PDA

View Full Version : Speed Graphics, Graflex RB and flash photography



SadChi
30-Sep-2009, 01:28
Hello,

I would like to try handheld studio photography with 4x5 and wonder of one question:
- how will focal plane shutter work with strobes?
- is it possible to sync them?

Plan to buy Speed Graphics or Graflex RB, which one will be better in case of studio work?

Thanks.

Dan Fromm
30-Sep-2009, 03:05
Short answer, the RB Super D's focal plane shutter will sync with electronic flash at "drop shutter", 1/5th second. If you must use electronic flash, use a Speed Graphic with a leaf shutter.

Paul Ewins
30-Sep-2009, 03:36
To expand slightly, makes sure that the leaf shutter on the Speed Graphic has X sync or it will fire too early (bulbs take a little while to get to full power so the standard M sync fires before the shutter opens). AFAIK, only the RB Super D had flash sync on the focal plane shutter, although I have seen some home made adaptions on other models.

ki6mf
30-Sep-2009, 04:15
Also if you replace the traditional lens with a leaf shutter it will sync up to the highest speed the lens has.

Robert A. Zeichner
30-Sep-2009, 04:24
Short answer, the RB Super D's focal plane shutter will sync with electronic flash at "drop shutter", 1/5th second.

I have done this with the RB Super D that I have for sale on the FS section. It works very well. It is particularly handy to have the auto-diaphragming feature of the 190mm Ektar so that you can focus wide open in low light.

Dan Fromm
30-Sep-2009, 05:16
Also if you replace the traditional lens with a leaf shutter it will sync up to the highest speed the lens has.Wally, are you talking about an RB or a Speed Graphic?

If an RB, I don't see a really good fast way to close the front shutter, stop down, raise the mirror, open the back shutter, fire the front shutter, close the back shutter, ... All this can be done slowly, but doing it quickly requires more hands and, with a long lens, longer arms than most of us have.

Cheers,

Dan

j.e.simmons
30-Sep-2009, 09:40
Bottom line is that for most Graphics, the focal plane shutter will not sync with strobes. You must use the front shutter on the lens, and it must have an x-sync.
Juan

lambis
30-Sep-2009, 11:46
Just today i have test my speed graphic with focal plane shutter and a Aero ektar lens with strobes (Profoto 600 R) & a bipolar cable.
I tested just some polaroids and its work very good IF!!! the available light is low as you need, as many others told before, to use T mobe and have quick hands. I need to make more tests but today i used 1/30 and got sharp and perfect exposues.

its possible, its not that fun, as you need dark rooms and fast hands but its a solution.

Dan Fromm
30-Sep-2009, 12:31
Lambis, not to doubt you, but what is your strobes' flash duration? I ask because at 1/30 the FPS doesn't expose all of the film at the same time.

Cheers,

Dan

ki6mf
30-Sep-2009, 12:33
I was talking about getting a new lens board and a non graphic lens that lets a sync cable or pocket wizard to be hooked. I occasionally use my newer Rodenstock 150 on my Speed Graphic in this manner!

lambis
30-Sep-2009, 12:52
No 1/30 Dan I use T mode
Bjarte a good member of this forum told me this way.

You set the focal plane shutter to T and the trick is to press the shutter release twice as fast as you can, i can in about 1/15 - 1/30, what happens is that the shutter opens and simultanius its trigger the strobe now when you press the second time you close the shutter.

jp
30-Sep-2009, 13:06
I would use a lens's shutter with X sync. Plenty of lens can do this and you get the biggest choice of shutter speeds.

One could evaluate the flash coverage on the focal plane shutter by testing with the ground glass only. If you don't have bright coverage across the whole 4x5, the shutter speed is too high.

With studio flash, you could get a small enough aperature choice that focusing would not be as critical as existing light, even compared to outdoor. That would make things a little bit easier.

jnantz
30-Sep-2009, 13:13
the only way i have ever been able to get my series d
to work with a flash is by putting T firing the flash
and closing the curtain ...

have fun

john

Sevo
30-Sep-2009, 13:20
There were flash triggers that screw on to the winding key, and can be adjusted to fire the flash the moment the first curtain hits the bottom - but it takes a lot of tweaking.

jnantz
30-Sep-2009, 14:04
There were flash triggers that screw on to the winding key, and can be adjusted to fire the flash the moment the first curtain hits the bottom - but it takes a lot of tweaking.

i think mine had some sort of sync the guy before me jury-rigged ..
but it was harvested before it made it to my doorstep ...

Dan Fromm
30-Sep-2009, 15:03
John, Sevo, my little 2x3 RB Series B had one of those gizmos attached when I got it. But not on the winding key, next to the right side I-T slide/shutter release. Its in a plastic bag in the LF junk drawer.

It reminds me of the flash synch "terminal" someone had attached to the shutter my former 107/3.7 Ektar was in. A bit of coil spring soldered to the shutter cocking lever; when the shutter was fired, the lever moved, the spring brushed the shutter body (if the camera was level ... ) and poof!

Clever, in a half-assed sort of way. I tried it; it worked.

IMO, all of the ways to get electronic flash synch with an RB are, um, expedients. I've never known how the Wisner SLR managed the close front shutter, stop down, mirror up, fire front shutter, but it seems better for electronic flash than an RB.

SadChi, if you must have reflex viewing and electronic flash, accumulate your small monetary units until you can get a 4x5 Gowlandflex.

Cheers,

Dan

Paul Ewins
30-Sep-2009, 16:12
One of the conversions I have seen used the mirror frame - i.e. when the mirror swings up it completes the circuit. Once you have a trigger it is simply a matter of getting sufficient delay before firing the strobe (which was probably not that simple back in the 1950s). I seem to recall another that had a thin metal strip clipped to the side of the curtain.