Brian, when I load my AARs carefully -- blue tape just visible at the far end of the gate, advance 5 clicks, set counter to 1 -- I get 9 exposures/roll with 120 size E6 and with 120 TMX.
The AAR instructions puzzled me too when I first saw them. If they were ever applicable, they aren't now.
Cheers,
Dan
Here is an image of the Adapt-A-Roll rollholder:
Jeff and Oren,
I think you are both talking about my concerns in attaching focusing panels and rollholders. When I first started using Graphics in the mid-50s, I guess I found it acceptable to remove the GG panel, then attach the rollholder, but then I was almost exclusively using the Graphic RF/VF for focusing and composition. Call me spoiled, but with my experience since then with 35mm RFs and SLRs, MF RFs and SLRs and the kinds of auxillary backs now available for 4x5 technical and view cameras, having to remove the GG back attached by spring clips and then attach a rollholder with Graflok slider bars just seems too tedious. It involves too much pushing and pulling on the back of the camera that threatens movement of the camera after it is composed and focused.
My Wista with the sliding 6x9 GG frame and 6x9 film gate that adds only 7mm of extension almost makes a perfect configuration except that Wista does not make a 6x9 reflex viewer, only a hood with a magnifier that attaches to the GG frame, and this outfit weighs about 8 lbs--a little too beefy for a rollfilm outfit. The Horseman VH is about 2 1/2 pounds lighter, but the Rotary Back adds 25mm of extension which kills the use of even modest WA lenses. I am willing to give up the Rotary Back to allow use of a 65mm lens, by composing and focusing with the regular GG focusing frame and the AAR holder. I even have some hope of being able to make a recessed board that will handle a 47mm SA in a #00 Compur or at least the 58mm Grandagon in this shutter.
Apparently Oren is more adept at un-hooking the spring clips than I am. I much prefer using the reflex finder so that I don't have to deal with the spring clips. The Graflok sliders aren't as much inconvenience for me as finding a place to set the finder when the roll film holder is mounted.
I've seen web pages where people have sliced off the top of the VH then re-attached it with a tape hinge so that they can get front rise with short lenses.
My Canham has the same issue of fighting the spring clips when using the Canham roll fill holder. Every time someone mentions a bail back I look to see if someone found a retrofit that could be done to my Canham.
I am happy enough with the reflex finder on the VH that I had quit worrying about a better solution. I hadn't heard of the 625 AAR before. It sounds interesting. Brian, I hope you will post a follow-up with your future experiences/solutions.
Jeff Keller
Originally Posted by Brian Wallen
Jeff, read this thread from the start. Brian isn't the first person to acquire and, I hope, use an AAR 620. This thread contains a link to the AAR 620 FAQ on www.graflex.org (I wrote it) and some back and forth between Brian and me about, um, practical issues of implementation.
There's not really much more to say about AAR 620s except perhaps that because they take the film up inside out and don't have a spring to discourage the film from relaxing on the takeup spool -- it would scratch the film -- one has to be very careful when unloading to avoid light struck film. I unload mine in a changing bag and while I'm at it respool the exposed film on the 120 spool to send it to the lab. That's what changing bags are for.
Yes, this procedure is a time-consuming pain. If I were willing to lose 620 spools to the lab I'd just make sure the film was tightly wound and secure it on the spool with a rubber band.
I'm sure that Brian will soon discover that because the Graflok springs are fairly strong and the AAR is thick inserting an AAR can also shift the camera, tripod, ... One has to be very deliberate. When I was out shooting yesterday I did one clumsy insertion, had to remove the AAR and recompose.
AAR 620s work. Modern roll holders, including Graflex' own, are a bit easier to use. No roll holder is perfect.
Cheers,
Dan
Don't forget, you can still use sheet film holders!
Tony
Newnan, GA
Cambo 23SF
I have two the Wista backs if anyone is interested. They will ONLY fit the Wista Quickslide back.
Bought them for my Cambo 23SF but they DO NOT fit!
Tony
Newnan, GA
Cambo 23SF
I've shot a couple of rolls through the Adapt-A-Roll holder discussed above. This can perhaps best be described as a 6 x 9 version of the Calumet rollholders for 4 x 5. They have a very thin film gate structure with the supply and takeup spools in a pod at the end. They are a bit quirky as Dan describes above, but once you've learned the recipe, they are reliable and seem to provide a reasonably flat film path. Some may find the respooling operation to move the exposed roll to a 120 spool a bit onerous. Old Kodak hands who do respooling so they can still shoot with their Medalists and Monitors will shrug this off.
The big advantage is that you can set up a 6 x 9 folder--any of the Horsemans, baby Technikas or Graphic 23s with a reflex finder, then slip in the AAR to the Graflok or spring back gape, just as you would a cutfilm holder. Of course, this works equally well if you are using an ordinary GG frame without a reflex finder.
In addition to Dan's hints above, I've scanned the instruction sheet that came with my AAR. It is available as a PDF download here:
http://www.bnphoto.org/bnphoto/LFN/A...apt-A-Roll.htm
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