I have been lurking here for some time.
So I'll introduce myself.
My name is LaMar. I'm fifty years old. I have been into photography for only about six years. I have done mostly digital, vintage, and toycamera photography.

Recently a friend of mine gave me a very nice Crown Graphic. I have fallen in love with the monster. I get a feeling I can't explaine when I pick the thing up, I just love it.

Now for my question.

How do you mark your film holders?
I have read about notches and such, BUT I have some film holders with no place to write down what film is in the thing!? I have a bunch of wooden holders this way.

What kind of pencil or marker do I use?
How can I repair some of the holders with no place to mark, or where the little peace you mark has fallen out of the holder?

Thanks LaMar

_________________
LaMar

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: MaLar on 2005-07-03 22:12 ]</font>

Welcome LaMar and enjoy that Crown. Great cameras! But "beast"? I would reccommend you carry around an 8x10 for a while. Then that Crown will seem much more managable!

The two major holder marking are either simple number or complete writings. With a number, you keep a record on a seperate sheet of paper or so. Too confusing for me...

I mark right on the holder what the film is and sometimes the exposure when I'm done. Usually I forget

For my holders that didn't have the white section for marking, I've done two things.

First if cutting a piece from a computer printer mailing label. Cheap and works fine.

Second is to fill the space with 'White Out' (the stuff brushed on for typing mistakes). Unfortunately, the modern stuff seems to be a latex paint and doesn't work as well as the old stuff. But it does work.

For both, I write in simple pencil. Always have one handy and it's easily erasable.

The notching you mention is usually used for a different purpose, to identify a particuar holder. I've never done this but always thought the idea was interesting. But like keeping notes on papaer, just too much to worry about...

For data and exposure I write on the exposed side of the holder with either a white grease pencil or these new pencils from the scrapbooking craze. They are black on one end and white on the other. They write well on darkslides but a bit of water erases them cleanly. With grease pencil you'll need mineral spirits.

Rather than file notches in the end flap I printed out a series of numbers and had the local graphics house make me a lithographic neg and positive. Then I cut and glued these in the corners of the flap. This gives me a very small (8pt) number on each neg. When I get back from shooting I make a log or expand on the cryptic notes that I made in the field. This was the only way I could keep negs straight when I was testing lenses.

Hi Lamar
I purchased a used Palm Pilot, and set up a program called DBfree to list my film holders. I numbered the holders themselves, 1a, 1b, 2a etc. b being the 2nd side of a particular holder. In the program the available parameters I have are
film holder #
Film type
Iso
check boxes that list whether the film is exposed, or the holder is empty on that side
and a range section for listing lighting range for zone system developing corrections.
This system works real well for me, as the program is openly configurable. You can list any type of data you wish for each holder..

I use the low tech method. Masking tape and a ball point pen.

I used one of those silver marking pens to number each film holder - 200s for 2x3, 400s for 4x5, 800s for 8x10. Then I write my exposure information in a separate notebook.

I used to use a grease pencil (china marker) and write on the exposed side of the darkslide, but I found erasing too difficult and messy. I might try one of those scrapbooking markers. That sounds like a good idea.

I first numbered all my holders and slides. Then, in use, I carry a very small, simple tape recorder. When a holder is used, I've trained myself to immediately dictate the info I want to keep onto that recorder.

That way, I don't have to use the holders "in order". Early in the process, I figured I had to get away from using the holders "in order" because #1 would get a whole lot more use than the higher-numbered ones. And, this way I can transfer the info to my computer when I have plenty of time.

There's lot's more capacity on the recorder than I need, so I never run out of room to record. Yea, I know it's something else to keep up with, but if I need to keep that info - I don't keep that info everytime I go out - I don't know a better way for me to do it.

Thanks all; I bought a silver, and a grey watercolor pencil. One or the other works great, writing on the dark slide, and the top of the film holder. Then they both wipe off with a damp cloth.

Thanks again for the help, LaMar

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 45PSS on 2005-12-24 21:20 ]</font>

I did a variation of the system Les uses (small numbers in corner of the flap).
I have several Graflex wooden holders, and notching would have resulted in a lot of dust.
I saw a neat idea on apug.org, and expanded on that.
In short, you can see the result and images in this thread on apug.org:
http://www.apug.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15870&page=2

No filing/notching, no dust, and not really a lot of work.

Denis