Attached ground glass

[Grady O]

I have an old crown graphic that I've been using every now and then for the past year. 4x5 is alot different than 35mm or MF, but I do like using it. What bothers me though is changing from the ground glass to the film. Not only does it take along time, but I worry about the glass getting damaged. In a workshop some time ago I remember the instructor showing me a large format camera where the film plate slipped in front of the glass. If I get a new camera I'd like it to be a field 4x5. Does this feature exist, am I remembering correctly? Sorry this is such a stupid question, I don't have much LF experience.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

On your Crown Graphic the film holder should slip under the groundglass. You are using sheetfilm in conventional filmholders, right? Virtually all 4x5" and larger cameras work this way.

 

[Grady O]

Sorry, I should have been mentioned this. The ground glass clips off then you can attach the film holder. I am using normal film holders, and I'm pretty sure this is the only way to load film on this camera.

 

[photomc]

Grady O, something must be different or I do not understand. David is correct, on the Crown Graphic I have the film holder slips in under the Ground Glass. You might check to see if your will do the same, because it should. Check here http://www.graflex.org/ for more information.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

It sounds like you have a Graflok back. It is possible to remove the groundglass panel and use the Graflok slides, and necessary to do so for the "humpback" style rollfilm holders, but with an ordinary sheet film holder you can leave the glass in place and just lift up on the right side of the back with the back oriented in the horizontal position and slip the holder underneath the glass. The spring tension of the back will hold the holder in place, and there is no need to use the slide locks or remove the glass.

This is such a basic thing, common to virtually all large format cameras, that I'm not sure it's covered in the Crown Graphic manual, but you can go to www.graflex.org and see if they have an illustrated manual showing how it's done. If not, you might get a copy of Steve Simmons' book, _Using the View Camera_ for a basic introduction.

 

[Grady O]

Figured it out. I can't believe I never got that before. Thanks