In Praise of the Crown Graphic

[BlueMoonCamera]

It was a dark winter day when a shiny beautiful thing walked into my life.
Sitting on Blue Moon Camera's showroom shelf was a Crown Graphic Special 4x5 press camera. Fully restored.
I had seen it briefly the night before, just as the shop was closing. When walked in the next day, I pointed to it and said to my coworker behind the counter, "That one. Now!"
I had owned one 50 years ago, purchased from a pawn shop. It was a bit battered, in a battered kit. I lived with it for about four years before I became convinced a field view camera was the answer to all my photographic needs.
Silly me.

Decades later, I sold all my large format gear for a digital kit. I'm happy I did, I love my new setup. But something was missing.
Here at the shop, we're surrounded daily by dozens of great analog cameras. Being a digital convert, I had become immune to temptation. Or so I thought.
I've always loved cameras with bellows. They're simpler, and view cameras really are the most versatile cameras that ever were created.
Between nostalgia and a nagging thirst for something tangible, I succumbed to temptation. And anyways, I still had a dozen or more film holders, right?
Why, besides personal history, would I choose this camera? It's solid, rugged, built for hard use. It's compact, it's versatile, and while it has limited camera movements, there are enough for casual use.
The lens is an excellent Schneider Xenar in wonderful condition. Other lenses common to this camera likewise were fine optics. The image circle is somewhat limited, but it's enough.
I've added a couple of lenses to my kit, and a blank lens board fit with a pinhole. The rangefinder makes quick focusing simpler, and the ground glass is there for critical work.

Another great thing about these cameras is their availability. We typically have Crown and Speed Graphics in stock, as well as other press cameras.
They're common on auction sites, and they're usually reasonably priced. They come in 4x5", 3x4", and 2x3" formats, with accessories such as roll film backs readily available. They often are sold as kits.
If you're curious about large format but think you don't have the budget, press cameras are an easy entry. You don't even need a lens right away - slap on a pinhole and go to town.
And don't worry if the one that strikes your fancy isn't in pristine condition. They're made to take a beating and keep working, and working, and working.

You can learn more about press and view cameras in the International Camera Museum on our website, and while you're there, sign up for The Loupe, our free weekly newsletter!

 

[chuckroast]

Hear hear. I have a 4x5 Crown and a 2x3 "Baby" Speed, each with 3 or more lenses.

The Crown was really old when I got it. It looked like it had been some commercial photographer's daily driver and needed a fair bit of cleanup and the rangefinder calibrated. But since then, it's been an absolutely steady shooter. I use it whenever I want a big negative but don't feel like hauling a field camera around. For the format, the Crown is a fairly light (relatively speaking) choice.

Did these with it a few years ago - scans of silver prints:

P.S. For Big Fun (tm), reverse the front standard so you get true forward tilt...

 

[Paul Howell]

I have both, a Crown and a Speed. I bought the Speed at a Navy Surplus facility in 1966. The Crown mid 70s or so. The Seed I abused to no end, broke the rangefinder, dropped down a mountain side, had to use duck tape to the wood frame from coming apart. The Crown has fired much better, I use it as a crippled field camera, not much in the way of movements. With the rangefinder I can use a monopod when out hiking. I need to have lens of the Crown serviced.

 

[Chuck1]

They are great cameras

 

[mshchem]

Lovely cameras!

 

[Donald Qualls]

I have a Pacemaker Speed and a Century. I've installed a Graflok conversion on the Speed, and with a LomoGraflok back installed, it's a passable substitute for the old folding roll-film Polaroids -- but with a Grafmatic it's a very capable press camera. Even a "mere" Tessar will produce excellent images, given 4x5 film to record on. And yes, the rangefinder makes it much faster and easier to use.

Of course, it's no substitute for my Graphic View II when I need to get the perspective and focal plane just so, but it's light enough to carry on a strap and, like Hellboy's Samaritan, it shoots "really big bullets."

 

[FriedLouisStudio]

I've got a Crown Graphic from my parents' studio. Besides studio work, my dad used to shoot weddings with it in the 40s/50s, which sounds like real work - "You'd have your unused flashbulbs in one coat pocket, and the used ones in the other."

Of course, this wasn't like the hundreds of shots taken at weddings later on, the standard package was like 20 finished 8x10s. Just some key formal portraits, a couple of church pics, some table pictures, perhaps a candid dance shot or two.

But Donald, by the time my memories kick in around 1960, our primary camera for nearly everything was our Graphic View II, which I also still have. Here's Dad on location with it in 1968. (I shot this with my Minox B on grainy 60s Tri-X, scanned from a 4x5 print.)

 

[Donald Qualls]

our primary camera for nearly everything was our Graphic View II, which I also still have.

I hope to take mine with on my next beach vacation (whatever decade the budget allows another one). I've got four Grafmatics (which of course fit this camera just as well as the Speed), lenses from 90 mm to (with conversion) 345 mm ("less sharp" front group of my Componon 150/5.6), carrying case for the camera/lenses/film holders etc., and a carbon fiber tripod.

 

[cjbecker]

My main camera is a pacemaker crown graphic with a speed graphic as backup. Both rangefinders are set to the same lens. And just a matter of fact. Just too the crown on a beach vacation

 

[gordrob]

I have both the 4x5 Pacemaker Speed and Crown Graphic. The Speed Graphic is dedicated to a 7" Aero Ektar. I also have 3x4 Crown Graphic and a 2x3 Anniversary Speed Graphic and a 2x3 Crown Graphic with a number of 2x3 Kodak Film Packs in the freezer. They will be put to use as soon as the smoke from the forest fires up here dissipates.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I have had a 4"x5" Pacemaker Speed Graphic since 2009 and I enjoy using. Enjoy you Crown Graphic.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Oops, correction -- my Speed is an Anniversary, hence why it needed a Graflok conversion back. Conveniently, uses the same lens boards as the Graphic View II.

 

[BlueMoonCamera]

Really big bullets is right. I had thought about picking up a roll film back for my Crown, but why? I can crop the frame any way I want. Besides, I added a 210mm Rodenstock Geronar to my kit, as well as a 3D-printed pinhole lensboard, which together weigh less than the roll film back. I'm headed for the coast in a couple of weeks for an extended shakedown tour. Should be a lot of fun.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Well, back when you could buy roll film that was four or five inches wide, a roll film back made some sense on a 4x5 press camera. Not much if any faster than changing film holders, but less prone to dark slide errors that could fog a frame. Now, with effectively 2x3 the biggest roll you can buy, save the roll film for Century and Baby Speed/Crown cameras.