It's good to be back - I think!

[Martin von Lindenberg]

Hello!

I'm Martin, and I've been out of almost all but snapshot photography for a long time. But I did hang onto my Burke and James Saturn 4x5 (Rodenstock 150mm) from college, some 37 years ago.

My wife is the professional photographer in the home, and does amazing work - in Photoshop. She finds incredible photos in scenes that I never see in the raw shot, until after I've compared the finished product. It is art.

The photgraphic end of her work is basically automated, courtesy of Canon. I guess that's a good thing (old eyes will never replace new eyes for focusing). She started to rework some old B&W shots from her college days and we started a discussion about "the old days" - Pan-x, D-76, contrast ratios and more. Eventually I mentioned that I still had my B&J (and more importantly, its tripod), and we've decided to both do large format.

I'm looking for either a Speed Graphic or other portable unit for her to start with, so that we can use a 120 back and start cheap. (After all, that reusable 8 gigabyte memory card costs about the same as ten sheets of film.) And besides, we enjoy travelling. I always did scenics, and I'd love to have a Crown Graphic, Wista or Linhof and a 65mm for our travels.

I don't know if I will ever get back to chemistry, but the thought of signing up for a course at a community college has crossed my mind. Otherwise, there's an Epson 700 scanner.

So I know I'll be asking all sorts of questions here, and I thank you in advance for your indulgence. I promise to do searches for answers first, rather than simply blurt them out. But if anyone knows a quick way to identify a Graflock back on the images I see on ebay, I'd love to hear it!

My thanks to all,

Martin

[msk2193]

Welcome Martin.

[John Kasaian]

Welcome!

[Vick Vickery]

Welcome back to group therapy! You know that Calumet makes a roll-film back that will work with your Saturn, huh? It slips in under the ground glass just like a sheet film holder. You can find them used often here or on eBay and new at any of the normal sources.

[Scotty230358]

Martin

The attached image shows a graflock back.

Hope this helps.

[Martin von Lindenberg]

Thank you for the welcome! Vick, I have picked up a Calumet 120 adapter, but it didn't have an old spool in it. I hate the thought of sacrificing a roll for a spool! My favorite old camera shop has a new location, so they might not have saved such things, but we'll see. And also thanks to Scotty. I now know simply to hunt for a retaining device for the back for less than the entire back. I guess that I should have thought of that, but with age comes excess carefulness. A lovely camera, by the way, and your thumbnail is labelled. Have you subjected this camera to the overheads of Delta or Southwest?

Thanks again,
Martin

[Vick Vickery]

Your favorite processor who does 120 should be able to give you a couple of spools; if not, buy the cheapest 120 film you can find and toss the roll, keeping the spool, an expensive way to go, but fast. If you want to take the time, spools can be purchased from eBay or any of the normal retail mail-order sources, or maybe someone here who processes their own could be talked into sending you one or two (sorry, I quit doing my own processing a while back).