I may or may not have taken a dremel to my Speed Graphic tonight...

[themicahmachine]

I'll give you a hint: I did.

So now thanks to some very sloppy dremel work I have forward and backward front standard tilt, as well as swing. I did have the good sense to make the modifications to a spare front standard, so I can go back to the original one at any time. Seems to be working well though. I can compose by making small swing adjustments and only barely tightening the front standard lock, and then lock it down fully when I have it where I need it. The flip-up stops on the rails serve to quickly square it up if I have my portrait lens on and just want to shoot with no movements.

MMM swingey



Yes I know it's dirty and my lensboard is made from plywood and electrical tape... works though.


These slots go both ways...


More photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHske1ysSm

[Michael Clark]

I had bought a Crown with that modification and was not to happy with the swing lock down, front standard gets pretty wobbly when the lock down is released and hard to keep good focus when using swing.

[themicahmachine]

Yes I read of that same problem. I didn't completely round the rail clamps on mine - just took off the corners. It almost feels like it has a little dedent on either side of center, so it's pretty easy to center it back up close enough for what I do anyway. And yeah I did notice that I have to do the swing-focus-swing-focus routine just like using off-axis tilt. Mildly annoying but workable.

My rail clamp modification:

[Liquid Artist]

If it works and is what you want, good for you.

I can't complain, my Burke & James only came with 1/2 the knobs allowing almost unlimited movements.
It's a little tough to lock down at times, but it can be nice.
Plus it came with one lens board with a rather butchered hole chiseled in.
I turned it into an adapter for my Calumet 4x5 lens boards. However I still use electrical tape on it ensuring no light leaks.

It's still my favorite camera and still draws more attention than even my practically mint 1951 Linhof everywhere I go.

[Michael Clark]

Liquid, is that a B&J Press you have, I have the same camera. Hard to find the correct lens boards for them, but managed to adopt a couple. Put a new bellows on it and was thinking of a way of putting an graph lock back on it but too small, How do you like the vertical format.

[rdenney]

Moved to the DIY sub-forum.

Rick "carry on" Denney

[themicahmachine]

Moved to the DIY sub-forum.

Rick "carry on" Denney

I was wondering if this may be the right place... I'll keep it in mind for next time.

[IanG]

After being told there was no way possible I modified a Super Graphic front standard to fit a Speed or Crown Graphic, all 5x4 versions. I had to grind a lot away as it's a clearance issue but it's far better than modification here which I've also done with a spare front standard off a Pacemaker Graphic.

The advantage with the Super Graphic front standard is it works as designed and gives far better movements. I'm away from home so can't post images but I have posted them here before.

On my Crown Graphic reversing the standard means it won't close as the part for the rangefinder arm fouls the tilt bit, so I'so not practical if you need to use the rangefinder, it depends what lens the arm is for, it's a 150mm on mine.

Ian