sacrilege?

[UberSquid]

Recently a Graphlex Speed Graphic came into my possession. I won it on eBay for the sum of only $61! The lens is not the original, it's from a Polaroid 110 so the scale is way off. I have a 135mm in a Copal shutter that I'm thinking of throwing in instead but since I don't need a lot of movement from this camera I may just leave the Polaroid for now. I intend to use the Graphlex mostly for backpacking trips where it's not practical to carry a full mono-rail setup. I figure the limited front movement will do for the landscape and nature photography I want to do.

Now here comes the question. It's not in the best of shape. The leatherette is cracked and a few small spots are missing. It's coming unglued in several places and in general looks pretty shabby. The rangefinder doesn't and the viewfinder has seen better days. The metal is all sound, it just looks ugly. Normally every camera that comes into my possession I either keep and use as is or go through and do a full restoration on. With this one I'm tempted to strip off the view and range finder, strip the leatherette, repaint and polish the metal then recover it with griptac from:

http://cameraleather.com/colors/griptac.htm

Is this sacrilege? Will I be destroying something that should be saved and preserved or would modifying this camera into the working shooter that I want and putting it into service be paying honor to it by breathing new life into a camera that was destined to rot?

What do you think?

[Kirk Gittings]

Its not like its a rare camera. There were zillions of these made. Basically its just another hammer. Make it useable and nice looking but I wouldn't worry about preserving it for posterity.

[John Kasaian]

Use it.
Nothing you're suggesting is irreversable if perchance someday that becomes tha last speeder in the world and the Smithsonian wants to put it back together.

[E. von Hoegh]

It sounds like there isn't much original finish to lose. I say go for it, give it an overhaul and turn it into something you'll enjoy using all the more because YOU worked on it.

[Ari]

A real sacrilege would be writing "Zeppelin rocks!" on the Ark of the Covenant.
Since you're not proposing that, I say go for it!

[E. von Hoegh]

A real sacrilege would be writing "Zeppelin rocks!" on the Ark of the Covenant.
Since you're not proposing that, I say go for it!

Nowhere near as bad as the heretic who put a 302 Ford engine in an E type Jag. That warranted being impaled on an old driveshaft. JMHO

[UberSquid]

One correction, it's a Crown Graphic not a Speed. I figure that doesn't really change the outcome very much though. I'd pretty much made up my mind that I was going to rip into this thing, I just wanted to get some feedback that I wasn't doing something horrible. I've been restoring cameras for several years now but I just this past week started into large format and this is going to be the first one I've ever worked on. You wouldn't believe some of the things people have sent me, it makes me sick at times seeing the hacked up classics that could have been lovingly restored but instead were painted, abused and tortured to an early death!

I believe my motives for this camera are pure so the mods I'll be making will give it an exciting new life. I'm going to proceed with a clear conscience. I may even document the whole process for posterity. (Making it into a backpack field camera is a whole lot better than the sin of putting it on a shelf in my opinion!)

[UberSquid]

Nowhere near as bad as the heretic who put a 302 Ford engine in an E type Jag. That warranted being impaled on an old driveshaft. JMHO

I would never put a 302 in an E Type! I'd go for a 429!

[E. von Hoegh]

I would never put a 302 in an E Type! I'd go for a 429!

They're warming up the lowest circle of hell just for you. You do know it's filled with cuckoo clocks, right?

[Steve Smith]

I just stripped mine off, sanded it and varnished it.




Steve.