Shutter Repair

[Kate A]

Hi,

I'm new to this board, I just happened to run across it on a yahoo search. I'm at a fine arts college, studying to be a photographer. I use digital a good bit but LOVE my large format camera. I've only had one class on it but right after it ended I quickly bought my own camera.

I bought the camera along with the lens from a guy off of craigslist. I got a great deal on everything, however the day I got it the shutter on the lens stopped working. I have a graphex lens. 135mm. It's quite old. The shutter won't cock. It actually will barely budge. I think it would be neat to shoot with an older lens just to see the effect it would have on the photo. (Maybe this is not as great of an idea as it seems??)

So my question is, if I want to get this fixed are there any sites on the internet I can check out where I can send my shutter for fixing? Is this usually pretty costly? Also, is this recommended or should I just forget about it?

I recently ordered a new lens off the internet and am eagerly waiting for it to arrive so I can start using my camera!!

Thanks!

Kate

[Vick Ko]

http://www.photoethnography.com/Clas...html~mainFrame

http://www.skgrimes.com/repair/index.htm

http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00KKUi

[j.e.simmons]

It depends on which Graphex lens/shutter you have. Do you twist the lens element to cock the shutter, or do you move a lever?
juan

[Robert A. Zeichner]

Maybe take a digital photo of it and post here so we can better identify what you have. If it is broken, recommendation for repair would be Carol Miller at Flutot's in Whittier, CA. She does great work at very reasonable prices.

[Ralph Barker]

Welcome to the LF Forum, Kate.

I've also used Carol Miller (Flutot's Camera Repair [her father started the business]) a couple of times, and was very pleased with her work and her prices. http://www.flutotscamerarepair.com/

S.K. Grimes also comes highly recommended. http://www.skgrimes.com/

[John Kasaian]

I'll 'second' Carol Miller at Flutot's. Great service at a great price!

[Glenn Thoreson]

If it's the Graphex shutter with the 1/1000 top speed, it will only be marginally repairable, at best. Very bad shutter, in my opinion. Get something else. If it's a standard Graphex, send it to Carol at Flutot's. You can pick up an identical one on the auction site, cheap, but it would be a crap shoot. Welcome, and good luck to you.

[Gary Beasley]

Theres a local repair shop in Marietta, Peachtree Camera and Video
http://www.peachtreecamerarepair.com/
They are good folks, I just saw them at a camera flea market in Huntsville where they cleaned the shutter on my just bought Zeiss Ikonta, give them a call.

[Ed Shapiro]

In the good old days of the 4x5 Graphlex cameras there were a few notorious lenses and shutters. The was the RAPEX which was known to blow it's face plate and have all of its parts "explode" and fall to the floor right in the middle of press and wedding assignments. It was soon replaced my GRAPHEX shutters which managed to stay together but some models were prone to have their synchronization contacts, within the shutter, fall off in the middle of jobs as well.

Check out the name of the lens on the lens rim- it is probably an OPTAR- kind of a earsats Tessar formula that was no to bad but had q very limited circle of coverage, hardily enough to use the front rise of a Graphlex Press Camera.

Do you have a Graphlex camera with that lens- do tell!

The one with the cocking device built in to the lens hood (not the lens elements) is somewhat collectible but hardly usable. That monster was part of the Super Graphic system that appeared in the early sixties. Of used once too often at 1/1,000 sec the shutter would self-district- the blades would crash against each other or the internal cams and spring would rupture! The entire Super Graphic line was a disaster but that is a story in it self.

If you describe you camera and lens in more detail, I'll give you the history!

Thanks- Ed

[David Karp]

Carol Miller is great. Highly recommended. www.flutotscamerarepair.com

The cost to repair a 135mm lens of the type included with old Crown Graphics might be equal to the price you might be able to pay for a different specimen of the lens with a working shutter. Worth checking on E-Bay.