing process and make the corners better, more square, as they would be more metal to fold over resulting in a crisper fold.
Anyway, that is being super picky, they are absolutely fine as they are.
Also there is the odd minor bit of detritis in the coating which would likely prevent the film sliding in or scratch emuslsion at best. Maybe that doesn't matter right at the edge?
You can see the bit highlighted in the middle flare. This one was the worst/largest bit. It's just crap thats been introduced during the coating process?
Again no big deal, They're easily removed. I slid the corner of the dark-slide into the slot and kinda broke it out.
I intend to get a fold of fine sand-paper (wet'n'dry) and smooth off all the slots for film.
Other thing is that when the septum is fitted, due to the septum being held on the base and thinner than a plate.
The folded edge sits proud of the runner for the dark-slide.
This caused the dark-slide to butt against the septum, head-on and on some it could not be slid fully inserted.
Others you could kinda wiggle the slide and it would slip over the proud-edge.
I know with a film added, it would sit marginally lower by the thickness of the film and could prove enough to rectify the issue?
I did experiment and slightly bend the clip-edge that holds the septum in place down a little. This sorted it, but could be improved on?
Possibly a slither of somehting,1mm thick metal, plastic or even card could be adhered appropriately to the underside of those clips,
resulting in holding the septum in place a tad lower and the edge being at least level with the slide-runner.
They seem to fit in the holder well enough.
I don't have any film yet, but hopefully film fits within the septum itself OK.
So next stage is to replace the velvet-seal, the holder above is by far the best one.
The others are all quite poor condition, broken up and some loss of velvet.
Get a box of film and take some test shots.
I bought them from Alternative Photography Supplies in poland, see link below.

Negative insert (septum)9x12 cm > Szlachetna Fotografia
Negative insert (septum)9x12 cm Negative inserts are indispensable each time we want to use sheet film (as the ones made these days) in order to take pictures with the older type of photographic camera with film holders designed to take glass negtives. Th

At about 10 quid each, to me they are a no-brainer compared to the indefinate process of finding over-priced OEM septums,
invariably in poor condition, going through the process of making them useable
They took a while to get to the UK, I was about to contact APS to enquire about status, but then they were delivered.
ordered on the 17/05 and delivered on the 04/06, but not an issue to me. I suspect they could made to order?
Anyway, overall they look good, to me?
I do feel they need a little fetling, but not an issue, and possibly expected realistically.
Main thing is the corners, where the sheet is folded over with a mitre.
They 'flare' out a touch and some have a very small colleciton of coating that manifests into a drip/bump of paint.
I must stress that this is very minor, but does cause a tight fit when inserting the septum into the holder at those corners.
They could be left alone, but I think a minor flatting, possibly gentle filing to make the corners more square will pay dividends and result in a nice easy fit.
I have seen OEM septums, where the sheet is folded over, not in a mitre. But perpendicular to each other.
This would be an inprovement on the manufacturing process and make the corners better, more square, as they would be more metal to fold over resulting in a crisper fold.
Anyway, that is being super picky, they are absolutely fine as they are.
Also there is the odd minor bit of detritis in the coating which would likely prevent the film sliding in or scratch emuslsion at best. Maybe that doesn't matter right at the edge?
You can see the bit highlighted in the middle flare. This one was the worst/largest bit. It's just crap thats been introduced during the coating process?
Again no big deal, They're easily removed. I slid the corner of the dark-slide into the slot and kinda broke it out.
I intend to get a fold of fine sand-paper (wet'n'dry) and smooth off all the slots for film.
Other thing is that when the septum is fitted, due to the septum being held on the base and thinner than a plate.
The folded edge sits proud of the runner for the dark-slide.
This caused the dark-slide to butt against the septum, head-on and on some it could not be slid fully inserted.
Others you could kinda wiggle the slide and it would slip over the proud-edge.
I know with a film added, it would sit marginally lower by the thickness of the film and could prove enough to rectify the issue?
I did experiment and slightly bend the clip-edge that holds the septum in place down a little. This sorted it, but could be improved on?
Possibly a slither of somehting,1mm thick metal, plastic or even card could be adhered appropriately to the underside of those clips,
resulting in holding the septum in place a tad lower and the edge being at least level with the slide-runner.
They seem to fit in the holder well enough.
I don't have any film yet, but hopefully film fits within the septum itself OK.
So next stage is to replace the velvet-seal, the holder above is by far the best one.
The others are all quite poor condition, broken up and some loss of velvet.
Get a box of film and take some test shots.