Are 4x5 Film Holders Universal?

[lomomagix]

Pardon the ignorance (I have practically zero experience with LF, but my interest grows daily), but are 4x5 film holders universal? Will one holder fit any 4x5 camera? Or are they brand or type specific?

[papagene]

The are not brand specific. I have several different makes of 4x5 film holders in various conditions. They all fit my first 4x5 and they fit my current 4x5.

gene

[Alex Hawley]

They have been standardized for many years. Brand-new Lisco holders, for example, work perfectly in my early-1940s Graphic View.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Yes, they're pretty standard.

The only significant exception is for Graflex reflex cameras (not Graphics in general like the Speed, Crown, Anniversary, Pacemaker, etc.), which use a wider filmholder with grooves on the sides. Also, Graflex-type holders have a groove on the face that meshes with a rib on the camera back, opposite to the way a conventional holder works. Note that Graflex made Graphic, or conventional type holders as well, so even though a filmholder says "Graflex" on it, it doesn't mean that it's a Graflex-type holder.

Another thing to watch out for is Tiltall filmholders that sometimes show up on eBay. These seem like they must have been made for some specialized equipment or they just all have a major design flaw which is the lack of a lock rib, so they aren't necessarily light tight in the film back, and there's some risk of pulling out the holder while pulling the darkslide.

[John Kasaian]

Nope. They aren't all universal. Graflex (with the locking groove) was a non-standard variation and there are probably others. Then there are Tiltalls which have no provision for locking into the camera back at all. As a practical matter though, Fidelity, Lisco, Riteway, Graflex (with the locking ridge) Agfa, Ansco, Baco and several others will work with most cameras both old and new. If you're going to be investing in used 4x5 film holders stick with brand names. My faves are Riteway, Baco and Agfa YMMV of course!

[Ian Grant]

Also very early MPP cameras and their dark-slides have a slightly different film plane register.

Ian

[lomomagix]

Thank you very much for all your replies. So I guess it wouldn't be wise to stock up on them even if a really ridiculously good price comes up if you still don't own a 4x5 camera! Thank you all once again!

[Ian Grant]

In practice it's very rare to find any non standard modern double sided 5x5 dark-slides (film holders in the US) so you are quite safe to buy any of the makes listed above.

Ian

[David A. Goldfarb]

And if you are lucky enough to buy Graflex-type holders from someone who doesn't know what they are, you can probably sell them for more than you paid.

[John Kasaian]

Condition is everything----well almost everything. A ridiculously cheap price on really good 4x5 holders isn't something to sniff at. Even if they are the Graflex type as David mentioned, you can most likely turn a nice profit.

Unless of course they are Tiltalls---pass those up!