seeking question regarding Crown Graphic

[Terence Falk]

I recently purchased a Crown Graphic Special, serial number 977422, that came with a Schneider Xenar 135 mm f/4.7 lens. Can anyone tell me:
1) the date this camera was made and
2) Did this model originally come with a fresnel installed? It has only a ground glass now. I have trouble getting a sharp picture with this camera. I don't use the rangefinder to focus with, instead I simply focus on the ground glass like my other view camera. I have already checked the infinity stops and after focusing everything sharp, I adjusted them to insure they were in the right place. I was thinking that maybe this camera originally came with a fresnel, but it has since been removed, hence the focus problem. Or, I'm completely wrong. Any ideas?

[Glenn Thoreson]

In general, you can tell if it has a missing fresnel screen by lookng at the ground glass rtaining clips. When things are right the clips will lay flat with the screws snugged down. If it tilts in, the screen is gone. Is the ground side of the glass facing forward as it should be? It's not unheard of to find it installed backward. The final check is to compare the depth of the ground side of the glass, from the inside surface of the focus panel, to the depth of a sheet of film to the surface of a film holder. They should agree. If you are indeed missing aa fresnel screen, the glass needs to be shimmed back to account for the missing thickness. Or, either find a screen of buy a focus panel that is not machined to accomodate a screen. Panels came both ways.

[Michael Roberts]

1964

[Phil]

Camera date info:

http://www.graflex.org/speed-graphic/manufacturing-code.html

Fresnel info:

http://graflex.org/articles/sanz-cervera/

Lens date info:

http://www.schneideroptics.com/info/age_of_lenses/

[Lynn Jones]

Yes TF, it was 1964, 65, and possibly 66, a terrific camera and in 64 it sold list price for $165.00. The lens was one of the best tessar types made by Schneider. I owned one and used it for several years, selling it later for more than I paid for it. At the time I bought it, I worked for the original Calumet and wanted a 4x5 hand camera to go with my many available view cameras.

Lynn