Speed Graphic Buffs...a question!

[jolefler]

Can't wait to get a beater shipped to me, so I'll ask those who have experience.

I bought one with no bellows, bad covering etc. off the auction site. I have a Tessar 16.5cm f3.5 mounted in a focusing helix mount (may be an old aerial lens?). What I'd like to do is strip the guts, but leave the FP shutter intact, seal up the body & mount the lens right on the front using spacers & shims to get the distance to the film plane correct. Can anyone with a Speed tell me if I'm in the ball park with the depth of the body? I'm guessing 6 1/2" from the rear element which is about an inch recessed from the back of the mounting cone. Voila, a (almost) P&S 4x5!

Another question for those into this forum...are refurbished & modified cameras welcome in the "home built" thread? I have a few I'm proud of!

 

[Terence]

The one I have in my office measures about 3 1/2" front to back. It'll vary a little depending on how you plan to mount the cone. Also, I know one of my other ones is slightly different dimensionally. They changed a bit over the years.

Kit-bashed cameras are fair game to me. I've built a few simple cameras, but never tried my hand at the film back. Too finicky for my skills.

 

[jolefler]

Thanks Terence.

I seem to remember on the few Pacemakers I've seen a 135 barely makes it outside the camera body at infinity.

 

[Dave Parker]

The 1939 model speed that I have in my hands as I type this, has the FP shutter and from the front of the body to the ground glass focal plane measures 3 3/4 inches, which is just about 95mm, so at infinity a 135mm lens would sit 40mm outside the body on the rail.

Dave

 

[jolefler]

Looks like...

we're gonna be a little nose-heavy. Probably a spacer needed outside the body of considerable thickness. Thanks folks!

 

[Dan Fromm]

At even odds, 6.5" from the diaphragm will be about right. Tessars' rear node is very close to the diaphragm. If your wreck still has a front standard, mounting the lens on it will simplify things considerably.

 

[glennfromwy]

I actually built the exact thing you want to do, with some junk from the parts box. You're pretty close in your estimate of distance. My 165 Tessar is roughly 7 inches from the film plane, focused at infinty.

 

[Frank R]

Are you trying to build something like this?

I saved these pictures last year from somewhere on the web, I can't remember where.

 

[jolefler]

Are you trying to build something like this?

I saved these pictures last year from somewhere on the web, I can't remember where.

That looks like what I have in mind. Maybe covered in purple lizard . From what I'm hearing, that lens is probably close in focal length, as well. I'll also keep the top tube finder and 86 the kalart.

Speaking of which if anyone needs the tracks, front standard or rf, stay tuned to find out which model it is

 

[jolefler]

Few eBay items are as described!

But it's a rare occasion when they're much better than the picture painted!

I received the Speed body yesterday & just can't hack this Anniversary model up. A few missing screws, small parts and minor problems are all that plague it. The shutter's in fine shape, RF works, bellows are surprizingly salvageable & pliable. Sure looks like it would be harder to do the chop job than to return it to stock, usable condition. Ghosts of photographers past would not approve of chopping this one!

Thanks for the ideas and interest anyway. If you ever need another point in the anti-digital photo arguement....be sure to point out auction site photos!

 

[Terence]

But it's a rare occasion when they're much better than the picture painted!

I received the Speed body yesterday & just can't hack this Anniversary model up. A few missing screws, small parts and minor problems are all that plague it. The shutter's in fine shape, RF works, bellows are surprizingly salvageable & pliable. Sure looks like it would be harder to do the chop job than to return it to stock, usable condition. Ghosts of photographers past would not approve of chopping this one!

Thanks for the ideas and interest anyway. If you ever need another point in the anti-digital photo arguement....be sure to point out auction site photos!

That's happened to me twice. I got my oldest one, opened it up, and it still had the smell of new (but definitely original) paint inside after almost 70 years. I didn't have the heart to butcher it.

 

[Ole]

Same with my pre-anniversary - leather was scuffed, bellows brand new (synthetic, looked like it was fresh from Camera Bellows), FP shutter working and even fairly precise, rangefinder in good shape and tracking well (I'll have to try to find out what focal length it's adjusted for). The only reason I can see that I got it that cheap is that there was no lens with it.
But the reason I bought it was to use it with old shutterless lenses, so that's perfect for me!

 

[glennfromwy]

You are to be commended. I would wholeheartedly advise anyone to rescue one of these cameras, if at all possible. The only reason I built a 4X5 box camera out of Speed Graphic parts is because they were just that. Left over parts from building other Speed Graphics. Not particularly great parts and certainly not uncommon parts. Their last claim to fame is that they now make up a one of a kind new camera.