Arca Swiss Discovery - Graflock back

[Karl Beath]

Hi from Karl

Please could the users elighten me on this issue:

The graflock back on the Arca Swiss Discovery, how is it attached and how does i t work? Is it the film holder, or does the film holder slip in between it and t he gg? I could not imagine that it is a film holder and that one would still us e a Riteway or Lisco film holder to slip in between the two.

Some help would be appreciated.

Cheers Karl

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

Karl, the graflock "holder" is placed in a 4x5 camera the way any other holder is placed. The difference is that the graflok holder contains 6 sheets of film you have pre-loaded in septums (supplied with the holder), as you take the pictures, you press a lever, pull the the entire inner mechanism out, without pulling the holder from the camera, and the top neg goes to the bottom and is replaced by an unexposed sheet. It is less complicated than it sounds :-)), what you have to look for is for septums that are not bent in any way, if they are they will snag and you will ruin ALL the sheets. If you find one in the used market, ask the people that is selling to you how to use it. BTW these holders are not manufactured anymore...so buyer be ware

[Ellis Vener]

Info sheet on the 4x5 Arca-Swiss Cameras:

http://thefstop.com/equipment/new/arca/ccs.html#4x5

Sp ecifications for the Arca-Swiss Discovery camera:

http://www.thefstop.com/equipment/new/arca/cs1.ht ml

The graflok attachment system on the Arca Swiss Discovery (as with all current 4x5 Arca-Swiss cameras, is built-in to the plate holder/groundglass frame/assembly.

A graflock mechanism is simply two sliding flat bars that slide into place to lock a film holder (like a Polaroid 545, Fuji Quickload, Kodak Readyload, or even an old Grafmatic holder) or a rollfilm back into place firmly into place. It can work when you slide a holder underneath the springloaded groundglass assembly (frame, fresnel & groundglass) or when the groundglass assembly is removed from the camera aas is necessary with "humpback" rollfilm holders.

[Allan Fontanilla.com]

The ground glass assembly can be pulled back (under spring tension) and a typical holder can be slid in like normal. You can also remove the ground glass assembly completely and that will expose the Graflock sliding clips. The "Graflock back" only refers to this latch mechanism which can be used to attach accessories.