3.25 x 4.25 Graflex

[Tracy Storer]

I have never used a Grafmatic, but they came after the "bag mag", and I'm sure were to simplify operation. With the bag mag, you pull a rod which drags the front septum partially into the bag, you grab the septum through the bag and push the rod back in, then pull the septum into the bag and re-insert it at the back of the stack. Grafmatic is pull-push. Sadly I don't think they ever made 3.25"x4.25 Grafmatics. I am getting ready to do a lot (I hope) of work with my 34 Super D with Bag mags, and will share observations as my experience with both the Super D and bag mags grow.

[Randy]

That's equal to 4 GrafmaticsAnd I'm also thinking about the speed of operation. The single movement of a lever in just one direction that the Bag Mag needs to change its septa is perhaps much faster then the two movements, each of them outwards and then back, of the Grafmatic. And the Bag Mag's lever single movement would probably make much less risk of driving the tripod-mounted camera out of alignment. Are my speculations correct?

Just mimicking my process of advancing to the next 4X5 in the bagmag, I would say it takes perhaps 3-5 seconds, about what it takes (or less) to put the dark slide in, remove, flip over, and pull the dark slide out on a standard 4X5 film holder. With a little practice, I am sure one could do it in 2-3 seconds consistently, if you were in a hurry.

And of course, if you were worried about camera movement when on a tripod, just put the dark slide in and remove the bagmag from the camera to advance to the next sheet.

[EdSawyer]

Here's the pic of my conversion, with the pentac:

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...=1#post1058026

[jbenedict]

Here's the pic of my conversion, with the pentac:

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...=1#post1058026

That's an interesting approach... No more wastage of film than when cutting down 4x5 and you can get away *without* having to cut the film.

[EdSawyer]

Yeah, it's basically a DIY version of the Aero Liberator, but less expensive and less intrusive/complex/difficult. A nikkor-T 270mm also fits perfectly on this, and mounted where the pentac is mounted, gets infinity in the same place (e.g. fully retracted). I have also used it with a Tele-Arton 360 with about a 50mm extension tube attached.

[blueribbontea]

Just mimicking my process of advancing to the next 4X5 in the bagmag, I would say it takes perhaps 3-5 seconds, about what it takes (or less) to put the dark slide in, remove, flip over, and pull the dark slide out on a standard 4X5 film holder. With a little practice, I am sure one could do it in 2-3 seconds consistently, if you were in a hurry.

And of course, if you were worried about camera movement when on a tripod, just put the dark slide in and remove the bagmag from the camera to advance to the next sheet.

There is no hard movement in using a bag mag. Everything is gentle; pull the rod out, squeeze the septum though the leather bag, slide it back into the bag mag and then slide the rod in. No shaking or slamming, and very flat laying of the negatives. You also don't have to worry about the darkslide as the Graflex shutter is self capping and with the mirror down that's a second cap. So if you bring the mirror back down after your shot you're good to go.

[Michael Cienfuegos]

There is no hard movement in using a bag mag. Everything is gentle; pull the rod out, squeeze the septum though the leather bag, slide it back into the bag mag and then slide the rod in. No shaking or slamming, and very flat laying of the negatives. You also don't have to worry about the darkslide as the Graflex shutter is self capping and with the mirror down that's a second cap. So if you bring the mirror back down after your shot you're good to go.

The best part is that the bag mag septa are not nearly as fragile as the Grafmatic septa. They are formed from a thicker gauge piece of sheet metal.

m

[Bill_1856]

the Graflex shutter is self capping and with the mirror down that's a second cap.

My 3x4 Graflex shutter is DEFINITELY NOT self-capping.

[blueribbontea]

When you trip the shutter, it doesn't move a complete curtain into place with no slit showing? What happens after the exposure? How else would you be able to control the shutter speed?

Bill

[Bill_1856]

When you trip the shutter, it doesn't move a complete curtain into place with no slit showing? What happens after the exposure? How else would you be able to control the shutter speed?

Bill

I take it that you don't actually own a Graflex.
The Graflex focal plane shutter cloth is on a roller (like a window shade) with several slits cut into it. They are of different sizes. How fast they move across the film plane is determined by the tension in the main spring which causes the roller to unroll. At a high tension the roller moves fast. How long the film is exposed to light then obviously depends on the width of the slit. A little bitty slit moving across the film plane driven by a high spring tension gives relatively short exposure time. A wide slit moving slowly gives a longer exposure. What combination is determined by how tight the spring is wound, and how far the roller is wound (think of a window shade pulled to the bottom of the window, or raised to the top.) The actual exposure times are determined by the different models of the camera. The shutter is "closed" by the amount of solid cloth between the slits.
It's a beautiful, simple arrangement, and was used on the original Leicas before the truly self-capping shutter of the production model A, but it required that the lenscap must be in place to prevent fogging the film when the shutter was rewound. This is also necessary on the Speed Graphic (or a dark-slide is inserted into the film holder) -- the Graflex beautifully eliminates the problem by closing off the light path by the mirror (you can't rewind the shutter until the mirror has been dropped).