Dez
Bodger Extraordinaire
I just bought a very nice and recent Crown Graphic. The really interesting thing about it was that it was a 2 1/4 x 3 1/4, fitted with a Graflok back 
.
Even more interesting though was the fact that someone had fitted it with a very recent Tessar 80mm f2.8 lens in a Copal 0 shutter. I have not put film through it yet, but the lens appears to cover the format well! The lens looks like it is brand new.
I had made the assumption that the Kalart RF had NOT been adjusted for this short lens, and I was sadly correct. I have the Kalart adjustment manual, but it does not provide settings for such a short lens. Does anyone have any experience in using such a lens on a 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 Graphic, and know the right settings for the Kalart RF dials.
Cheers,
Dez
.Even more interesting though was the fact that someone had fitted it with a very recent Tessar 80mm f2.8 lens in a Copal 0 shutter. I have not put film through it yet, but the lens appears to cover the format well! The lens looks like it is brand new.
I had made the assumption that the Kalart RF had NOT been adjusted for this short lens, and I was sadly correct. I have the Kalart adjustment manual, but it does not provide settings for such a short lens. Does anyone have any experience in using such a lens on a 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 Graphic, and know the right settings for the Kalart RF dials.
Cheers,
Dez
vitaly66
slightly tilted
FWIW, I set up an 80mm Xenotar on a Crown 23 recently. Long scale (rear) about 7, short scale (front) about 2.
This should be taken only as a starting point. Kalart adjustment is an iterative process. It may not seem like a lot of fun the first time you go through it, tweaking, re-tweaking, and tweaking again. But if you are patient and methodical you will eventually wind up with a very accurate setup!
This should be taken only as a starting point. Kalart adjustment is an iterative process. It may not seem like a lot of fun the first time you go through it, tweaking, re-tweaking, and tweaking again. But if you are patient and methodical you will eventually wind up with a very accurate setup!
Dez
Bodger Extraordinaire
Sometimes you get lucky! It turns out that the major problem was that the front standard stops were in the wrong position. Once I fixed that, and reset the infinity position, there was no error at the 15-25' position, and a minor adjustment in the 4-8' range. The back scale was ~9, and the front scale ~5.
So it turns out that an 80mm f2.8 lens is practical on an old Graphic after all.
The adjustment manual is easy to follow.
http://graflex.org/speed-graphic/kalart-manual.html
Cheers,
Dez
ColSebastianMoran
( IRL Richard Karash )
80mm f/2.8 lens, is that from a Graflex XL?
I'm curious... Does the case close on this lens? I've been thinking about mounting a modern lens on my baby graphic.
I'm curious... Does the case close on this lens? I've been thinking about mounting a modern lens on my baby graphic.
Dez
Bodger Extraordinaire
I do not know the background of the lens, but it was a dead standard fit on a standard Graphic lens board.
It is ironic that you mention the issue of closng the front. When I received the camera, the cocking lever at the top was bent severely back due to contact with the front cross rail of the sliding bed. In the process of determining if I could cut down the quite large knob on the lever, I managed to break the lever where it comes out of the shutter housing; this is where it was bent and the metal was fatigued. I just spent a few hours making a new lever, which now has a very small knob, actually a crown from a small pocket watch, and no longer interferes with the cross rail. It works well, looks correct, but this was not what I planned for this afternoon.
The camera is a baby Century Graphic, and apart from the usual fiddling with the rangefinder, was no problem at all to set up properly.
Cheers,
Dez