Where does the fresnel belong on a Graflex Graphic View II

[williaty]

Title sums it up. I traded for what's turning out to be a basket case of a camera and I'm trying to get it sorted out right. On the Graflex Graphic View II, did the original fresnel belong on the lens-side of the ground glass or on the human-side of the ground glass?

[Louis Pacilla]

Hey Ty if your GVII has the Graflock back then it's fresnel on the "lens side" and if I'm not mistaken the correct size fresnel will drop in an area smaller then ground glass size so it does not change the position of registration.I know a few years back Jim at Mid-West had the correct frenels for sell and not unreasonable price.

[Neal Chaves]

There is a thin gray plastic material sold in the model railroad department of big hobby stores it is exactly the right thickness to use as spacer strips when mounting a plain ground glass in place of the ground glass/Fresnel combination in a Graphic focus panel. It is thinner than the plastic Fresnel, but if you replace the Fresnel with a spacer of the same thickness, focus on the film plane in the film holder will be off. The Fresnel is after all a lens. How it affects focus on the film plane is unknown to me but some of the smart guys on the forum will know the answer. I determined the thickness of the required spacer by measurement and lucked out when I found just the right stuff in the hobby shop. I don't like Fresnel lenses on the ground glass myself, especially with wide lenses so I wanted to remove it.

[williaty]

Thanks guys. Sounds like the next step (probably tomorrow afternoon) is to remove the current GG and Fresnel and see if the fresnel fits into the recess properly. It's pretty clearly all been messed with and cobbled together, so I'm not trusting anything is correct in it.

Ideally, what Louis says will turn out to be true and the GG itself registers against the frame. If that's the case, I can grind a new GG by hand and then leave the fresnel off. I'm one of the few who HATES permanently mounted fresnels. If that doesn't appear to be the case, then I'll use some sort of spacer to bring the T-depth back into ISO spec without the fresnel. I strongly prefer a plain GG to inspect individual areas on the image and for focusing. Sometimes, especially on 8x10, I'll hold a fresnel up against the GG to look at the entire composition at once, but I can't stand non-removable ones.

[LabRat]

On the Graflok back, grooved side towards lens, then Matt side of gg on lens side behind fresnel, then smooth side glass towards veiwer...

If you want to remove fresnel, there is a different spacing than the thickness of the fresnel, I have this configuration on my GVII, but offhand I think it was about .047", but I have check my notes and camera, but I found this info on graflex.org long ago, so check... (The Pacemaker Crown & Speed also use this same Fresnel and spacing...)

The old style spring back is different, that I think had no fresnel or spacing...

Good luck!!!

Steve K

[Jim Jones]

I believe the backs were freely interchangeable between the original Graphic View and the GVII. The former came only with a plain ground glass. For the latter, originally 4x5 and reducing 3.25 x 4.25 Graflex and Graphic backs were available. After 1955 only Graflok backs were provided. Since many of us swapped parts between the two GV models, you can't using the model to determine whether it used a GG or not. If it did, the Fresnel belongs on the lens side of the GG.

[RichSBV]

If you need or want it, the instruction manual and service manual are available here:

http://www.southbristolviews.com/pics/Graphic/graphicmanuals.html