Yes, the rear curtain is the focal plane shutter, best to wait till you get the camera and carefully check everything out.Originally Posted by pudentaineLf
The focal plane shutter will allow you to use lenses that don't have a shutter built in, such as barrel lenses, a shutter
on the lens board just means that a lens has a built in shutter.
The curtain shutter is nice for using lenses without shutters. I used a magnifying glass as a lens on a Speed Graphic (see below). They are called "Speeds" because the curtain shutter could work at 1/1000 sec -- faster than shutters in lenses.
Wow! Thanks for all the input everyone1 I got the camera in a few days ago. I have yo say I already own a Busch model C and I imagined I was getting a large version of this all be it Speed Graphic. Being new to large format having been taking it as the next step after medium format, I had no idea what a focal plan curtain was. When some of you asked if it was still on the camera I had no idea what you were talking about and planned to come back to ask about it when I had time. In the mean time I had been trying to buy a lens shutter combo over 127mm for this camera...then after messing with the camera and realizing what that black curtain in the back was really used for I realized I don't really need a shutter. If I have this right I have a magnificent shutter in this focal plane curtain. I think someone up in one of the reply posts mentioned I didn't need a shutter but it didn't register. This was a navy camera sold from the Treasure Island surplus when the base closed. I don't know if they all go this fast. I couldn't believe that this huge curtain goes up to 1/1000 speed. So for now I 'm just going to buy a lens, it's a "doppel anastigmal unofocal" 13.5 cm a nice clean lens that's in a old compur shutter that has seen better days for around $30, way cheaper than the $149 I was going to spend on a combo, so now all I need is a lens board and some sheet film and I should be able to test the camera. This one doesn't have a spring back but I still think I can shoot sheet film by taking the view box and glass off. I really would rather wait for a spring back but I wouldn't know where to get one, any ideas?
Having a focal plane shutter opens up a larger selection of lenses that don't have shutters, just be cautious of it, I guess depending on how it was stored and the production run of the curtain material some will deteriorate faster than others, I have an Anniversary Graphic that dates to 1945
and the shutter cloth is fine, but my RB graflex which is from the same time the curtain was crispy and I tore it checking it out.
you can take the back off or the little metal underneath and view the curtain condition
If there are lots of ridges in it it might be ready to go and you can tell if it's crispy and such just by winding
Light tight isn't as much an issue as the mirror blocks the film when put down for viewing
Get the directions for shutter operation through graflex.org. If it tears you may injure it more not knowing what's gone wrong. pretty self-explanatory but still
If it tears ..like my otherwise in good condition curtain did after about 20 or so actuations
You can fix it. I'm not sure if any tear straight through the middle of the cloth but mine were torn or tearing at the aperture slit metal stays ..they hold the shape of the slit.
Check the speeds. see if they're progressive throughout the range but I doubt they were ever all at stated speed ..30th AND 35th of a second? Probably some crossover somewhere i nthe range but still a large selection of speeds
Check through a static TV signal and digital camera for a better approximation of actual speeds
..or whatever shutter tester
Lots of sharp, coated process lenses for cheap and all these soft focus lenses and telephotos
I'm very glad I bought mine.
Mirror? Why doesn't my Speed Graphic have a mirror?
See the first post in this thread. He got a Speed Graphic, not a Graflex.
I notice my mistakes a few hours afterwards
usually while in the shower
Accounts for my having 7 children, I guess
I got this thread and a Graflex thread mixed up during my posting
He said Speed Graphic in his last post and ....8th baby
Why would someone want one withOUT a mirror?
I mentioned my graflex, so I may be part of the brain fart you had
Your right it is self explanatory...but i don't remember seeing a mirror, is it readily visible, like I said early on this is a navy surplus speed graphic, so no telling what may be missing. I'll have to read the instructions and figure it out.. I am having fun. The curtain is in pretty good shape, it's not dry or cracked, it's very flexible, somewhat taunt but not as taunt as I thought it should have been, but maybe it needs to have a little slack, and thats all there is, a little. There are no tears, there are some ripples but the speed progresses and seems to be good. I don't know how to check the shutter speed and I was totally lost when someone said something about static on a TV, that went right over my head, lol! Oh, I am lost that was you.
I should get my lens any day...I can't wait, found a guy on ebay that will cut a custom hole for me & sell me the lens board for $10, thats great , I don't really have the setup to do it myself...still looking for a spring back, I mean a "graphic back" or a "graflock back" the camera I have has a back with the groove in it. I'm assuming I can change that if I want to a graphic or a graflok (I keep wanting to spell graflok with a ph...There's a gy at Pacific Rim customer service that told me what my groove back was called but I can't remember...oh yes, I just checked , it's called a graflex back. I know the grafomatic I have doesn't fit with that back....it came with the camera and when I put in a sheet film holder , it wasn't one in the box , it was some other that I bought real cheap on ebay. The 8 or so that came with the camera might be the right kind...that makes me want to get up and go check...brb..no they're all the newer graflock or graphic kind, the guy said the graflex type are hard to find...so another good reason to change to a spring back. (graphic or graflok) If anyone out there is switching to a graflok back and wants to sell their graphic back. I found a post where a guy was just hating the graphic back and so happy he could get rid of it, i got so happy thinking I'd ask him to sell it, I then noticed the post was dated 2008 or 09. I had followed it from a Google search on graphic backs for sale...
Nice shots...it's hard to see the base detail but it looks like action, what was the shutter speed , or should I say the curtain speed?
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks