Crown Graphic RF adjustment without a master cam

[Leigh]

BTW, there is two separate focusing mechanisms, the rail that you unlock under the lens and the focus knobs connected to the RF. I can set up infinity with the focus knobs in any position, therefore screwing up the RF.

The locking rail is not a "focusing mechanism". It's a storage mechanism.

ALL focusing is done with the knobs.

The front standard should be pulled out to the infinity stop and locked in place. There is no other correct position for it. The infinity stops fold down so you can install more than one, to accommodate multiple lenses. (Apparently some don't fold down, although I haven't seen such.)

In this position the infinity focus of the rangefinder should agree exactly with the focused image on the ground glass.

I set these up so the infinity focus has the mechanism slightly forward. Your .04 inches (= 1 mm) is about the value I use.

I set the rangefinders using a military LM-63A 48" collimator which is designed expressly for this purpose. It was built by Kalart specifically to set their side-mounted rangefinder, but it works equally well for the Graflex-manufactured top-mounted unit. It has calibrated targets at 4 feet, 10 feet, and infinity, as required to set up the Kalart unit.

- Leigh

[Frank Petronio]

Corran, I am not trying to be a wiseass but if it's this hard, just get another Crown and from a decent seller who knows what they are selling.... Stephen Gelb has a $500 mint one in the classifieds right now, he is honest and it looks like a champ. It's worth a premium to buy one you know will be good.... But if you are patient on eBay you can take a chance and if you have a lick of sense and luck you can get a clean one for $250. Hell buy three and sell the dogs, that's what people do with lenses all the time.

If you get stuck with this Crown and the rangefinder is junk, then use it as a ground-glass only camera or for parts. Or just resell it with a good honest description and photos, you can probably get most of your money out of it and it's cheaper than chasing down old men for their last $100 P-84.7 Graflex cams or pulling your hair out with insane internet instructions....

OR let's all send our cameras to Leigh so he can use his military LM-63A 48" collimator... That would be awesome!

[Tim k]

Tim, there's absolutely nothing wrong with having an dead-nuts accurate RF. I find a lot of situations and techniques that call for RF focusing. Using a handheld Graflex or other press camera with a rollfilm back or a Grafmatic will be a breeze with a RF and a pain in the neck without. The Kalart side mounted ones with Focuspots are also pretty easily adapted to laser pointers for nighttime and twilight use when it's almost impossible to focus with the GG.

You are right nothing wrong with it at all.

[Tim k]

He's trying to do handheld photjournalistic shots with a Crown Graphic, like a real press photographer, so while the ground glass focusing is always the most accurate, it's not very practical.

Frank, I missed where he said what he was shooting. Our OP was having some issues here and I was just saying..

[Corran]

The camera is being returned. The seller was also unfortunately unaware of the wrong cam being in the camera when he bought it.

Frank, thank you for your help. I appreciate your knowledge/expertise a lot on the forum, I was just a bit put off by your cavalier attitude about just using Google. I had been been trying for hours with no luck using information from various places.

Anyway, this thread can be closed as far as I am concerned.

[Frank Petronio]

Sorry, I get punchy ;-p but I tried Googling your question too and there is a mess of confusing information.

In the end, it is just a lot easier to get one with the stock lens ready to shoot than to muck around. If you want to use exotic lenses with a rangefinder, get a $$$ Technika and have the lens cam properly made. It's expensive but it's the right way to do it.

[Corran]

Exactly, that was my problem. Lots of different info.

I'm hoping to try this out with the Graphic and then if it's going well get something better. Anyway, I wasn't trying to muck around (yet!), I was just going to use the "stock" lens. The 152mm is apparently not that common but was used on occasion on the Crown with the corresponding cam...but this one has been mucked with.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Get one with a 135mm Xenar and the installed cam will likely be correct! These can be perfectly fine lenses although they don't offer much excess image circle for moves.

[BradS]

Bryan,
Sorry for your difficulty and I apologize again if my tone last night came across as harsh. I really was trying to help. I agree with Frank's advice about returning the broken, messed up camera. Too many sellers have no clue.

I agree too that items sold by a seller who knows well what is offered and who has a reputation of honest, accurate descriptions are worth a premium price. Too many buyers do not understand the value added by knowledgeable and honorable sellers.

The 152mm Ektar is a lovely lens....but, you're correct. It was much less commonly found on Graphics than the 135mm Optar and 135mm Xenar - which are also both very fine optics. I actually prefer the 135mm Optar for the very fact that they are so common, generally unloved and inexpensive and yet a fantastic optic.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

135mm Wollensak-made Optars are perfectly fine lenses, as well. (I like the Wolly Raptars, optically identical and equally maligned for no good reason, but they tend to be even less expensive used.)

The Xenars were contemporaneous to the Top Mount RF Crown Specials, I think?

One benefit of a Xenar over the Wollensak-built Optars is that the lens cells will almost always be fitted to a Compur shutter. If/when the shutter croaks, the cells will fit the threads of a modern Copal shutter.

Not the case with the Graphex/Rapax ones (or the Supermatics, either). Though these shutters were probably more robust than currently-available Copals, and may be CLA'd to run consistently, they tend to run consistently slow after 50 years. New springs haven't been made for almost 40 years, nowhere to be found at this late date AFAIK.