How do you tell if your film holders are full?

[bennoj]

Interesting... I use the black side/white side method too, but the reverse of everyone else who posted. My logic has been black = no light (unexposed), white = light (exposed). Not all of my holders still have the locks on them so I don't include them in my system.

[chuck94022]

I use the method Lee describes exactly. I also write the film type on the label of the holder when I load the holder, and erase it when I unload, but I don't count on that because I found I could get careless. But I find I'm never careless about leaving the holder unlocked when there is no film inside.

[jimgalli]

Is this a trick question? You pull the dark slide, see the pretty color, say "Oh Shit!" Push the dark slide back in, say to yourself, "I only screwed up 1/2" of the picture whatever it was." Then say to yourself "Well if it was so *(&%^&&*^( unimportant of a picture that I can't even remember what it is...&^#$ I'll throw it in the trash. Then you know that holder is empty. Or was it this one?

[joeyk49]

Hold it to your forehead and it will come to you...

[jp80874]

Here's my system. I store all my holders in zip lock bags. Each holder is numbered and after both sheets have been exposed the exposure record goes into the bag. It stays there until both sheets have been processed. This works for me. .

I start with Ron's method. I process in Jobo Expert tanks. Once both sheets of film are exposed I gather holders in larger Zip lock bags, batching to fit the Jobo tanks. 8x10 tanks hold five sheets, 4x5 tanks hold ten sheets. This Zip Lock bag gets a Post it note saying “Develop”. When I have enough to process film, I transfer in the dark to the tank and put the empty holders in another large Zip Lock bag. This bag gets a Post it saying “Load” At all times I follow the above conventions of white and black markers. At some point I load film in the holders, put the white marker out, and put single holders in single size Zip Locks.

This may seem anal, but I live with a Labrador Retriever and no matter how clean I try to keep things, hair is a fact of life. Dust is easy to avoid by comparison. The process is working well. I rarely need to spot finished prints.

John Powers

[mjs]

Ready-for-use holders are stored in carrying bags: insulated lunch bags designed to carry 12 cans of soda (or whatever ) for 4x5 or inexpensive vertical-loading notebook computer bags from Target for 8x10 ($18, nicely padded, shoulder strap: works great! I wish they made them in white, though.) Holders with film loaded are in freezer bags; if it isn't in a freezer bag, it isn't loaded. Holders are cleaned and re-loaded after unloading their film: it's something to do while the film washes. I never load just one side of a holder unless it's a situation where I'm going to expose and develop immediately afterward.

I don't use many different types of film: 4x5 is either 100Tmx or Portra 160 NC and 8x10 is J&C Pro. The 4x5 Portra holders are marked with sticky tags so I know that those 4 holders are infidels. Dark side out = unexposed (white = light, as someone else described it.)

[paul owen]

I learned a great method from Rob Barker. You use rubber/elastic bands. Once the film is loaded into the holder you place a rubber band around the holder's middle (shortest width). Once film is exposed the rubber band is place lengthways (longest distance) across the holder - holding the dark slides in place and a good indicator that the film is exposed! Rob used to colour code his bands too! Red for velvia, blue for provia, etc!! Cheap and it works too! I've even thought about getting some regular brown bands, writing "EBONY" on them, and making a killing on E**Y!!