Difference between Lisco & Riteway film holders?
camp...@delta.brooks.af.mil
I am currently using Lisco Elite 4x5 film holders and was just wondering what the
difference is between Lisco & Riteway is, if any?
Ted Campbell
Jean-David Beyer
According to Calumet catalog, the difference between Lisco and Riteway
4x5 holders is $7.70 each.
But seriously, the Riteway allows you to identify the holder in
which you shot each exposure (little wheels dial 0 to 99).
They have a button gizmo to make it very difficult to remove the
darkslide if the holder is not in the camera (a valuable feature,
based on my experience with Lisco and Fidelity holders). Calumet
claim it does not fit Linhof cameras. I cannot imagine why, but
they are probably right. I should add that I have never used one;
I got this info from the Calumet catalog.
--
Jean-David Beyer
Shrewsbury, New Jersey
John Sparks
I have a couple of the Riteway holders and I can't stand them. The
locks to prevent removing darkslides don't unlock well on my wooden
camera (they might work well with a camera with a metal back). The
numbering gizmos turn very easily and can easily report a different
number from what you thought you set. They are also slightly in the
image area and must be cropped out of the final image. Finally, the
dark slides have huge handles on them that make the holders too big
to fit in the quart size ziplock bags I use in the field to keep out
the dust.
The Riteways and Liscos (and Fidelity) are made by the same company
(owned by Calumet) and construction appears to be identical (other than
the features noted above). Older Riteway holders are more like the
current Lisco design (no fancy interlocks or number wheels) and seem to
be of much better construction than Liscos of the same age. At the
place where I used to work, my boss owned maybe 100 holders, all bought
used. The Riteways were all perfectly light tight, but most of the
Liscos leaked light (he got rid of most of the Liscos and refused to buy
any more after discovering this). If you are buying used holders older
than the current ones (the older holders I'm describing are mostly
plastic but have metal handles on the darkslides instead of the current
plastic handles), the Riteway's are highly recommended.
John Sparks
Richard Knoppow
spa...@col.hp.com (John Sparks) wrote:
Hi John, My experience with old holders (4x5) is the same. The
Riteway holders all are fine, the film plane is in the right place
etc. I have a box full of Lisco and Fidelity holders most of which
have warped, or maybe were just not accurately made, and are not
useable. This is a matter of the film plane rather than light
leakage. I started measuring holders after getting unexplained
mis-focussed pictures. I found the film-plane to vary all over the
place in all but the Riteway holders. OTOH, later 8x10 Fidelity's
seem to be ok.
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, Ca.
dick...@ix.netcom.com
John Sparks
Richard Knoppow (dick...@ix.netcom.com) wrote:
> Hi John, My experience with old holders (4x5) is the same. The
>Riteway holders all are fine, the film plane is in the right place
>etc. I have a box full of Lisco and Fidelity holders most of which
>have warped, or maybe were just not accurately made, and are not
>useable. This is a matter of the film plane rather than light
>leakage. I started measuring holders after getting unexplained
>mis-focussed pictures. I found the film-plane to vary all over the
>place in all but the Riteway holders. OTOH, later 8x10 Fidelity's
>seem to be ok.
That makes me wonder if the light leaks were caused by warped holders
not seating right in the camera back rather than leaks in the holders
themselves. I never looked into it. I've never had any problems with
the current style Lisco or Fidelity holders and some of mine are 15 years
old at this point.
John Sparks
Richard Knoppow
spa...@col.hp.com (John Sparks) wrote:
Hi John, The warpage I'm refering to is of the center part that
holds the film. I have run into some old wooden holders where the
whole holder was warped. More common in my experience with 8x10 than
with 4x5. Check the light-traps in your holders. Take out the dark
slides open the loading flap, look straight in and shine a flashlight
at the outside. Its possible to get leaks other places but this is
the most likely culprit.