Anyone else - shooting with their 'baby'?

[Dave Wilkinson]

Some time ago - at a car boot sale ( yard sale?where you are? ) I picked up, very cheaply, a rather scruffy 'baby' speed graphic, along with six wooden cut film holders. The internal roller-shutter blind was inoperative, and has now been removed, as has the rangefinder!, so it's now purely a view camera. The 101mm f4.5 'Ektar' coated lens, dating from 1946 had pristine glass, and the lens shutter works smoothly.
Those cut-film holders are inconvenient, to say the least!, so the camera did not see much use for a while. It happened that in my workshop 'junk drawer' was a broken, early Mamiya press camera with 6x9 roll film back.....well - after some major surgery the focus screen and film holder now fit the Graphlex!🙂 and as things have moved back slightly, it makes an excellent rig for close-ups, yet will still focus to infinity!. Making my own lens panels is not a problem, so now I'm looking around for interesting ( and cheap! ) lens/shutter combo's - probably ex folders, so any suggestions in this direction would be welcome. BTW -that 101mm Ektar - allied to the big negative gives fine results.
Dave.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

Some time ago - at a car boot sale ( yard sale?where you are? ) I picked up, very cheaply, a rather scruffy 'baby' speed graphic, along with six wooden cut film holders. The internal roller-shutter blind was inoperative, and has now been removed, as has the rangefinder!, so it's now purely a view camera. The 101mm f4.5 'Ektar' coated lens, dating from 1946 had pristine glass, and the lens shutter works smoothly.
Those cut-film holders are inconvenient, to say the least!, so the camera did not see much use for a while. It happened that in my workshop 'junk drawer' was a broken, early Mamiya press camera with 6x9 roll film back.....well - after some major surgery the focus screen and film holder now fit the Graphlex!🙂 and as things have moved back slightly, it makes an excellent rig for close-ups, yet will still focus to infinity!. Making my own lens panels is not a problem, so now I'm looking around for interesting ( and cheap! ) lens/shutter combo's - probably ex folders, so any suggestions in this direction would be welcome. BTW -that 101mm Ektar - allied to the big negative gives fine results.
Dave.

bump!....am I the only one?

 

[sepiareverb]

A good friend of mine pulls his out every once in a while. He's just renovating his darkroom this fall and so will be shooting it a lot more I'm sure.

 

[chubasco]

I don't have one of these, Dave, but if I find one at a good price, will try to get it. Looks
like a cool setup! Especially like how you rigged it for close-ups. Very interested in seeing
your results!

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

I don't have one of these, Dave, but if I find one at a good price, will try to get it. Looks
like a cool setup! Especially like how you rigged it for close-ups. Very interested in seeing
your results!

Just got a few rolls of FP4+ - to use this coming week, I'll post some results in a few days time!
Dave

 

[ZeissFan]

I'm shooting with a Baby Ikonta, which isn't anything like a Speed Graphic, although they both have bellows.

 

[NiccaFile]

These are pretty cheap (from 616 1A's)..

These are pretty cheap (from 616 1A's)..

..this one still works:

 

[planetjoe]

.....well - after some major surgery the focus screen and film holder now fit the Graphlex!🙂 and as things have moved back slightly, it makes an excellent rig for close-ups, yet will still focus to infinity!.

Dave, nice rig. I was pleasantly surprised to see that someone had indeed succeeded in doing almost exactly what I've been planning with my "baby"; those "S" backs from mamiya are renowned for their flatness. Well-done.

How do you manage the focusing with the RF removed? Do you have any issues relying on DOF for close-ups?

And by the way, my own "baby" is a mini Pacemaker Speed 2x3; lately I've been thinking that this conversion is probably better suited to a Crown or Century, so as to trade the focal-plane shutter for a slimmer body.


Cheers,
--joe.

 

[Al Kaplan]

For years had a Century Graphic. Great little camera. I recently picked up a baby Speed and plan on sawing off everything in front of the shutter box, put a flat board across it with a Pentax flange shimmed out for proper infinity focus. A full frame fish-eye lens should give me about a 50mm circular image on 120 film.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

How do you manage the focusing with the RF removed? Do you have any issues relying on DOF for close-ups?




Cheers,
--joe.

Joe, the camera now has the back-plate from the Mamiya attached, and takes the ground glass screen and roll-film holder, so all focusing is done just the same as a view camera, which means a tripod! - slow in use, but for certain subjects that big 6x9 neg. certainly delivers!. To do the same as me would require a scrap Mamiya body - not just the film holder unfortunately!
Cheers, Dave.

 

[George Bonanno]

I shoot events with a baby speed graphic.
http://www.photoflashbulb.com

 

[planetjoe]

... To do the same as me would require a scrap Mamiya body - not just the film holder unfortunately!
Cheers, Dave.

Understood, certainly. You'd be surprised at the size of my scrap camera heap; I've some scattered Mamiya Universal parts in there. Thanks, Dave.

I kinda like where Al is going with his thinking, too.


Cheers,
--joe.

 

[MaxElmar]

No "Baby" but I have a 3x4 Speed with a custom machined 6x9 back. This was shot with the original 135 Optar...

You can count the stitches on the teddy bear on the chrome... the big ol' RF still works great!

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

No "Baby" but I have a 3x4 Speed with a custom machined 6x9 back. This was shot with the original 135 Optar...

You can count the stitches on the teddy bear on the chrome... the big ol' RF still works great!

Sounds nice Chris!....and interesting!, any chance of a picture of that custom back?, - I do a little bit of this sort of thing myself.
Dave.

 

[Wayno]

I recently got a little Busch Pressman and an "Adapt-a-Roll 620" roll film back that slips into the spring back like a cut film holder:




I've only had time to put one roll through, but I had fun going a bit overboard with the movements (these are just digicam pics of the negatives):




I've got a Mamiya 55mm lens from a TLR which I'm going to try out as a wide angle. It may not have enough coverage, but I'll have some fun with it anyhow.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

I recently got a little Busch Pressman and an "Adapt-a-Roll 620" roll film back that slips into the spring back like a cut film holder:




I've only had time to put one roll through, but I had fun going a bit overboard with the movements (these are just digicam pics of the negatives):




I've got a Mamiya 55mm lens from a TLR which I'm going to try out as a wide angle. It may not have enough coverage, but I'll have some fun with it anyhow.

Nice one! Wayne, shoot some more - and show us the results!. I'm looking for a longer lens (possibly uncoated) to use for portraits.
Dave.

 

[Roger Hicks]

I use a 'baby' Linhof. Over the last 35 years I've had four. My current model (since the early 90s) is a Tech 70 with the RF removed and a trap-door in the roof for extra rise. A 3x enlargement off 56x72mm is almost exactly whole-plate and if I am careful with Delta 100 it looks like a contact print.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

I use a 'baby' Linhof. Over the last 35 years I've had four. My current model (since the early 90s) is a Tech 70 with the RF removed and a trap-door in the roof for extra rise. A 3x enlargement off 56x72mm is almost exactly whole-plate and if I am careful with Delta 100 it looks like a contact print.

Cheers,

R.

Yes - I saw this interesting job in your exellent M/F book Roger!, as I said earlier - the 101mm Ektar on mine is not bad, and I'm looking for a longer lens, maybe uncoated, for portraits at a reasonable price - any suggestions?.
Dave.

 

[Roger Hicks]

. . . I'm looking for a longer lens, maybe uncoated, for portraits at a reasonable price - any suggestions?.
Dave.

Dear Dave,

Anything will do, so it depends on what comes up. A 150/3.5 Tessar might be a good bet (if you find a 150/6.3 it will be very sharp, and if you don't want it, I'll have it). Among coated lenses, I'd consider a 135mm Xenar or the oldest 150 Symmar you can find. The Symmar has the advantage that you can pull off the front group and just use the rear group.

For the whole-plate trick, you need a sharp lens, though. I use a 100/5.6 Apo-Symmar and a 150/4.5 Apo Lanthar.

Cheers,

R.

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

here's a fairly close shot - with the 'Ektar'....Ilford FP4+....ID11
Dave.