Grafmatic : Pros and Cons?

[Bob Salomon]

What was causing the scratching Bob?

Linhof never told us. Just that they were scratching. Since we were not involved in their marketing or sales in the USA we never looked into it further.

[StoneNYC]

Snip... However since you've got to put a bit of force through the unit when you rack the drawer in and out when advancing the film it pays to secure the back with graflok sliders in addition to just sliding it under the ground glass, if you camera allows it (my Chamonix does). This prevents you from accidentally pulling the whole thing away from the camera when advancing the film, and hence fogging the film...snip

OMG is that what those are for?? I always thought they were only for using those roll film adapters that require you to remove the GG to attach... I never realized the sliders would work on holders WHILE the GG was in place.

Thanks!

[Jim Noel]

gotta shoot all six shots to process any of them is the only downside for me


I use them in 'the studio' with my TWR.. makes things go much faster and easier.. also..It's hard to double expose if you first check to see if it is on X

anyway.. I know that if I start a new one..I better have 5 more shots to take to finish it out for the session.

Exposing all sheets prior to developing those which have been exposed is not necessary. In the darkroom open the Grafmatic, remove the exposed sheets, replace the now empty sheaths and close the holder.

[EdSawyer]

I find them great, I have 6 of them, and other than the initial cleaning they all need, removing the number wheel, and a lubrication job, there's really no downsides. I wish they were cheaper and were still being made but other than that, they are great.

[StoneNYC]

I find them great, I have 6 of them, and other than the initial cleaning they all need, removing the number wheel, and a lubrication job, there's really no downsides. I wish they were cheaper and were still being made but other than that, they are great.

And here I am REPLACING the number wheels from the holders people had removed them, somehow I was able to track down two spare wheels someone had and dissembled mine and installed the wheels.... Stop taking them out!

[Sirius Glass]

And here I am REPLACING the number wheels from the holders people had removed them, somehow I was able to track down two spare wheels someone had and dissembled mine and installed the wheels.... Stop taking them out!

I use the number wheels too and I will not buy a Grafmatic without one.
I find the Grafmatics take some getting used to but a whole lot few problems than with the two film sheet holders.

[Henry Ambrose]

If you are shooting a lot of film at one set-up Grafmatics are wonderful. Especially if you want to shoot fast as in a group portrait. Also great for walking around handheld work with your Speed Graphic. If your photography calls for one or two shots per set-up then regular film holders may be more convenient. Its a lot easier to keep up with which film was shot how and when using regular holders. When that does not matter I much prefer Grafmatics.

[Tim Meisburger]

Well, just for a different perspective, I had one and never loved it. It was fiddly, and not really lighter than normal holders, and the six shot thing was restricting rather than liberating. I have a Crown Graphic, but never seemed to get into the LF rangefinder thing (I have a working XA), and my other (main) camera at the time was my first Ikeda Anba, and the Grafmatic was hard to mount, and working it on that very light 4x5 felt like it was stressing the entire camera body. In the end I sold it, and seem quite happy with regular holders. If Grafmatics were significantly lighter or significantly more compact I might feel differently, but they are not.

[StoneNYC]

I've physically weighted them, a single grafmatic is lighter than 3 fidelity holders.

I would venture to guess that maybe 3 Chamonix 4x5 holders might be slightly lighter than the graphmatics, but I don't own any that small so I can't say for sure.

It's more the space savings that's really the benefit.

OP, good luck! Give one a try!

I might sell one of mine, I can't get the wheel in it, someone broke the spoke that holds it when they ripped it out improperly instead of just dissembling it and lifting it out...

Do I really need 4 of them? That's 24 sheets! In a day that's a lot to shoot!

[David A. Goldfarb]

I have lots of them in 4x5" and 2x3" and I like them, mainly because they are a compact way of carrying a lot of film. I like the number wheels, which make it easier to line up film with notes after processing.

Kinematics hold 10 sheets, so they are even more compact, but they can be fiddly and are less solid than Grafmatics, but I still use them with caution, because it's 20 sheets in two holders.

You can take out sheets for processing before you use up the whole pack, but if I know I'll only need 1-4 sheets, I'll use regular filmholders.

I haven't had too many double exposure issues, and I suspect the likelihood isn't particularly greater than with regular holders, where you might inadvertantly put the darkslide back wrong side out, and make the same error by different means.