Any 5x7" field camera with a graflock back?

Dunga · Jul 13, 2022

Hello everyone,

I hope the collective knowledge can help me out.

I bought a 6x17 adapter for my 5x7 Sinar P back. (similar to the one in the picture)
When i got it in the mail, i realised that my Sinar P 5x7 doesn't have a graflok back. Only my 4x5 is graflok...

Do you know which cameras have one, so i can play with my 6x17?
Field cameras would be nicer to carry around than my hefty Sinar P...

Worst case, do you know if there are any schematics so i can 3D print / manufacture a 5x7 graflok for my Sinar?

Thank you very much!
Claudiu.

Besk · Jul 13, 2022

Keith Canham is the only person who has made cameras with something like a Graflok back. (Canham cameras)

grat · Jul 13, 2022

Might try contacting Hugo of chamonixviewcamera.com. Their 5x7's don't appear to have Graflok backs, but the 57Fs-2 has this intriguing comment:

The current 57Fs-2 model comes with a Graflox adapter that will accept a 617 roll film back.

Vaughn · Jul 13, 2022

How about the rare 5x7 Speed Graphics?

grat · Jul 13, 2022

Vaughn said:
How about the rare 5x7 Speed Graphics?

Not an expert, but model history says only the pre-Anniversary and earlier models were available as 5x7, and those pre-dated the graflok back.

Doesn't mean a retrofit wasn't available, but that would be almost impossible to find these days.

Nokton48 · Jul 13, 2022

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

I can use a 4x5 Graflock Back on my Old Normas by using the 5x7 to 4x5 Reducing Back. I'm sure they made a more modern version for the "P" also.
You could attach your 6x7 back to the 5x7 Reducing Back (just use the frame) with a bit of metalworking

BradS · Jul 13, 2022

The Walker Titan XL 5x7 has the little wings to hold your 6x17 roll film holder....and Mike makes excellent cameras. The description explicitly states that the back was designed to accommodate the Canham 6x17 back. See the link below...

http://walkercameras.com/XL5x7.html

Vaughn · Jul 13, 2022

grat said:
Not an expert, but model history says only the pre-Anniversary and earlier models were available as 5x7, and those pre-dated the graflok back.

Doesn't mean a retrofit wasn't available, but that would be almost impossible to find these days.

Thanks...I have only held one, and I do not remember what type of back it had. And yes, similar construction to my Pre-Anniversary 4x5.

Oren Grad · Jul 13, 2022

In addition to Canham and Walker, I believe that at least some current Shen-Hao 5x7 models have sliders. Also, I have a vague recollection that at least for a while the Osaka-labeled variant of the 5x7 Tachihara that Bromwell Marketing imported to the US was offered with sliders, but I have no idea how many were ever sold and those would probably be very hard to find now.

Sal Santamaura · Jul 13, 2022

My Ebony SV57 has locking sliders on the back.

DREW WILEY · Jul 14, 2022

Can't you just switch out your 5x7 back for the 4x5 reducing back, just like Nokton posted? Norma version, P, F... they're all interchangeable. It takes less than half a minute to switch them. No need to go scouting around for a whole new system.

grat · Jul 14, 2022

Speaking as someone who has a 6x17 back for a 4x5 camera, that missing 50 millimetres is a nuisance. You've got to have a back that extends back some 30mm, which limits what lenses you can use on both the wide and narrow ends, and requires either a spacer, or a separate ground glass. Even then, depending on the geometry of your bellows, you might experience vignetting.

BradS · Jul 14, 2022

Nokton48 said:
I can use a 4x5 Graflock Back on my Old Normas by using the 5x7 to 4x5 Reducing Back. I'm sure they made a more modern version for the "P" also.
You could attach your 6x7 back to the 5x7 Reducing Back (just use the frame) with a bit of metalworking

DREW WILEY said:
Can't you just switch out your 5x7 back for the 4x5 reducing back, just like Nokton posted? Norma version, P, F... they're all interchangeable. It takes less than half a minute to switch them. No need to go scouting around for a whole new system.

The OP has and wants to use a 6x17 roll film back and therefore needs a 5x7.

DREW WILEY · Jul 14, 2022

Makes no difference. You just carry along a Sinar 5X7 to 4x5 reducing back too. No big deal. Just one more accessory. They already had this figured out more than half a century ago. If a 6x7, 6x9, or 6X12 roll film image is in mind, rather than full 4x5 sheet film, you just use the appropriate roll film holder with an appropriate 4x5 retainer, intended for Graflok fit. Going back and forth between formats is easy.

BradS · Jul 14, 2022

No. 6x17...six by seventeen! ....17cm = 6.7 inches will not fit on a 4x5 back

Sirius Glass · Jul 14, 2022

Not the same problem but when I bought my 4"x5" Graflex Model D it had the back modified with a rotation plate and accept the backs that are used on my Pacemaker Speed Graphic so I can just grab any film back or Grafmatic 45 for either camera.

DREW WILEY · Jul 14, 2022

Brad, you're NOT paying attention. The 5x7 back works for 5x7 and 6x17 film devices (or split 5x7 holders), yes. But the accessory 5X7 to 4X5 REDUCER BACK is Graflok compatible, so accepts not only 4X5 film holders, but Graflok-style roll film holders too, up to 6x12. The original question was framed around Graflok function, whether logically or not I can't say. But it's in relation to that particular question that both Nokton and I directly answered.

And as far as too much weight, yeah, a P is pretty heavy, but F's and Normas are a lot more portable. One just has to factor up all the costs for extra components versus a whole new field system from a different manufacturer. But it's hard to beat the versatility and precision of Sinar gear.

Otherwise, I'm came from the hills near a logging mill, which you can relate to. And as we used to joke, if you have on hand a lot of 2x4 eight-footers, but have run out of 1X4 16-footers, just use the "lumber stretcher". Not much difference in this case. Instead of triacetate or Estar based 4X5 sheet film, look for Rubbermaid brand 4x5 film, and simply use a film stretching back.

BradS · Jul 14, 2022

The Shen Hao HZX57-IIA or one of their other 5x7 field cameras might also have the little slider thingies. I notice from their (really awful) website that they sell a 6x17 roll film holder "for 5x7 cameras".

grat · Jul 15, 2022

Shen Hao's really awful website shows all three 5x7 models have sliders that look like they provide something resembling graflok function.

Keith Pitman · Jul 15, 2022

The 5x7 back for the Chamonix H-1 has a removable ground glass and sliders to retain another back—presumably a 6x17. The dimensions of the recess in the back are 150mm x 195mm.

Keith Pitman · Jul 15, 2022

Sal Santamaura said:
My Ebony SV57 has locking sliders on the back.

Funny. My SV57U does not have sliders.

BradS · Jul 15, 2022

@DREW WILEY, reminds me a time, maybe ten or fifteen years ago, I traded my 4x5 Walker Titan SF for a 4x5 Sinar F2 with the flight case and a couple of genuine Sinar lensboards. I don't remember his name anymore but the other party came from the Carson City, Nv. area - we agreed to meet up at the Sonora Pass summit Trailhead / picnic area - where the PCT crosses the 108. My little Subaru hates that last stretch from Kennedy Meadows up to the summit. So anyway, the guy shows up (in a Jeep Wrangler?) with his wife, dog and the big, beautiful Swiss machine in the OEM flight case. We get to chatting, and he says he wants to trade because he needs a camera a graflok type back, one that will accommodate his new roll film holder. I point out to him that the F2 he has offered in trade has that capability and suggest that if he wants to keep his F2, that'd be fine with me. But no, we do the trade...and I get to feeling real bad becaue I have gotten the better end of the deal by a long shot.. After a year or so with the SInar, as beautiful and capable as it was, I really wished I had kept the Walker. Aside from the fact that the Walker weighed something like 6 pounds, it was by far the best 4x5 field camera I've owned.

I think I have an old Singer 6x7 roll film back for the Crown Graphic around here some where...I think I actually used it once...good times.

DREW WILEY · Jul 15, 2022

I lugged a Sinar F2 for about twenty years on hundreds of Sierra backpack trips. I lean more toward long lenses, so a monorail is ideal for me. I now prefer the classic Norma version, but due to aging issues, started using a 4X5 Ebony folder on multi-day backpack trips instead. I often car camp the first night near Sonora Pass for a bit of altitude adjustment. It's less than a four hour drive from here. I sold my mountain property about a dozen years ago, so can't stay there anymore. But the clock is sure ticking. I can remember almost running uphill with a big pack full of 8x10 camera gear and a big Ries wooden tripod, clear up to the crest above Sonora Pass and back, no problem. Now I feel like I might need to finally hire a porter on long-haul treks at least. And if the subject matter is suitable, I sometimes to default to a 6x9 Texas Leica.

The last good hike I got in was 12 days in the Wind River Range just before the pandemic, when I took the Ebony 4x5. But it was really the terrible forest fire smoke more than anything else that has spoiled summer backpacking plans. I do frequently get out around here; and Pt Reyes is especially nice in summer. So token knee workouts with camera gear are always possible. But what a conspiracy against us otherwise - high gas prices, constant fire risk, and jes plain gettin old....

BradS · Jul 15, 2022

...not to mention the dearth of snow these past few years. Last year the creeks had all dried up by late July and the algal bloom on the lakes came early. The wild fires the prior years closed much of the forest. As a result, I've only done maybe four or so multi-day treks into the backcountry in the past three years. It's been mostly day hikes these past few years.

On sleeping at the trailhead and heading out early the next morning...I used to do that too when I lived down in the SF Bay Area and sometimes still do - especially when setting out from the likes of St. Mary's pass which is up arund 9000 ft (I live at 3100 ft). It's nice to acclimate a bit since heading up that trail takes you above 11,000ft pretty shortly. I don't know which trailhead you've used but be advised that the whole area around the Wheat's Meadow TH and the County Line TH is gone...burned out and heavily bulldozed due to the fires in the area two years in a row. I'm not sure about those others down Clarks Fork road. The overnight trail head near the Kennedy Meadows Resort is also closed but still exists. They've been aggressively clearing dead material in the area. It might actually be open again by now....I don't know...I haven't been up there since early June. I haven't been out to Crabtree or Gianelli yet this year either but Crabtree should be fine...TCSAR was up there a few weeks ago - located and walked out a group from Virgina of all places. Seems they had become dehydrated, disoriented and lost. One of them apparently hit the "HELP" button on their Garmin in-reach. Sigh.

Sal Santamaura · Jul 15, 2022

Sal Santamaura said:
My Ebony SV57 has locking sliders on the back.

Keith Pitman said:
Funny. My SV57U does not have sliders.

See attached image. I bought mine (new) around 20 years ago. How old is your SV57U? I've no idea why Hiromi would have included them on one version and not another.

Any 5x7" field camera with a graflock back?

Dunga

Attachments

Besk

grat

Vaughn

grat

Nokton48

BradS

Vaughn

Oren Grad

Sal Santamaura

DREW WILEY

grat

BradS

DREW WILEY

BradS

Sirius Glass

DREW WILEY

BradS

grat

Keith Pitman

Keith Pitman

BradS

DREW WILEY

BradS

Sal Santamaura

Attachments

Any 5x7" field camera with a graflock back?

Attachments

Attachments

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency