Speed Graphic 4x5

Unless you want to use the electric shutter release, you don't need the expensive Super Graphic lensboards with the built in release. It is a very nice feature though. If you can get along without that feature, you can use any late Graphic lensboard for a Graphic 4x5. The late (after 1959 or so) Graphic lensboards have the "bosses" for both Pacemaker Crown and Speed and for the Super Graphic. Pacemakers have the bosses on the top and bottom, Super Graphics on the sides. These late model lensboards have them both places.
You can use a older Pacemaker 4x5 lensboard on a Super by making your own bosses in the appropriate places by taking a large, blunt nail or similar tool and using a hammer to create them by making dimples from the back side of the lensboard. Be sure to blunt the end of the nail so you don't make a hole.

Another option is the Burke and James press camera. This is similar to the Crown--no focal plane shutter. It has more movements (front tilt and shift). It has a drop bed (for possible wide-angle lenses).

It has an aluminum body, so it is pretty near indestructible. Spring back--not graflock. So, limited rollfilm backs (some designs are out there) and no grafmatic backs (a type of back where you load multiple sheets in one back and can quickly change the sheet). I don't really want the rollfilm back myself.

I found it difficult to use a 65mm lens I scrounged. 90mm is fine--that is about 30mm in 35mm speak.

One of the real beauties of this camera is the rotating back. Now, 4x5 is pretty near square, but if you want to shift from portait to landscape it is easy.

Another beauty--they are cheaper than their graflex bretheren.

Matt

MattCarey said:

Another option is the Burke and James press camera. This is similar to the Crown--no focal plane shutter. It has more movements (front tilt and shift). It has a drop bed (for possible wide-angle lenses).....

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Hi Matt,

Funny you'd mention the Burke & James. That's what I ended up buying for about $125 on the auction site with a 135 f4.5 Heliar lens. I'm told I did alright.

Also related - a local lab / camera store had a 2x3 Busch Pressman on display, and I'm on good terms, so I asked if I could borrow it to play with a bit while waiting for my B&J. They pulled it out and said have fun, bring it back when done, and bring the B&J so we can look at it.

So now, looking at the Pressman and how filmholders work, and the various controls, I at least have some idea of what makes a press camera, and a very basic intro to LF.

I also *like* the Rube Goldberg attitude (several ways to compose the shot with groundglass, viewfinder, or wireframe; for instance) of the press cameras, and the limited movements make sense to me.

Now I just have to wait for my B&J to come in. And a 4x5 Yankee tank, and a Polaroid back. Yippeee!

Thanks for all the comments / help.

Doug Grosjean

DougGrosjean said:

So now, looking at the Pressman and how filmholders work, and the various controls, I at least have some idea of what makes a press camera, and a very basic intro to LF.

I also *like* the Rube Goldberg attitude (several ways to compose the shot with groundglass, viewfinder, or wireframe; for instance) of the press cameras, and the limited movements make sense to me.

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It's all making sense now, isn't it Doug??? Seeing is believing (and understanding). Do you have film yet? You should have some in the fridge before the mailman arrives with the camera so you can get right down to business.

This is one of the funniest threads I've read in ages. The original poster used to be a regular on www.graflex.org. If, that is, the same person is behind the screen name here and there.

DougGrosjean said:

Hi Matt,

Funny you'd mention the Burke & James. That's what I ended up buying for about $125 on the auction site with a 135 f4.5 Heliar lens. I'm told I did alright.

Also related - a local lab / camera store had a 2x3 Busch Pressman on display, and I'm on good terms, so I asked if I could borrow it to play with a bit while waiting for my B&J. They pulled it out and said have fun, bring it back when done, and bring the B&J so we can look at it.

So now, looking at the Pressman and how filmholders work, and the various controls, I at least have some idea of what makes a press camera, and a very basic intro to LF.

I also *like* the Rube Goldberg attitude (several ways to compose the shot with groundglass, viewfinder, or wireframe; for instance) of the press cameras, and the limited movements make sense to me.

Now I just have to wait for my B&J to come in. And a 4x5 Yankee tank, and a Polaroid back. Yippeee!

Thanks for all the comments / help.

Doug Grosjean

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Gee, that makes 3 of us using B&J press cameras, any more? I find that it makes a heck of a field camera, that folds up nice and small, for those times when I don't want to schlepp around a monorail.

(yes, I've looked at "real" field cameras, but when the choice comes down to a new/used field camera or groceries, it's a tough one, so far the groceries win every time")


erie

Dan Fromm said:

This is one of the funniest threads I've read in ages. The original poster used to be a regular on www.graflex.org. If, that is, the same person is behind the screen name here and there.

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Answering two at once here.... Yes, I've been on the www.graflex.org site. Ended up there because I started in MF with a Ciro-Flex, and the Graflex site has CF info. Not offended, but funny why?

BrianShaw asked:
"It's all making sense now, isn't it Doug???"

Yup, sure is. Movements make perfect sense, once I got to play a bit. My day job is designer / drafter, so when drawing a view of a part at a 60 degree angle, I'd have to think of foreshortening and how that view would look. The movements do the exact same thing..! And the groundglass just popping out of the way -who'd a thunk it?

After years of 35mm SLR, and the MF TLR, it's some neat stuff.

I also like the vernier focussing scale on the Busch Pressman. One scale on the bed, another on a piece of plexiglass - again makes perfect sense, no different than using Vernier calipers.


BrianShaw said:
"Seeing is believing (and understanding). Do you have film yet? You should have some in the fridge before the mailman arrives with the camera so you can get right down to business."

Haven't bought any yet, but have tracked down 3 stores local to me that sell it. Debating which film to get, actually. I won't agonize over it for long.

Actually, I also won a Polaroid back. I'd like to learn to shoot with the Polaroid, for the instant feedback, and to check out the camera quickly.

Gee, that makes 3 of us using B&J press cameras, any more?

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I also own one (bought used in theearly 1960s), but haven't used it in years, except for the last two Worldwide Pinhole Photography Days. For that, I used a homemade lensboard/pinhole assembly. There's some corrosion from less than optimum storage over the years, and the bellows seem a little stiff; no rangefinder either. I'm pretty well convinced I'll be sticking to 6 x ? cm stuff henceforth - smaller, lighter, easier to process, less expensive to feed!

Dave T

DWThomas said:

I also own one (bought used in theearly 1960s), but haven't used it in years, except for the last two Worldwide Pinhole Photography Days. .... Dave T

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Dave,

FWIW, I saw your train shots while Googling around on Burke & James. Google sent me to Pbase. Nice stuff! Have been to a lot of the Colorado places you mentioned / shot, while kayaking in CO.

Really good stuff you have there, Dave.

Doug Grosjean

Really good stuff you have there, Dave.

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Thanks Doug. I remember riding the train down through Royal Gorge on that trip and seeing the parallel river full of kayakers. Looked like some pretty exciting stuff -- indeed probably more than my non-athletic reticent self could handle!

DaveT

I have a Crown Graphic Special, purchased from the original owner in my local area. It seems that everything available came with the camera including about 90 old West Class M NO. 5 Super Speed Flash Bulbs. I would like to use the camera and bulbs for portraits. I have since read about the possibility of the bulbs exploding. There was possibly a shield of some sort that could be used in front of the flash. Would appreciate any information about such a shield. The original owner purchased the camera in 1964. Thanks for any available information.

I wouldn't worry about exploding flash bulbs. They aren't like the flash powder used decades earlier. If you must improvise a shield, use nonflammable material or position the shield well in front of the bulbs. They do emit heat as well as light.

Thanks for information concerning flash bulbs for Crown Graphic Special.

I wouldn't worry about exploding flashbulbs, unless there is something visibily wrong with the bulb. Most of the shields I have are basically vinyl bags.

It's been a long time since I fired any, but the bulbs I remember using all had some sort of plastic dip coating that would pretty much avoid flying shards if they did pop, even the clear variety. The stuff was quite tough.

DaveT

Anniversary Speed for Alternative Photography

There are better cameras out there for 'traditional' LF uses than the Anniversary Speed Graphic. But the Anny has some interesting features that I find useful for alternative photographic applications.

* Using improvised and found lenses, on homemade masonite lens boards. I currently have a front objective cell from a 7x50 binocular; operating wide open at F3 it gives really interesting narrow DOF images, with some edge blurriness; great for some special portraits or other still-life projects. If stopped down to around F50 (using a simple opaque disc with central aperture), this lens is surprisingly sharp for scenic images. The reason why the Anny is a good alternative lens platform: the exposures are timed with the curtain shutter. Most exposure times would be too fast for the lens-cap shutter method, unless you use paper negatives and stop down to F50.

* Pinhole photography is easy with the Anny, because the ground glass gives you the ability to preview your composition, using a 1/4" wide 'viewing hole' lens board; I then swap out this board for the pinhole board that has its own shutter. Also, having a variable 'projection length' (using the bellows) allows variable F-ratios and angles of view using the same pinhole. Alternatively, a Finney pinhole cap can be added, giving you the option of numerous pinhole sizes on one board.

* Handheld, press-genre photography is still possible with an Anny; mine still has a well-calibrated rangefinder.

Like most photo enthusiasts, I have a number of cameras; but few are as useful, for a broad range of applications, as the Anniversary Speed.

An old Speed Graphic, some old lenses...

I could have sworn I had a picture of it with the universal iris lens board, but I didn't. You'll just have to take my word for it that I have one - I found a small iris holder in a big box of (mostly) junk, and screwed it on a lens board. It takes any lens between 6 and 60mm diameter - that's enough for almost everything.