Being fairly new to the LF world, is it difficult to find lens boards for a Super Graphic camera? How do I go about selecting a lens board, does the opening of the hole need to match a particular lens? I currently have a 135 f/4.7 mounted to the camera, and would like to go a little wider as well as a bit longer. Would a 90mm be suitable for the wide end? How about 250mm for the long?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Terence,
the lens boards for the Super Graphics are a variation on the ones for the later Speed and Crown Graphics. The difference is that the Super Graphic board was set up to use an internal solenoid so that the shutter could be tripped electronically from the body. If you don't care about that then you can use the standard boards which are available new from Midwest Photo Exchange (amongst other places). They come in a size 0 and 1 to match the commonest shutter sizes. Should cost you around $40 plus postage.
The Super Graphic boards are not, to my knowledge, available anyhwere new and seem to be very rare used. I'm not too sure what sizes they come in either as my only one is the standard one for the graflex 135/4.7 which is a different size to a Copal 0.
Thanks Paul. The solenoid isn't critical as I've got a cable release that I'm more used to using. I'll probably go with the Speed Graphic board, thanks!
The other thing is to be careful about, Super Graphic boards have four extra raised tabs on the edges of the lens board, as compared to boards that fit regular Crown and Speed Graphic boards. So if buying fomr a dealer, make sure you specify that you have a "Super" Graphic, otherwise the board will fit,b ut it may not hold tight - it might wiggle a bit on you.
joe
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Hi Terence,
I have a couple of boards that came out of either a Speed or a Crown. I picked them up on ebay a few years back when I was looking to put some other lenses on my Super. Then I lucked out and found both a 90 mm and a 10" Wollensak in mint condition each mounted in a Super board and each with cams. So theses boards are surplus now.
The one board is plain and has a 35mm hole which I think is too big for Copal 0. The other board has a 33mm hole, but has the external solenoid mounted on the front that used to be used for triggering the shutter via the Y-cord from the flash. It can be left in place or removed and the holes plugged. They are not beautiful, but they are servicable.
I would be happy to sell either of these for $20 plus shipping.
al
This is very true, but with a little careful shimming the regular Graphic boards will fit well. (I got mine from MidWest a long time ago; I don't know if they are still available or not). I used a spongy rubber to "fill in the gap" behind the board's edges. That not only worked toward light-tightness, but added just enough 'spring' to assure that the SuperGraphic lens board holder/tabs didn't loosen up during use.Originally Posted by Joseph O'Neil
I may take you up on this offer, but since I'm rather new at this, what does the hole size mean for me in terms of looking for a matching lens? And should I be looking for a cam as well?
If you are going to ground glass focusing, no cam is required.
If you are going to use the rangefinder you will need a cam. Cams for the lenses originally mounted on the Super Graphic might be found at MidWest, or maybe from Fred Lustig. There is osme information on the web about people making their own cams since they are hard to find or not available for some lenses.
If you haven't found it already, go over to www.graflex.org lots of information on Super Graphics. Welcome to the club.
Bart
Terence,
Thought I posted a response last night, but it did not appear so I will rewrite.
Regarding the size of the hole. The 33mm (which may be slightly off by 1/2 mm since I only measured it with a metric ruler) hole seems about right when I compare it with the Copal 0 shutter that is mounted on a Super Graphic board. I am not certain about the measurements for a Copal 0 shutter but there are likely some members who can help out.
Brian is right about the rangefinder cam. If you can find a lens with its cam (and there is a little clip on the back of the lensboard to store the cam when it is not in use) it should work with any lens of that focal length (I'm not certain if this would apply to true telephotos, but at least with wide angle, normal, and long lenses). Super Graphic was not as particular as Linhof for machining the cam to the camera and lens with serial numbers of the match both stamped on the cam.
I never did find a cam by itself advertised on ebay. I was very fortunate to fine two lenses with cams. I watched ebay for a long time before these came available. The Super Graphic was a true press camera, light weight, durable, and popular in the newspaper community for handheld work. Most press photographers did not want to spend the money to mess around with changing lenses, so I would not expect too many lenses to be available outside the normal range (127-150mm).
The front of the camera has two sliders, one on either side of the lensboard. Each of these sliders extend or retract two tabs in order to hold the board in place. The lensboards have raised humps that these tabs press down on. My two Crown/Speed lensboards have a longer and perhaps more raised hump that the Super Graphic lensboards. However, I checked the two Crown/Speed lensboards on my Super Graphic and the tabs do slide over these humps and hold the lensboard in place.
Hope this helps,
al
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