Novice question...Film loading???

[photobackpacker]

Joey,

It seems that I am always loading my film holders when I am dead tired or at "Oh-Dark-Thirty" before I am truely awake. To help avoid mistakes, I have always done the process in exactly the same way.

When I slide the film into the holder I have the holder oriented left to right with the dark slide on my left. As I slide the film in, I move my index finger to the notch (which in this orientation must be in the lower right corner) to push the sheet in the last few inches. This accomplishes 2 things -

1. You gain a little more grip against your finger tip to help avoid touching the emulsion, and
2. Even an a brain-dead state, you will sense that something is not right if the notch is not there. This may save you from a mis-loaded holder.

For what it is worth

[Dug]

As an aside...you should have seen the looks I got at my son's Little League game last night, when I dragged out the Graphic...

Little kids are now of the age where some do not know about film cameras. Last weekend I took some shots of a friend's 6 yo daughter (getting ready to go river rafting in a life jacket and bunny slippers). After taking the shots, she looked at the back of my Yashica T4 Super to look at the pictures on the LCD. I explained that this was a film camera and you have to develop the film.

She looked at me like I had lost my mind...

[joeyk49]

Lastly, how sensitive is the film? Can I load with a safelight behind my back and the film in my shadow or must it be done in complete darkness, like I've been doing all along???

[David A. Goldfarb]

Complete darkness, unless you have an infrared night vision setup or are shooting ortho film, which can be handled under a red safelight.

[joeyk49]

Thanks, David...

[MikeS]

My computer screen is Horizontal :-)

Was a quick analogy. Actually I load 10x8 and 5x4 in the vertical orientation flap at top, so notches top right as that keeps the film further away from my clothes and potential dust.

Why do you guys have so much trouble with dust? I never have a problem with dust, I always have plenty of it!

[GregT.]

Joeyk49,

This is a pretty cool supplement (visual plus audio) to the excellent tutorial on Paul Butzi's site : http://www.photoassistant.net/tech/4x5_holder/index.htm