Bought a Crown Graphic ... Now what do I do?
- Thread starter robklurfield
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kuzano
Veteran
THE man who fixes Graflex
THE man who fixes Graflex
Fred Lustig is, last I checked, operating out of Reno NV (listed in the phone book). In fact, I had him replace a bellows on my Super Graphic just about a year ago. The Super bellows are not available new, and they have wiring embedded in them for the switch for hand held shooting, so they are near impossible to have made. Fred used his stock of good used bellows for my Graphic. Nicely done and a very clean bellows.
Fred is the man who acquired all the Graflex parts when they sold out of parts. I think he may have been a Graflex employee at one time. He can rebuild any of the Graflex models.
He seemed out of the biz for a while due to health issues, but he recovered and is active, at least as far as a year ago. Very nice and helpful on the telephone.
May be worth a shot.
If you do send your camera back, it may be worth calling Fred to see if he has any refurbed Graflex cameras.
THE man who fixes Graflex
Fred Lustig is, last I checked, operating out of Reno NV (listed in the phone book). In fact, I had him replace a bellows on my Super Graphic just about a year ago. The Super bellows are not available new, and they have wiring embedded in them for the switch for hand held shooting, so they are near impossible to have made. Fred used his stock of good used bellows for my Graphic. Nicely done and a very clean bellows.
Fred is the man who acquired all the Graflex parts when they sold out of parts. I think he may have been a Graflex employee at one time. He can rebuild any of the Graflex models.
He seemed out of the biz for a while due to health issues, but he recovered and is active, at least as far as a year ago. Very nice and helpful on the telephone.
May be worth a shot.
If you do send your camera back, it may be worth calling Fred to see if he has any refurbed Graflex cameras.
robklurfield
eclipse
Pirate
Guitar playing Fotografer
I have a Crown that is with Fred right now. Sent it to him in January and just a week ago got the invoice of what it needed, sent him a check and am patiently waiting. I'm sure he's busy but I've only heard good about him so I'm in no rush. Very nice guy to chat with on the phone so I felt plenty comfortable about sending it to him.
Pirate
Guitar playing Fotografer
Here's Fred's invoice to me to give you some idea of repair costs:
jan normandale
Film is the other way
RK asks "Bought a Crown Graphic ... Now what do I do?"
JN sez "shoot with it of course!!"
have fun it's a fine camera
heavy industry neighbourhood by jannx - in hibernation, on Flickr
JN sez "shoot with it of course!!"
have fun it's a fine camera
heavy industry neighbourhood by jannx - in hibernation, on Flickr
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
A bit more encouragement for you Rob along with Jan's pic ... note the light leaks from the dodgy film holder in the lower left corner! 😛
David Murphy
Veteran
Scale focusing is not hard and is an art mastered by true professionals. Watch the Turner Classic Movie channel some time - most of those flicks were shot with scale focused movie cameras.
jan normandale
Film is the other way
heh... nice selfie Keith !
;D
;D
robklurfield
eclipse
Already have eight film holders. 50 sheets of 4x5 Arista 100 due in on Saturday. That should be sufficient for me to get started and it's certainly cheap enough.
Scale or ground glass focus not a problem. In film school shooting Arri 16S's, "scale" focus meant using a tape measure and DOF charts (together with the annual American Cinematographer's Handbook) which is certainly what was used in anything you see on TCM. I am certainly spoiled by good rangefinders, though and will need to get the RF on the Crown working eventually.
Scale or ground glass focus not a problem. In film school shooting Arri 16S's, "scale" focus meant using a tape measure and DOF charts (together with the annual American Cinematographer's Handbook) which is certainly what was used in anything you see on TCM. I am certainly spoiled by good rangefinders, though and will need to get the RF on the Crown working eventually.
robklurfield
eclipse
lovely image. eager for my Freestyle film delivery to arrive.
RK asks "Bought a Crown Graphic ... Now what do I do?"
JN sez "shoot with it of course!!"
have fun it's a fine camera
heavy industry neighbourhood by jannx - in hibernation, on Flickr
jan normandale
Film is the other way
Rob, that's some old Freestyle Arista. I think it might have been Tri X.. not sure. I did it in Rodinal 1:100 about 18 minutes standard agitation every 3 minutes. The lens is a nice one that I waited for before buying it's a Schneider Kreuzenach 135 mm
FrankS
Registered User
Basic question, Rob: does the camera have infinity stops on the focusing rails,and are they set up properly so that camera focuses to infinity (determined by checking on the ground glass) when the focusing scale is set to infinity?
robklurfield
eclipse
I shot a sheet ... several sheets shot [say that four times fast]....
anyway, I screwed up three of the first four (dummy, remember to CLOSE the shutter before withdrawing the dark slide, etc.). One of the four is drying and probably out of focus and is suffering some clumps of unfixed silver probably due to using a substandard brand of hair ties (or more likely, operator error, me of the ten-thumbed hands) for my first attempt at the tortilla method. Anyway, this is easier than I expected. First observation is that my 30-year old light-weight Gitzo is probably not steady enough for anything close and requiring perfect focus. Inserting the film holders on the portraits I shot was enough jostling to upset the focus. So, with a little practice, I'm sure I'll get the hang of this.
Here's proof that I'm only partially incompetent...
anyway, I screwed up three of the first four (dummy, remember to CLOSE the shutter before withdrawing the dark slide, etc.). One of the four is drying and probably out of focus and is suffering some clumps of unfixed silver probably due to using a substandard brand of hair ties (or more likely, operator error, me of the ten-thumbed hands) for my first attempt at the tortilla method. Anyway, this is easier than I expected. First observation is that my 30-year old light-weight Gitzo is probably not steady enough for anything close and requiring perfect focus. Inserting the film holders on the portraits I shot was enough jostling to upset the focus. So, with a little practice, I'm sure I'll get the hang of this.
Here's proof that I'm only partially incompetent...
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Ron (Netherlands)
Well-known
robklurfield
eclipse
FrankS, indeed, I do have infinity stops. Tomorrow, when I have some decent light minus today's heavy rain, I will see if they're set at infinity. Thanks for the tip.
Carterofmars
Well-known
Rob,
Congrats on the Crown Graphic. I've had a Super Speed Graphic sitting in the closet for a decade. Now I've finally decided to use.
Are you going to load your own holders?
Congrats on the Crown Graphic. I've had a Super Speed Graphic sitting in the closet for a decade. Now I've finally decided to use.
Are you going to load your own holders?
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ChrisN
Striving
Congratulations on that first neg! I can still recall the excitement as I pulled my first from the tank and held it up to the light. Fun times. And Joe - That's one of the best you have there - do use it! Loading holders is easy (like many things, after sufficient practice 🙂 ).
robklurfield
eclipse
Carter, loading the holders is easy so long as you're systematic. I'd probably prefer a changing tent to my changing bag, but even so it was terribly difficult.
I can't say the same for my development method yet. I tried the tortilla technique and think I had the sheets to close together (a three-reel Paterson) tank, as using my normal 35mm agitation technique, I had some unfixed silver clumped in several places. I may try one of these gadgets:
http://www.auctionsplash.com/UserImages/mod_photographic/mod_photographic_634183434534130000-0.jpg
(available for a seller on eBay). Anyone tried one of these? Looks handy and easy to use, but kind of expensive at nearly $58.
My first results are kind of crummy... focus perfect on just the wrong place (you can be sure that her neck was not what I had in mind -- and god knows what the Mrs. will say when she see how sharp the wrong part came out -- but my light-weight tripod undoubtedly slipped just enough when I loaded my film to knock the focus off), exposure not quite right and, of course, the awful undigested silver clumps. Nevertheless, I think I can get better as this pretty quickly as my mistakes are easy to identify and remedy....
I can't say the same for my development method yet. I tried the tortilla technique and think I had the sheets to close together (a three-reel Paterson) tank, as using my normal 35mm agitation technique, I had some unfixed silver clumped in several places. I may try one of these gadgets:
http://www.auctionsplash.com/UserImages/mod_photographic/mod_photographic_634183434534130000-0.jpg
(available for a seller on eBay). Anyone tried one of these? Looks handy and easy to use, but kind of expensive at nearly $58.
My first results are kind of crummy... focus perfect on just the wrong place (you can be sure that her neck was not what I had in mind -- and god knows what the Mrs. will say when she see how sharp the wrong part came out -- but my light-weight tripod undoubtedly slipped just enough when I loaded my film to knock the focus off), exposure not quite right and, of course, the awful undigested silver clumps. Nevertheless, I think I can get better as this pretty quickly as my mistakes are easy to identify and remedy....
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jan normandale
Film is the other way
Rob this is all technical stuff that comes through further shooting. The holder you showed is made in the UK by "Morgan" he has videos on Youtube regarding loading the holder. If you get one do the rotation slowly some people report film sheets popping loose from the holder while inside the tank. I haven't had the experience yet but I know it will happen eventually
Carterof.... go to youtube and there are a lot of videos on loading film holders. Use one sheet to practice. I just cut a sheet of paper to 4x5 for my practice. Repetition is the key to getting comfortable loading and unloading.
Carterof.... go to youtube and there are a lot of videos on loading film holders. Use one sheet to practice. I just cut a sheet of paper to 4x5 for my practice. Repetition is the key to getting comfortable loading and unloading.
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