School me on press cameras.

[Oren Grad]

Here's a head and shoulders photograph of my daughter with her horse.

I think some of us are talking past each other because we have different definitions for "environmental portrait". I'll leave it at that unless the OP chooses to elaborate on what he means by it. Then it will be clearer which of our perspectives are relevant to his purposes.

[Tin Can]

Try, https://graflex.org/

I read somewhere that the Crowns with the top-mounted rangefinders can have a fine-tuning adjustment, but now I can't find where I read it. Do you know if the top-mounted Crowns can be adjusted? I understand they use the cam mated to the lens, but I read somewhere you can fiddle with the linkage to more accurately fine tune the system.

[Oren Grad]

Sounds very interesting. I did a search on Ebay and found a few very confusing offers for conversions. Who would you recommend? Can you provide me with a link? Thanks for the suggestion!

My favorite conversion shop at the moment is this one - I'll point to his 4x5 page:

http://www.instantoptions.com/shop/4x5/

I'll add the disclaimer that the project Nate did for me was adapting an Instax Wide 300 with a view camera lens, not a 4x5 conversion. But the quality of the work and the clarity of communication along the way were first rate.

I forgot to mention one other advantage of the Polaroid conversions: you can get a combined VF/RF, so that you don't have the problem of maintaining precise focus while switching between separate VF and RF windows.

[Fred L]

I had the conversion that used the spring back, but found it stuck out too far, and being four eyed, wasn't able to get close enough to the viewfinder. Also found the springs got in the way. Work was good and it was simplest conversion. Ended up getting a Byron conversion which I find much easier to use. Also allows interchangeable lenses so I can throw a 90 Angulon on it if I need that view.

Not sure if Daniel is still converting but this is his site.

http://salihonbashome.blogspot.com/p...n-service.html

[Arcus]

I had the conversion that used the spring back, but found it stuck out too far, and being four eyed, wasn't able to get close enough to the viewfinder. Also found the springs got in the way. Work was good and it was simplest conversion. Ended up getting a Byron conversion which I find much easier to use. Also allows interchangeable lenses so I can throw a 90 Angulon on it if I need that view.

Not sure if Daniel is still converting but this is his site.

http://salihonbashome.blogspot.com/p...n-service.html

Wow, I took a look at his site. He does nice work. The cost is about twice what the other fellow charges though.

I sent him an email to inquire. Thanks for the info!

[AuditorOne]

I have two Crowns, one with a 135mm Optar and the other with the 127mm Ektar. Both use Kalart rangefinder and both are plenty accurate from 4 foot and beyond. Other than the perspective I really cannot see the difference between the Optar or the Ektar. Both are great little lenses.

To be honest I have far less trouble with the rangefinders (both are Kalarts) and would be more concerned about shutter speed accuracy on those old Graphex shutters.

I find both cameras to be loads of fun and very easy to use. I have used the one with the 135mm Optar for cub scout outings and always have gotten terrific shots. Most of the time when I am working with those active little youngsters I am using my depth of focus to best advantage so I'm not always trying to focus on each one of them but I have also used the rangefinder with great success.

I have never used the Polaroid conversions but they will likely be very nice as well.

[Bob Salomon]

I have two Crowns, one with a 135mm Optar and the other with the 127mm Ektar. Both use Kalart rangefinder and both are plenty accurate from 4 foot and beyond. Other than the perspective I really cannot see the difference between the Optar or the Ektar. Both are great little lenses.

To be honest I have far less trouble with the rangefinders (both are Kalarts) and would be more concerned about shutter speed accuracy on those old Graphex shutters.

I find both cameras to be loads of fun and very easy to use. I have used the one with the 135mm Optar for cub scout outings and always have gotten terrific shots. Most of the time when I am working with those active little youngsters I am using my depth of focus to best advantage so I'm not always trying to focus on each one of them but I have also used the rangefinder with great success.

I have never used the Polaroid conversions but they will likely be very nice as well.

Just for accuracy, changing the focal length of your lenses has nothing to do with perspective. The only thing that changes perspective is the angle of the camera to the subject.
To prove it,take two shots from exactly the same camera position and print them so that the subject is the same size in each. See, no change in perspective. The only difference between the two shots is field size.

[AuditorOne]

Thanks Bob. You are certainly right of course. Obviously that wasn't the right term to use here.

But short of moving the camera or cropping the result I do get a different field of view with each lens.

And both are actually very nice views...depending on the subject matter of course.

[EdSawyer]

Actually, the lightest with rangefinder is the Chamonix Saber (conversion/rebuild), it's far lighter than the 900-based conversions like the Byron. Speaking of which, the Byron is easily head and shoulders above the rest of the pack, when it comes to 110/900 type conversions.

Sounds very interesting. I did a search on Ebay and found a few very confusing offers for conversions. Who would you recommend? Can you provide me with a link? Thanks for the suggestion!

[Duolab123]

The issue here isn't that the OP wants to use a Graphic. It's that he wants to use it hand-held, at or near open aperture, at relatively close range. Put it on a tripod or put a big flash on it and stop down to f/16, or go out in bright sun at f/16, and it's a whole different ballgame.

There's no reason the rangefinder on a Speed is any less useful with barrel lenses. On the contrary, it's more of a nuisance to focus on the ground glass with a barrel lens on a Speed, because you have to go through the rigmarole of opening the focal plane shutter for focusing and then resetting it. Try doing that while maintaining accurate focus hand-held at close range and open aperture.

Only lens that will work on a speed with rangefinder is the one that came with it from the factory. .. You can't switch anything without it going off. I have had Speeds and Crowns both work great wide open with proper calibration. My top rangefinder has interchangeable cams, it's great if you can find a cam that matches your lens it's not focal length only.