Bill 45

Last Thursday a Graflex's Speed Graphic was giving to me. The lens is a Graflex Optar 135mm. The lens is nice and clear. No pin holds in the bellow. It has a view finder on top, ranger finder on the side. On top of the ranger finder is Kalart's Focuspot, something about light beams? Came with camera is Graflex flash unit. Flash unit works. But the wires from the flash unit to the camera have to be replace. Every thing works on the camera. It takes 4X5 film sheets. Now I want to use the camera but no way I can set up a dark room. So I have to find a way ship out the film to be develop. Can any one help me on that? Yes, I known about 120mm film adopter, it only give one eight pictures. Little history on the camera: The first owner was a teacher in the local grade school, who would each year would go around taking pictures of group of students. She began doing this sometime in the early 1950s . She would keep doing this until she retire in 1975. After 1975 the camera was put away in a back room in school and was forgot about. In 1984 the school was clearing out old things from back rooms in the school buildings. It was giving to a teacher, who took it home and put it a display case. He never use it. He is now (2019) down siding things in his house, call me ask if I want the camera. When I was in high school I can remember very well the first owner going around taking pictures with this camera in school. I from the class of 1965 of that school.

drmike99 Loc: Fairfield Connecticut

Pretty sure that TheDarkroom.com in San Clemente CA or Blue Moon Camera and Machine in Portland OR can develop sheet film for you.

twowindsbear

Does the focal plane shutter still work, any holes in it?

scg3

If you can swing the stiff price, Freestyle in Los Angeles still carries Fuji instant color film in 4x5. No need for a darkroom; you just need money: https://www.freestylephoto.biz/02602760-Fujicolor-FP-100C-Professional-Instant-Print-Film-4x5-10-pack

Incidentally, however you process 4x5 film, it's useless until you print the negative. That DOES call for a darkroom. You might be wiser to put the camera back in its display case.


Back in the Air Force in 1967 I was obliged to use a 4x5 Speed Graphic. I couldn't wait to get my hands on a Nikon! The Graphic was a clunker -- all work and no play.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

You don't need a darkroom. A tank, film holders and lightproof changing bag (which you need to load the film in the camera slides anyway) plus chemicals is all you need. Then use a flatbed scanner to scan the negatives into your apps to edit and print from your computer. I used to have a tank that was a bit smaller than a car battery, it may even be in a box in my garage - but that would take Indiana Johns and dig crew to find.

EastWest

I have a 1947 that started life in the Army. I bought this from it's original handler who was the parent of a classmate. I haven't used it in a few decades but I was jonesing for a digital back - until I saw the price! In addition to the 135 shutter lens, it came with a 15 inch Wolensak telephoto that was shutterless so it depended on the focal plane shutter. It tended to drag a little so the last inch of curtain travel tended to over expose. I would just put a piece of tape on the focusing screen to remind me to allow for the crop.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

. Did you ever get the Graflex XL medium format camera that was an AF standard for a few years?

BebuLamar

Focal plane shutter??? I would be very surprised that a 4x5 camera would have focal plane shutter.

BebuLamar

I develop 4x5 in a Unicolor print drum. I also use the rotator base. It's easy just to use the changing bag.

pendennis

Pacemaker Speed Graphics did indeed have focal plane shutters. They provided speeds of up to 1/1000 second. You could use lenses without shutters. They were produced until ca. 1970.

Graflex did discontinue the focal plane shutter on some models, starting in the mid-1950's. Pacemaker Crown, Super Speed, and Super Graphic models were produced without a focal plane shutter.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Needless to say, it’s big.
This one’s a bit tired:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1KtDB9nVs-o

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

My speed graphic had a focal plane shutter as well as a leaf shutter in the lens. I think the leaf shutter went to 1/200 second and the focal plane shutter went to 1/1200 second. (That's trying to exercise my memory from more than 50 years ago).
If I recall correctly, the focal plane shutter made about as much noise as the current DSLRs make. Different sound, no mirror slap, but definitely a lot of material moving across the focal plane.

bleirer

I remember this site being a treasure trove:

https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/index.php?s=a33999e04ee80e71f8bf9c1d445702b5

therwol Loc: USA

The Speed Graphic has a focal plane shutter with the option of using a shutter in the lens. The Crown Graphic does not have the focal plane shutter and uses the shutter in the lens. (Notice I'm keeping this in the present tense. Some people still use these cameras.) I still have a Crown Graphic that my son in-law has expressed an interest in.

I used to enlarge my 4x5 negatives and even took some color at one point. I recently scanned everything I have. You have to be careful not to go overboard on the .dpi (I used 2400) or you could end up with multi-gigabyte files for each negative.

therwol Loc: USA

I used to do that. I still have the 8x10 drum. I no longer have the 16x20 drum. I can't remember why I got rid of it.