New article by David Karp: The Pacemaker Crown Graphic 4X5 as a field camera

[QT Luong]

A new article by David Karp,
The Pacemaker Crown Graphic 4X5 as a field camera (http://www.largeformatphotography.info/cameras/pacemaker/) has been posted. Please feel free to leave any constructive
comments in this thread.

[Christopher Nisperos]

Thanks, Dave, for another good article. The Crown Graphic is a fine camera worth keeping alive.

The lens can tilt forward just by not "correcting" the lensboard when you drop the bed.

[Jim Rhoades]

Thanks Q.T. for the link and thanks Dave for the article. This question of movements for a Crown Graphic comes up often. Just this past week was a question of who still uses the back tilt front standard.

To me the question is; do you really think you know more about camera design than the people at Graflex 70 years ago? Or the photographer’s that have been using them for the same amount of time? Those experts considered it the King of cameras.

When you need front tilt to focus you will be using a tripod. The amount of time to drop the bed and raise and tilt the lens board is insignificant. This is still much faster than setting up a field camera. By reversing the front standard you loose the ability to tilt the rear back as well as wide angle lens use.

Down and dirty swing: If you drop the bed then run the front standard off the track, raise the bed, pull it out to the infinity stops, adjust the swing then gaffer tape the front standard to the rails. Fine focus and shoot. This will not work in the wind but it will work. When there’s a will there’s a way.

The though of taking a file to a good front standard repulses me. (Front and rear tilt) Reversing the standard cuts the flexibility of a Graflex by more than half. Learn to use the camera the right way.

[David Karp]

Jim,

I never claimed to know more about the camera than the designers. I talk about using the the drop bed, front tilt back, and front rise to accomplish front tilt in the article. Personally, I would prefer simple front tilt. Perhaps others did too, and that is why the Super Graphic was designed with front tilt also.

I did not advocate reversing the front standard or taking a file to the camera. I have not done this to my camera. I just made the information available in case someone else wants to do so. Obviously some people do, because they they did it.

Thanks for the suggestion about the swing. I had not heard that one before. It is not something I would plan to do, but others might.

I think that I know how to use the camera in "the right way." Everything you describe is a workaround to making a press camera work as a field camera. That is one of the points of my article. I like my camera. It is fun to use. It is easy to use in many respects, and difficult in others. Its just that the difficult parts are the ones where we are working around the fact that the camera was designed primarily for press use. I believe that my article fairly discusses those issues.

Of course, modern versions (and direct descendents) of the Crown, or perhaps more accurately, the Super Graphic, are the Toyo field cameras. These have front tilt, front shift, and the AII and AX have some rear movements too. Further refinements on a great camera. Of course, these refinements take away from the camera's ability for handheld use.

[Jim Rhoades]

Dave, Sorry, I did not mean you personally. Just by your fine article and photo's you are showing the Graphic world how to do it right. (Beddrop) My point is that modifying (reversing) a Crown will reduce the cameras usefulness not increase it. Filing the front standard will only weaken a tough camera. I wish photographer's would just drop the damn bed, it only takes seconds.

I too would like a simple front tilt. And rotating back, with front and rear swing and...

[gfen]

You can replicate swing by simply mounting it via the side tripod socket and suddenly all the tilts become swings, as well as still having limited rise/fall on the front standard (since its no longer a front shift on its side!).

[Christopher Nisperos]

Hi Dave, I'm back to repeat: the Crown Graphic does have front tilt. In your article, you said:

"Even though the front standard does not tilt forward, it is possible to achieve a front tilt by combining two movements. First, apply the drop bed. Next, apply the back tilt, but not all the way back. Stop tilting back when your lens achieves the desired amount of forward tilt."

This is not just a little trick you happened to find. It was deliberately designed that way. Don't need to turn the camera upside-down. Don't need to reverse the front standard. Nothin'. In the words of the eloquent Jim Rhoades, "just drop the damn bed, it only takes seconds".

Another point: To obtain the most from your movements, the Graflex folks used to suggest using the next longest focal length lens (I suppose that meant longer than 135mm, since that was the lens typically supplied with the camera).

[David Karp]

Christopher,

Didn't claim it was a trick I happened to find - never said that. I know it was designed that way. It just does not work like other field cameras in this regard. I was just describing how to do it, and I feel that my description is accurate.

Perhaps you would have preferred I wrote, "Unlike other cameras, including the Super Graphic, the Crown Graphic does not include a provision for tilting the front standard forward in small increments without combining movements. You can however, accomplish an extreme front tilt by simply dropping the bed. Most situations do not call for such an extreme amount of front tilt. To accomplish less than the maximum front tilt, you must first drop the bed, then apply front tilt backward until you reach the desired amount of front tilt. You may also need to apply some front rise, depending on your situation."

Either way, it is an accurate description of how to accomplish front tilt with a Crown Graphic.

Personally, I prefer a mechanism where you can just tilt the front over the method used in the Crown. And its not just a matter of dropping the bed, unless you want extreme tilt. It is a matter of making two or three movements to accomplish what you can do with other field cameras by just tipping the front standard forward, which is the procedure that only takes seconds. Apparently Graflex thought front tilt by just tilting the front standard was a good idea too, since they included this feature in the later Super Graphic and Super Speed Graphic.

[Bill_1856]

I've often wondered why they had that rather elaborate mechanism for rear tilt. (It is necessary for changing the cam in a top RF camera, but that came 20 years after the Pacemaker was first introduced). Has anybody tested it with a 90mm lens to see if the front door really does have to be dropped to keep it from blocking part of the (horizontal format) picture.

[Christopher Nisperos]

Sorry Dave. You're right. I should have asked, "Did you know..". And, yes. Your description of the manoeuvre was accurate. That was never the question and I never said otherwise.

My point is that your text makes the feature seem haphazard. If you did know that it was deliberate feature, OK...but that is not made clear, that's all. No big.

And, yes, I would've preferred the version you've included above (if a bit simpler), although it looks strangely like something I've seen before.

The bottom line is — helping the uninitiated learn the qualities of this great camera, isn't it? So, in all, thanks and congratulations for improving an already good article!

[Jim Rhoades]

Bill: I use a 90mm Optar and it just clears the front of the bed. Just, by maybe 1/8 of an inch or less. Another Optar might be blocked. A Schneider, who knows. YMMV.

Christopher; I think Dave did an outstanding job in his “accurate description” of using forward tilt. The problem is there are a lot of us “Graphic Avengers” out here who are tired of guys taking pliers, files and hacksaws to a nice Graflex to try to make a press camera into a technical or field camera. Or ruin the versatility by reversing the standard. If more people read his article and begin to understand how the camera works and what the limits are there will be less camera abuse.

In the horizontal, landscape mode the camera will do 95 percent of what you need. It has, rise, fall, shift, forward and rear tilt as well as rear standard tilt if so desired. And yes even my down and dirty swing. The lenses have limited coverage but they are so light.

When I don’t want to backpack my field camera, I can carry the Crown a 90mm, 135mm, and 207mm lens, three series 6 filters and shade plus holders & meter in a pretty small bag. The camera is damn near bullet proof. Not so, my Zone VI or Dorff. Eloquent? Nobody’s ever accused me of that before. Take it back. :-)

[Bill_1856]

I just tried my Schneider Angulon f:6.8 (mounted on a flat lens board) on both the Crown and Speed Graphics, and to my surprise the front door wasn't visible at infinity on either of them (close, though, on the Speed). Another great feature of the Graphics, Jim, is that taking a big-old clumsy 6-7 pound tripod is optional, if you have the correct viewfinder masks and infinity stops for the lenses.

[John McDevitt]

Thanks for the article Dave. I'm a newbie in more ways than one. I just signed up with the forum yesterday, I'm new to LF, and I am waiting patiently (not!) for the Crown Graphic that I snagged on ebay. I think the Crown will be my best intro into LF photography at a price I can afford.

[David Karp]

John,

Good luck with your new camera. It is hard to beat the combination of value and quality you get in a Crown Graphic. I think you will enjoy large format. Keep looking at largeformatphotography.info. It has a wealth of information. Also check out www.graflex.org. Congratulations.

[mick boyce]

hi dave, great article. when i first started in large format, i thought i would someday want to move up to a linhof after learning the format on my humble crown graphic. now after having handled both, i stick with the crown. you said in your article that you do not use your camera handheld because it lacks a rangefinder. mine lacks a rangefinder as well, but i very much wanted to go handheld. so, after several false starts involving CAD generated focusing scales, i found an accurate foolproof way to focus w/o rangefinder. i epoxied a cheap 8x agfa loupe to the center of the groundglass, masked the eyepiece of the loupe with tape and painted the exposed and transparent glass/loupe skirt with flat black paint. it works magnificently. i can stand in sunlight and focus on an interior-the image is bright enough. i can do a depth of field preview down to about f32. focus is always accurate-no cams or other gizmos to let me down. no cams to change. i would reccomend this technique to anyone who wants to go handheld with their graphic and has no rangefinder or mistrusts it's accuracy. mick boyce

[Les Newcomer]

I used a 90mm f6.8 Angulon on a Crown for a couple of years while shooting construction. In my case the bed showed up every time I fogot to drop it.

I never set inf stops for it, rather I would drop the bed, run the standard out until it ran into the dropped bed and locked it. since the 90 needs very little throw for focusing the linked rails provided ample movement, and it brought the standard out just enough out of the body to give me rise without sacraficing the sport finder.

As to the shortest lens a Crown can focus. I have a 58mm Grandagon and a 65mm f8 SA in a helical mount, on flat boards that focuses to infinity without a problem (getting cams for them is another story ;-) I have also that it can focus a 47mm SA, to be used with a roll back obviously. I have yet to confirm that.

Les Newcomer moderator, Graflex.org helpboard

[Lloyd Lim]

I use a Digitar 120 on my crown graphic and it is a pain to drop the bed to get front tilt. This is because the flange distance for the 120mm is just right at the hinge of the bed and after dropping the bed, I cannot move the front standard enough to focus on infinity... What I want to say is that the only way out is to reverse the standard, so that I can get forward tilt without dropping the bed. There are cases where it is necessary to reverse the standard... :)

[Alex Hawley]

Great article Dave. Its amazing how the Graphics keep soldiering on and on and on. That speaks for itself I think.

[Jim Rhoades]

Les; After reading your comment about the bed showing up with the use of a 90mm I measured the distance to my infinity stop. The rear of my stop is 5/8 of an inch out on the front focusing rail. This is measured with my scale set on infinity for a 135mm lens. I have stops set for 90, 135 and 203 mm. lenses. I keep my rangefinder set for the 135. If I go to a 90 or 203 lens I pull it out to the pre-set stop. With the scale set on infinity, for a scenic I would not have to focus. I wonder if what you have seen in your photo's is the forward section of the focusing rails and not the bed? Of course I may have a true 92mm and you a 88mm. That's why we always have to test. The downside of this is that front standard base straddles the hinge so I can't use bed drop. With the almost non-existing coverage of the Optar this is no loss. I can still set it on the rear rail and use the drop but why bother?

Lloyd, You make my point. The Graphic was not designed for wide coverage wide angle lenses. Can you make it work? Sure, but now you have limited the versitilty for other lenses. You are in the 5% of the time when you need a monorail or field camera with full movements and maybe even bag bellows.

[Peter Lerman]

I love my Crown Graphic. Since this is, in fact, a press camera it is most surprising that it has any movements at all. I rarely use them.

I keep a 135mm Symmar-S mounted in my CG. It folds neatly into the camera. I have used a Fujinon SW 90mm on this camera and it is just fantastic. The 90mm f/6.8 Angulon is good too but manages to include the drop bed along the bottom of the frame.

The camera can be re-built by a semi-talented amatuer (like me). I replaced the two mirrors in the rangefinder and adjusted the thing myself for the Symmar. It works great. I cleaned and lubed the focusing rails and re-set the infinity stops. The thing is just terrific and has truly amazing capabilities for a camera you can find everywhere for under $300.

[Lloyd Lim]

I have both an Arca Swiss F-line and a Crown Graphic. For studio shots and for shots near to the car, the AS wins hands down...

However, when I'm on holiday and backpacking, the Crown Graphic wins. It can be folded with a lens, ready to take photos in like 10 seconds (I always have it set up with a grafmatic or roll film back and focused with the "f32 - 16 ft to infinity method" or the rangefinder, if there is more time.) Together with a kalart rangefinder, I don't have to mess around with cams etc. The whole system is ready to photograph with a 120mm lens. For my other lens, I just use the ground glass or estimate. I can use a smaller tripod and the whole package is better protected and less bulky in my backpack. BTW, I have used this with a Gitzo table top tripod, and it is still easy to focus (tip: carry a small comb with an attached mirror, so that the ground glass image can directed upwards like a tlr.)

Are there any other cameras that can do this? sure, you have the toho, linhof technika etc but each of them has issues with cost, speed of setup, handholdability, ability to use horseman/graflex type roll film backs. All in all, this is the best compromise.

so for a camera that costs me $81 (at that auction site), I can purchase a very very good lens to go along (digitar 120) and still have a whole package that costs less than a toho sans lens.

I agree, there are many restrictions, as spoken of above, drop bed for reverse tilt, no swings, little shifts and rise, no revolving back...

I think of it as a large format point and shoot, and a restricted field camera for the times when I don't want to, or cannot, mess around with a proper field/do it all camera :)

For myself, I find this philosophy of a "everything, but kitchen sink" photography distracting as I have to keep track of a lot of stuff, carry much heavier loads and detract from my enjoyment of the scenery and photography, all for something which would take maybe 1% of the specialized photos which I might not have gotten.

my 2 cents....

[Stephen Adams]

I am very new to the larger formats, and photography as a whole, but one thing has definitely stood out about the Graphic line of cameras of which I now have a wonderful and useable collection, and that is the fact that for a minimal price I learned more in a couple months than in two years of reading and packing around a modern 35mm. I probably paid too much for my Crown 4x5 (200.00) and was disenchanted when it arrived all corroded and dirty, but after some research and TLC, the thing is in near mint cond complete with the RF light working and the RF calibrated to match the stock 135 Optar. At first the shear size of it was intimidating, but its mechanics are simple. I haven't used it much because I am a starving student and prefer to indulge my habit with the more economical 2x3 Graphics which I will be packing all over the Sierra and Utah this coming season. As I have been told, in large format there is no scenery more than a hundred yards from the highway, and may pack the Crown in the car if I can afford a supply of film. If I were to want a lot of movement, I would use the 2x3 roll back and would be hard pressed to be off the image circle using it in the smaller format using a 90, 135, or 162 Optar. It is really something to take the Crown out and shoot it hand held. I liken it to pointing an old typewriter at something. It is really not that heavy, and the weight is well ballenced with the 135 on board. I am anxious to take it out and do some sailing photography with it. I doubt there are too many people shooting 4x5 negatives on the water. Got a polarizer set up on a slip adapter just for this, and it will work on all my vintage camera lenses that are 1-1/4 to 1-3/4 dia. Thus, for my current abillities, interests, and economics, the Crown was an easy choice. Even without the RF I could use it handheld now that I understand the focussing scales, something I did not learn using a 35 on semi auto and even manual. While I do not take it out very often, when I do, it is a very gratifying experience, if not a bit nostalgic. Though some may not necessarily assign the press cameras to the realm of field cameras, I do, for what could be more in the field than photo-journalism, and or having to jump out of a car and start making exposures imediatetly. The way I see it, field work is field work, one uses what they have while in the field. This being the case, I think there are an awfull lot of people that have used Graphics that will attest to its adaptability to many situations whether on a rock solid tripod with a dark cloth or in the point and shoot mode. Movements may be nice every once and a while, as mentioned above, but my limited experience suggests that many an incredible image require speed and this is the realm of the Graphics. Besides, who would worry about tilts and swings when straddling a chainlink fence to get a shot over a tree or so on? It is a real camera with a real nitch, and it is in the field where this camera comes into its own, and based on this argument, but not to be argumentative, I think perhaps the definition of the field camera had perhaps been missleading. I have never heard of a "Combat Horseman", but there have been many a Graphic at or near the front of far too many wars. I can not at this time think of anything more "field" than a battlefield. I have had my Graphics in rain, snow, and sand storms, but so far thankfully no battles. I brush it off and it is fine. My modern Zooms and electronics were fairly ruined after one summer of dirt roads and a couple backpack trips. In the end, personal preference will prevail, but for me, I like rugged and dependable as opposed to expensive and fragile. Regards, Stephen Adams

[David Karp]

Hi all,

I was looking on the web for some information on my Crown Graphic and found a technique that this photographer uses to get front tilt forward on his Crown.

www.redrocks.net/equipment/camera/crown.html

This photographer puts his camera on the side tripod socket, then flips the tripod head on its side, thus turning the camera upside down. Then he uses the back tilt, which has become a forward tilt due to the camera's upside down position.

Not advocating it, just adding another option for users of this camera.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

This photographer puts his camera on the side tripod socket, then flips the tripod head on its side, thus turning the camera upside down. Then he uses the back tilt, which has become a forward tilt due to the camera's upside down position.



Are you sure that is the reason? he was probably trying to put the image right side up...:)



Just Kidding Dave. I loved my Crown, sadly tight times forced me to sell it.

[Ernest Purdum]

Occasionally, someone has added a tripod screw mounting socket to the top osf a camera. Obviously this is not for the top rangefinder Crowns, but it might add to the versatility of a side rangefinder type.



From all the interest in Dave's article, it looks like there might be a small market for conversion parts to add full front movements to a Crown. Something fairly simple like the front standard of a B&J wooden flatbed should do and the tooling costs would be minimal.

[David Finch]

Great article! I really enjoyed it.

There's a fashion photographer in NYC who sells the hand-built "Littman 45 Single." It's a refurbished and heavily modified Polaroid 110 outfitted for 4x5 with a choice of normal lenses (e.g., a 127/4.7 Rodenstock Ysarex). The price? Merely $3,000 and up. No movements to speak of, but so what? The Littman offers the revolutionary possibility of hand-held 4x5 photography. That's why, according to a blurb in American Photo magazine, the Littman is the choice of Bruce Weber, Patrick Demarchelier, etc., et al.

I have an even more revolutionary idea. Start with the Littman concept and take it further. Take a fine, light-weight mahogany chassis off of a high-end field camera. Cover it in leather and reinforce the locking edges in steel. Attach a metal folding bed and a flat, retractable lens stack. Carefully configure all optical dimensions so that you can affix featherweight lenses (with small image circles) and still provide a few rudimentary front movements without vignetting the 4x5 negative. Put on not one, not two, but three viewfinders, plus a fine-focusing cammed rangefinder and a ground-glass back. Make the camera so light, solid, and reliable that you could use it to take hand-held combat shots at Iwo Jima. Keep the whole thing (with lens) under 5 lbs.

Call it the Crown Graphic. Sell it for $350.00.

Impossible.

[alban christ]

sorry i have a crown graphic and its nice i use it on a tripod but the LITTMAN is trully a marvel I shoot fashion and landscapes hand held with it for 3 years now and I will get a second camera. I have a gallery of the images I made with it on his site. there is no comparison between the LITTMAN and anything else