What do I have here (4X5 stuff)

Larry the sailor

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Last month I bought up a big pile of darkroom/photography stuff.
Sorting through it I found a couple of film backs. 1st one is pretty easy to ID as a 6X7 120 roll film back.
It had a layer of felt under a layer of "mole skin" stuck to it which pretty well just fell off leaving a bit of flaky adhesive residue. Looks like it will clean off OK.







The other back is labeled as a "Pack Film Adapter" so my only guess is for Polaroid type instant film but I have no real idea.



This the dark slide end and it latches here to hinge open.


Inside




Since I'm about 6 months or so out from making the move into LF I'm planning on keeping the roll film back. The 2nd one is interesting but is there even anyone making film that will work in it?
 
OP
OP

Larry the sailor

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I kind of figure the pack film holder was a paper weight.
Until I found this stuff I didn't know that Singer had been involved in Photography though. Kind of figures since they had their finger in just about anything to make a buck.
 

shutterfinger

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Folmer & Schwing (NYC), 1887.

Folmer & Schwing Mfg. Co. (NYC), 1890.

Folmer & Schwing Mfg. Co. of New York, 1903.

Folmer & Schwing Co., Rochester (EKC), 1905.

Folmer & Schwing Div. of EKC, 1907.

Folmer & Schwing Dept. of EKC, 1917.

Folmer-Graflex Corp., 1926.
Graflex, Inc., 1945.
Graflex, Division of General Precision Equipment Corp. late 1940's or early 1950's
Graflex, Singer Division 1968 or 1969
Ceased production 1973.
 
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Larry the sailor

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I did some more digging.
Wikipedia shows these dates

Years Manufacturer
1887–1904 Folmer & Schwing Manufacturing Co. of New York, NY
1905–1907 Folmer & Schwing Co., Rochester, NY
1907–1927 Folmer & Schwing Div., Eastman Kodak Co. Rochester, NY
1928–1946 Folmer Graflex Corp., Rochester, NY
1946–1955 Graflex Inc., Rochester, NY
1956–1968 Graflex Inc., Div. General Precision Equipment, Rochester, NY
1968–1973 Graflex Inc., Div. Singer Corporation
1973 Tooling bought by Toyo Co.

This kind of stuff is always interesting to me. I just hadn't stuck my toe into this end of the photography pool till recently.
I do appreciate the link you posted, lots of interesting stuff there.
 

David Lindquist

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shutterfinger

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David Lindquist said:
I'm pretty sure I used in date Kodak film pack as late as fall 1976, I'll see if I can confirm that.
David
Click to expand...
I stand corrected. My Kodak Professional Photoguide first edition, first 1981 printing shows Tri-X Pan, Royal Pan, Plus-X Pan, available in 523 packs. 523 packs have 12 sheets of film. I can find no end of production date listed anywhere. Wiki states it ended when the last trained employee that loaded the packs retired in the 1980's but I take that with a big grain of salt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_format 5xx is the various types of film packs and all but 523 have end dates.
 

Jim Noel

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David Lindquist said:
I'm pretty sure I used in date Kodak film pack as late as fall 1976, I'll see if I can confirm that.
David
Click to expand...
I see no reason that wouldn't be true. I have a few film packs in my freezer which went out of date i Dec 1976.
 

bdial

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I've heard that some people mod the film pack adaptors for doing wet plate work. Other than that they are pretty much useless, though many ebay sellers don't seem to think so.

FWIW, the last time I bought a new film pack was circa 1974. They were quite handy in that you could get 16 exposures in the space of one holder, but the film was a bit of a PITA to deal with since it didn't fit in standard developing hangers nor in standard dimension negative carriers.
 

Jim Jones

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The film pack holder might make an interesting photo frame for old-timers. Back in the 1940s I used contact printing frames for this.
 

Alan Gales

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Graphic pack film holder- pack film was discontinued in 1971- conversation piece- display item- base for a modification- paper weight? pixs 4 said:
Lately in the U.S. they are great for chucking at politician's heads.
Click to expand...
 

David Lindquist

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Thank you for this. I did check and found that I did use Tri-X film pack in the fall of 1976. I liked using film pack quite a lot but at the time it seemed pricey to me. About that time I went to using Super-XX so fall of 1976 was probably the last time I used film pack. I have some recollection of seeing years ago, probably on one of the rec.crafts. photo groups, that story about how the retirement of the last person who knew how to assemble the packs resulted in the end of production.
David
 
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