I just purchased a Graflex Graphic View I -- my first 4x5 camera. Woo hoo! Problem is, it came without a tripod mount. I understand that there is a tripod mount made for this camera, but it doesn't look like there are any on that auction site right now.
Does anyone know of any other options, including possible homegrown solutions, for mounting this camera to a Bogen tripod?
Get ye to your favorite machinest!!! The original mount was a tilting tripod head with a handle that clamped to the triangular rail...this was redundant if you were using a tripod with its own head anyway. An adequate mounting base could be mounted either permanently (centered) to the rail or a more complicated base could be machined with a way to clamp it to the rail; in either case, the base itself would be no more than a steel or aluminum block with one or more 1/4" x 20 holes threaded in its bottom.
Vick has a good point. Those things were problem prone to begin with. You could try www.mpex.com and talk to Jim in the used department. They have a lot of goodies such as this. Pacific Rim Camera is another one to try.
It might be worth keeping an eye out for cheap GV I's on ebay (no lens, spring back, trashed bellows, etc.) that have the tripod mount. They can go pretty cheap (tough to say if cheaper than a machinist) - so may be worthwhile just for the mount. Take a look at the pictures from Graflex.org so that you can recognize the tripod mount in ebay photos.
Cheers!
Bill
Yes, you need to be sure you get the mount for the View I. The mount for the View II won't work on your camera.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks