graflex home portrait help

jamie young · Sep 22, 2007

I just recently got a graflex home portrait 5x7 camera, but the handle on it was replaced with a home made one, and I would like to put one on that's a little more substantial and closer to the original one. I've never seen an original one or image of one either. Does anyone out there have a home portrait with an original handle? Could you snap a few jpegs and send them to me? It would be very helpful.
I just developed the first batch of film from it ,and it's going to be a great camera to work with. I'm shooting with a 10" f3.5 ross xpress lense, and the first shoots wer done wide open, which is how I hope to use it most. Geat look.
Thanks! Jamie Young

jon koss · Sep 23, 2007

For a mere pittance, Bert Saunders of Graflex.org fame will fabricate a new handle for you. Go to graflex.org under the "reflex help" section. Bert's contact info is also called out in this .pdf file:

http://www.wphsociety.org/WPHS_XIII-06.pdf

Bert is the world's greatest by the way!!

Jon

jamie young said:
I just recently got a graflex home portrait 5x7 camera, but the handle on it was replaced with a home made one, and I would like to put one on that's a little more substantial and closer to the original one. ...Thanks! Jamie Young

David H. Bebbington · Sep 23, 2007

In general, if you need a handle for an older LF camera, dog collars do pretty well!

Regards,

David

jamie young · Sep 23, 2007

Thanks
I'm in contact with Bert, who is very helpful, but may not have an original handle template to work with. I still need to find out what I'm making or having made and need to find someone willing to take a few jpegs for me of an original. No doubt I could rig something up like the handle that it came with, but would rather do it right, and keep the original look and feel.

removed account4 · Sep 23, 2007

jon koss said:
For a mere pittance, Bert Saunders of Graflex.org fame will fabricate a new handle for you. Go to graflex.org under the "reflex help" section. Bert's contact info is also called out in this .pdf file:

http://www.wphsociety.org/WPHS_XIII-06.pdf

Bert is the world's greatest by the way!!

Jon

yeah, bert is the cat's meeeeow --
he fabricated a recessed lensboard
out of wood, and charged me very little ...

-john

roodpe · Sep 24, 2007

jamie,

my original 'home portrait' handle was in sad shape also. the original handle has a built up center section. it is ~ 1/4" thick at the ends and 3/8" in the center. i had a replica made at a leather repair shop. they did a nice job but i paid $$$ for it.

the original handle is attached with an 1/8" diameter brass rivet through the handle at one end and a leather loop at the other end. the leather loop is attached to the camera with two small brass rivets.

you will have to drill out the brass rivets.

i decided it would be much easier to re-attach the handle with brass (6-32) socket cap screws. these are available from mcmaster carr. i replaced the leather loop with a brass hoop that you can get from a hardware/restoration store.

i will forward a photo of the new handle on the camera in a couple of days. i don't have a digital camera with me now.

pete

David A. Goldfarb · Sep 24, 2007

I just e-mailed Bert Saunders, and he offered to make a new handle and attach it to the top of my Press Graflex (I'll ship the top to him) for a very reasonable price, and with considerable enthusiasm. He really seems to love restoring Graflex cameras.

jamie young · Sep 25, 2007

A graflex collector is willing to send soms jpegs as well and help me with it. I'll probably talk to Bert about it's construction then, as well as a bunch of other handles I need made. Thanks all for your help! I'm really enjoying shooting with the big slrs, and will finally have some time to do a lot of portraits with them this fall. Between finding the right lenses, holders, bag mags, etc, it's been a challenge to get everything together.

Jamie

roodpe · Sep 25, 2007

jamie young said:
A graflex collector is willing to send soms jpegs as well and help me with it. I'll probably talk to Bert about it's construction then, as well as a bunch of other handles I need made. Thanks all for your help! I'm really enjoying shooting with the big slrs, and will finally have some time to do a lot of portraits with them this fall. Between finding the right lenses, holders, bag mags, etc, it's been a challenge to get everything together.

Jamie

jamie,

i will look to see if I still have what's left of the original handle. if so, i can send it to you if you want it. it will give you an outline for sizing the handle.

pete

roodpe · Sep 25, 2007

David A. Goldfarb said:
I just e-mailed Bert Saunders, and he offered to make a new handle and attach it to the top of my Press Graflex (I'll ship the top to him) for a very reasonable price, and with considerable enthusiasm. He really seems to love restoring Graflex cameras.

i wish i had known about bert earlier. it's great to have resources like him.

pete

David A. Goldfarb · Oct 17, 2007

Handsome, isn't it? The price was very reasonable, and delivery was quick.

Bert used the handle on one of his own 5x7" Press Graflices as a model. In the process, we looked at various catalogue images, and Bert checked the cameras in his possession, and we realized that there were quite a few handle styles on different models and that they were fitted individually to the camera, because the holes for the rivets on one camera would be slightly different from the holes on another of the same model.

bertsaunders · Oct 17, 2007

HANDLES AND MORE HANDLES

JAMIE GOT SEVERAL RESPONSES ON PHOTOS OF THE 5X7 HOME PORTRAIT HANDLE, AND EVEN RECIEVED THE BOTTOM LAYER OF AN ORIGINAL HANDLE!
BOTH CAMERAS WEIGH IN AT AROUND 10LBS, AND ARE PRETTY ROUGH ON HANDLES...THE ORIGINAL HANDLES WERE MADE UP WITH SEVERAL THIN LAYERS, I AM USING HEAVIER MATERIAL AS A BASE, SO MY HANDLES ARE A BIT HEAVIER, BUT I TRY TO MAKE THEM LOOK AS AUTHENTIC LOOKING AS POSSIBLE....AS A RESULT, I NOW HAVE PATTERNS FOR THE HOME PORTRAIT AND THE PRESS GRAFLEX MODELS! THE 5X7 PRESS IS A DIFFICULT HANDLE TO FAB, AND I HAD SOME PROBLEMS WITH HOLE LOCATIONS....I HAVE (2) PRESS GRAFLEXES, AND THE HOLE SPACING IS JUST DIFFERENT ENOUGH, THAT THE HOLES CANNOT BE PRE-DRILLED (FOR THE DO-IT-YOURSELFER) WITHOUT THE LID TO MATCH THE SPACING! THE HOME PORTRAIT HANDLE IS MUCH SIMPLER TO FAB, AND WITH HOLE SPACING VERIFICATION, IS NO PROBLEM!
I HAVE PATTERNS FOR SEVERAL OF THE 4X5 AND 3X4 MODEL HANDLES, AND I ALSO FAB THE SPEED CROWN HANDLES...IF NEEDED, WE CAN RESEARCH FOR INFO ON ANY HANDLE....
I HAVE THE MATERIAL IN STOCK, SO IF YOU NEED A HANDLE, LET ME KNOW!
THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR YOUR HELP AND
COMMENTS!
HAVE A NICE DAY........BERT

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