Film Holders

I have a lot of film holders... over 200 as a matter of fact.  And this only counts my 4" x 5" ones, I have another 40 or so of the larger 8" x 10" size.  Some of these holders I purchased new, back when I started out with large format photography in 1996, and others I added later.  Most of them are used ones that I picked up over the years. 

Large format sheet film has to be loaded into these film holders in total darkness, in the darkroom.  This quantity of film holders allows me to keep a whole bunch loaded up with various kinds of film.  The holders are all two sided, so this allows me to have over 400 sheets of film on the go.  Most years I shoot about 400 sheets of black and white negative film.

Once the camera has been set up to make a photograph, one of these film holders is inserted into the rear standard.  The dark slide is pulled and the film is exposed.  The second side of the holder is used in the same way.  Once the film has been exposed the holders are brought back into the darkroom to be unloaded.  I separate the exposed film into various boxes based on the type of film and the type of developer and development time that I intend to use.  These development decisions are made at the time of exposure based upon the lighting conditions and the subject brightness range.

I save the boxes of exposed film in a drawer in my darkroom until I have a large enough batch accumulated to set up for processing.  I usually try to process 15 to 20 sheets at a time of the same film in the same developer for the same period of time.

At times I have holders full of exposed film waiting to be unloaded, sitting around in my darkroom.  I also often have empty film holders sitting around that are ready to be re-loaded.  I find that having this many holders gives me a lot of freedom as I always have a variety of film loaded and ready to go and I almost always have some empty holders around if I want to load and try something new.

Boxes full of exposed film, stored in the drawer of my darkroom, awaiting processing.

The counter top in my darkroom where I load the film into holders.  Each holder is assigned a number, and I write up a sheet with the film type and holder number as the film is loaded.  I use these sheets to record my exposure and processing information, so that this can be filed with the negative after the film has been processed.  I also use compressed air to dust off the holders as I load them.

Stacks of film holders loaded with unexposed film, ready for use.  These are stored in another cupboard in my darkroom until I move them to my camera bag and head out shooting.  The note sheets for all of these film holders are stored together.

Stacks of film holders that have been loaded with fresh film.  The note sheets for each holder are kept together.  Each stack is a different type of film.

My freezer full of unexposed film, ready to be loaded as needed.  I haven't bothered to count how many sheets and rolls I have in my inventory but I could probably keep photographing for a decade and not run out.

Stacks of film holders waiting to be unloaded.  Each stack is from a different outing.  The note sheets are stapled together in batches from these outings.  This information is all recorded and filed with the processed negatives in my archive.