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if you get one make sure you get a junker as a parts camera.
i've had a series d ( 4x5 ) for almost 20 years and have harvested parts off
of a junker i purchased a few months later. they aren't hard to take apart, fix
and put back together tweak the timing &c if you are careful ... and if you are lucky you can
get a bag mag that takes plates .. heavy as heck though ...
i've always wanted a home portrait 5x7 but somehow i opted to hold back ...
( and still sort of want one ... )
I shoot 4x5 and 5x7 with Graflex SLR cameras and for portraiture they are great. I've acquired old beater cameras and have restored the shutters and modified the viewfinders by removing the hoods. the cameras no longer resemble black boxes, but they are a joy to use in the studio with either available light or flash. I am constantly amazed at how simple and functional the design of the Graflex SLRs are. And they are not so difficult to repair as long as the springs are intact. I use the old Graflex style backs on my cameras and mainly use 18 sheet cut film magazines. I've never had any issues at all with dust in either the cameras or the magazines. These cameras are marvelous for anyone interested in customization.
Could you attached some images of your cameras? I would love to see what you did.Quote:
Originally Posted by skuuterboy
agreed, they are great, and very versatile. a good platform for mods, and common enough to not feel bad about modifying one.
I have the 5x7 Graflex Series B and the focal plane shutter still works fine. Need to adapt the back to take modern 5x7 or 4x5 film holders - has anyone done that?
I have done it, or rather I asked the Grimes boys to do it for me. Description is here.Quote:
Originally Posted by djdister
Attachment 124377
Here is a shot of my primary 4x5 studio camera which has in the rear a modified Graflex RB Series B camera and a modified Toyo G front standard. I put this camera together to accommodate a 2.5/306mm Aero Ektar lens which I use for portraits with both daylight and strobe. I use mainly 12 sheet or 18 sheet cut film magazines and don't have any trouble with dust or scratches.
Attachment 124378
This is a modified early Auto Graflex non-rb 4x5 which has a 7" Aero Ektar lens and is my primary travel 4x5. I stripped the cracked and dried rubber coating off the original curtain and recoated it with black acrylic ink and it works just fine now. I get shutter speeds ranging from about 1/4 secand to about 1/300.
Great looking mods skuuterboy!
Attachment 124384
Thanks Tim. This is a non-RB Series B 5x7 with a 12 sheet cut film magazine onto which I have mounted a Buhl 2.5/240mm projection triplet lens. I made a shorter custom hood for this camera and have a magnifying eyepiece which sits atop the hood for precision focusing. This camera was made in 1924.
Stunning!Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Greenberg Motamedi
I knew Kodak aero 305 lens size.
Could you show show few results?
Quote:
Originally Posted by skuuterboy
Well, this is discouraging. I have been lurking on Ebay looking for another Graflex. I guess things will be getting picked off fast for a few weeks now, with this inspiring thread running!
Your Graflex hacks/mods are truly beautiful and amazing, excellent work!Quote:
Originally Posted by skuuterboy
Thanks Dan. I've generally ended up with Graflex cameras in really bad shape so I've not felt bad about working on them to make them more useful.
Agreed, brilliantly crafted stuff there. Frst person I have heard of that is using the 305/2.5 AE also!
I've got one in a closet somewhere....I'll have to dig it out and take a look.
It's an RB Series D Graflex with a Graflex cut film magazine.
Here is a sample shot with the 2.5/305 Aero Ektar on my modified Graflex/monorail camera.
Attachment 124479
Nicely done!Quote:
Originally Posted by skuuterboy
That shot and lens may bring me back to 4x5.Quote:
Originally Posted by skuuterboy
Great work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by skuuterboy
how did you get it to sync with strobe?
Thanks for the compliments on this portrait I posted. It was shot using window light in my studio at about 1/30" which is my standard exposure in the studio.
The shutter winding escutcheon on my studio graflex has an aftermarket flash sync bi-post socket and so I simply attach a sync cord and shoot with the tension at 6 and the shutter in the "O" (open) setting.
so..the shutter is open when the mirror flips up and the flash goes off before the curtain starts down ?Quote:
Originally Posted by skuuterboy
interesting
does the mirror block out light to the film effectively? would this work outside (in sunlight)?
questions, questions
The mirror functions very effectively as a light trap in a Graflex SLR so it would work outside. The flash is triggered by the mirror reaching the top of its swing and simultaneously the curtain falls down to end the exposure. the time is about 1/5" and I use this setting for non-flash images in low available light with the camera on a tripod, of course.
thanks..good to knowQuote:
Originally Posted by skuuterboy
Finally got a grip on how these work, next I need a hand le on one .
Randy, do you have an AE lens?Quote:
Originally Posted by Randy Moe
m
This is my Mentor 9x12, which I have very crudely adapted to shoot instant film with. Hard cardboard and a filed down Norma back, attached with double-sided tape. The modification is reversible. It is fun to use, but I do not feel comfortable with hand-holding it.
Christoph
Attachment 125516Attachment 125515
Wow, that's big. I can see why that could be a handful, hand-held. Is that Norma back 4x5? Looks to be...
Don't let Mark Sawyer put you off. There's nothing more fun to use than a Graflex slr. I have several, in sizes from 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 up to 5x7. There was a period of about 3-4 years when the only camera I used was a 5x7 Auto Graflex. It's true that you will, in general, have to buy some slotted film holders in the right size. However, that isn't that difficult to do on ebay. I've picked up 20-30 in each of the sizes I use. I also have a Series D that has been converted so I can use normal 4x5 film holders. I prefer the cameras that use the slotted film holders because they're easier to change with one hand than the regular film holders. As for problems focusing without a loupe, it's simple. I carry a lens of the right focal length (depends on the height of your camera's hood) mounted on a small chessboard. I just let it set on the top of the hood and adjust the focus to razor sharpness. When you have a 5x7 ground glass to focus on,plus a magnifier you'd be surprised how sharp a negative you can get. My favorite Graflex slr's are the 4x5 and 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 Super-D's (with auto diaphragm), the RB Auto Graflexes in the same sizes (these have longer bellows for close-up), the afore-mentioned 5x7 Auto Graflex. If you get a 3 1/4 x4 1/4 you won't have a lot of film choices, unless you cut film down from 4x5. I use Kodak Electron Image Film in 3 1/4 x 4 (not 4 1/4). I expose it at AS A 6 and develop it in Diafine. It's extremely low grain (a poor man's Tech Pan). ( Note that this was about the normal film speed back around 1910. The cameras were generally used with the diaphragm wide open. That lead to the characteristic Graflex photo look of a sharp subject and shallow death of field. ) I've picked up a few thousand sheets on ebay and I'm set for life. If there are any other complaints about Graflex slr's, I haven't found them objectionable enough to keep me from enjoying mine.Quote:
Originally Posted by arca andy
Here's my Plaubel Makiflex, just found the original Eyelevel Viewfinder Hood for it.
Shown with the 250mm Rodenstock Imagon (in barrel mount) and "tube system"
from China, and the Plaubel 9x12cm Plate Film Back.
Practically unheard-of monster on ebay.fr. Most of the Studs that turn up there are 4x5 TLRs. Not mine and AFAIK I'm not acquainted with the seller.
http://www.ebay.fr/itm/Chambre-camer...-/371212201445
The 'STUD'. That thing is awesome. How much is that in real money?Quote:
Originally Posted by Dan Fromm
It makes a Gowlandflex look like a toy.
I feel so so....
That Stud is 9x12 cm, not 9x12 inches. A bit smaller than 4x5. :(
OK, I forgot a comma is actually the decimal point in EU nomenclature.
1500 EU is not insane, not free, but a very cool camera.
I seem to have acquired quite a few LF Reflex cameras in the past year or so, most are borderline LF as they are Quarter plate, the latest is a Butcher Pressman which the seller let me have cheap for the lens a TTH Cooke Lustar (the famous Cooke triplet) in excellent condition. Surprisingly the Pressman shutter is like the Graflex with a choice of 3 slit widths and different tensions, Most UK SLR's have two separate shutter curtains a constant tension and the slit width between the two curtains is latered like modern cloth shuttered MF & 35mm cameras.
Earlier in the thread I mentioned I have a postcard sized reflex Graflex, I've realised that modern 4x5 DDS (film holders) will fit with very minor adaptation but the gate will crop the images, however I should be able to use 9x12 DDS with no cropping at the film gate, the two holders are the same outside dimensions. Graflex cameras are easy tom work on, the mechanism is quite simple.
Just need to get my new workshop up and running . . . . . . .
Ian
I have a Graflex Series B 5x7 (non-rotating back) camera in good working condition, and a Graflex RB Jr. 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 with a Cooke lens. The lens is a bit long for the camera - maybe a 6 inch, and can barely focus on infinity, and the back seems to have a bad light leak when used with a rollfilm back, but I'm not getting rid of it anytime soon. Assuming I can figure out the light leak problem, I really need the "normal" lens for the RB Jr, if someone knows what the standard issue lens was. The Cooke lens is really pretty though...
The 5x7 works just fine, just have to do something about those slotted film holders.
I am going to count myself lucky to have 3 Speed Graphics with well working FP shutters. 2x3, 3x4 and 4x5. I don't want to fiddle with any others, but I do know some here repair them. I cringe every time I fire one. The double reverse shutters could be double the pleasure. :)
Heh... but did you see the two 8x10 Gowlandflexes that were on eBay recently?Quote:
Originally Posted by Randy Moe
I saw one, but not 2. I am working on 4x5 Gowlandflex today.The new lens boards were completed yesterday by Zimba of Chicago.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oren Grad
Most excellent!Quote:
Originally Posted by Randy Moe
According to Richard Paine in his book "Review of Graflex", the Revolving Back Graflex Junior had three choices of lens (in 1915):Quote:
Originally Posted by djdister
B&L Kodak Anastigmat f6.3, #3
B&L Tessar Series Ic f4.5, #15
Cooke Series II f4.5, #2
In the text on the RB Junior, Paine says "Though normally equipped with very long lenses in relation to its film size, samples have been found fitted with the B&L Tessar Ic #14, which provided a greater focusing range." Looking at the 1920 B&L catalog on Camera Eccentric http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/...schlomb_3.html page 57, the Tessar Ic #15 is a 6 1/2" focal length and the #14 is a 5 1/2" focal length.
Len
After my previous post I found the 1916 Graflex catalog on Camera Eccentric http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/...raflex_20.html which on page 21 shows the RB Junior.
Len
Thanks for that link, my Graflex is the 3½"x5½" Compact Graflex which is stated to need a minimum focal length of 6". That means my TT&H 5¾" Cooke Luxor may not be long enough (I mistakenly called it a Lustar in pst #85 here). I have 3 of these Series II 5¾" Cooke Triplets, one is marked as a TT&H 5¾" T-P Cooke Anastigmat - it's fitted to a Thornton Pickard Ruby Reflex. I just checked and these lenses will cover 5"x4"
Ian