grafmatics

[luis a de santos]

Could anybody give me an idea of how much to pay for a grafmatic these days?.

Something in good shape

[Lachlan 717]

$70-$100.

[popdoc]

Less than $65 or less is fair if you’re patient ...


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[Greg]

Just make sure the Grafmatic is returnable. Many sellers are totally unfamiliar with them... Returned two that were described to be in EXC condition, but both were totally unusable.

[Mark Sampson]

Buy the cleanest ones you can find. Bent septums should be a deal killer. If a previous owner has removed the frame counter, so much the better.
I went through two rounds of using them, years apart, and after many lost images I gave up on them forever. That's just me though; one of my teachers used them on the job, successfully, for decades.

[agregov]

They're the worst when they get stuck in the open position in the field (cycling the magazine to a new septum and getting stuck). I recall on a thread once Bob Salomon found them too unreliable to sell at retail when they were still available. Apparently, there were US and German made versions and the US made ones were the most unreliable. But there was no way to tell the difference between the two.

I continue to scale back my use of them. They're just too old at this point. Unless you don’t mind reconditioning them yourself or buying 3-4 to find 1 that works, it would probably be better to skip them. If you don’t want to deal with lots of film holders in the field, then perhaps shoot with a roll film back.

[Bob Salomon]

They're the worst when they get stuck in the open position in the field (cycling the magazine to a new septum and getting stuck). I recall on a thread once Bob Salomon found them too unreliable to sell at retail when they were still available. Apparently, there were US and German made versions and the US made ones were the most unreliable. But there was no way to tell the difference between the two.

I continue to scale back my use of them. They're just too old at this point. Unless you don’t mind reconditioning them yourself or buying 3-4 to find 1 that works, it would probably be better to skip them. If you don’t want to deal with lots of film holders in the field, then perhaps shoot with a roll film back.

No, there were only US made ones. We were purchasing them from the last factory in FL to make them. We were buying them for Linhof and we sent all supplied to us to the Linhof factory in Germany. Upon receipt Linhof inspected and tested them and found better then 70% were defective and sent them back to us for return for credit to the factory. Needless to say, neither credit or improved ones were ever supplied to us or to Linhof!

[LabRat]

I think that they are a bit heavy, I don't like when I change my mind or the scene changes and the slide has been pulled, that it is difficult to get back to the unused sheet, and if I only shoot a couple of sheets then, it's hard to locate just the exposed sheets for processing... But can be good for travel, portrait, or location work where a larger #of sheets are needed...

Steve K

[Alan9940]

I have 6 of them and never had a single issue using 'em, but... A couple of considerations: 1) in my experience, the backs on many cameras don't open quite wide enough to easily slide the holder in, and 2) it's really not much savings with regard to convenience, space, or weight over 3 standard double-sided holders. Plus, as someone already pointed out its difficult to keep track of and find one particular sheet of film; for example, one sheet in the middle needs plus development.

[Bernice Loui]

Have two Grafmatics that were new in box purchased decades ago. Neither ever gave any problems when they were used. Think what happens with Grafmatics, the majority of them have been used a LOT and they have problems due to wear and abuse. All sorts of things can go wrong with them, from bent film carriers, to wore out guides, counters that stop rotating and more. Then there is the dust problem. When they are good, they are very nice to use and convent in many ways.

Overal mechanical condition is key for purchasing these as IMO, the vast majority are wore out or have mechanical problems today. Some of the Grafmatics offered for sale should have been scrapped decades ago due to their condition, but they find their way to users who discover a pile of problems with them resulting in a bad reputation for Grafmatics.

Stopped using them a long time ago when the 4x5 got essentially parked, they might still have film in them.


Bernice