Graflex Crown Graphic Camera - Finished! At least for now!

So the Crown Graphic that I have been working on is done. Thanks in no small part due to the rotten winter weather we have had. Being stuck indoors has indirectly encouraged me to spend time in the shop working on this an other projects. When I purchased this camera on EBay the seller had somewhat misrepresented the condition. More omission than commission. They did not say that it likely had been in a flood. They had mentioned that the bellows leaked. The camera has now been cleaned, the leather stripped and the wood refinished, the bellows patched both with cloth tape and with flexible black silicone sealant, the bellows treated to help preserve future flexibility and last but not least the leather handle has been replaced. Some of the metal parts have been repainted. But I opted not to dissasemble the entire door/focusing bed and have not repated the camera interior parts. Now that she is finished I have taken a few with it shots using Fuji instant film and some of my lens/shutter combinations and it seems to be working well. The bellows are for now light tight and should remain so with reasonable care. The lens and shutter that came with the camera have a ton of fungus and wiping scratches. The shutter also sticks and should I decide to keep her I will make an attempt at cleaning and lubrication. The lens on the other hand shows lots of fungus and wiping scratches. The shots I took with it are very soft. They sharpen a bit when stopped down in the middle F stop range. But when I use my other glass the images improve greatly. In short the body of this camera is back but the glass and shutter are still not what I would consider using.

Side View

Front View

Top View

Back View/Film Holder

Front Lens and bellows - Note patching at bellows points

Bellows Patch Details

Work Continues on the Crown Graphic Refurbishment

While it has been intentionally slow going the refurbishment of the Crown Graphic continues. I did not want to set any deadlines for this project as I have plenty of other things to do and to be stressed over. This has allowed me to do one or two small things a night and allow plenty of time in between for things to dry. The leather is all stripped and the wood has been, cleaned, sanded and refinished. Considering everything this camera has been through the wood that makes up the main box was in great shape. All the joints were tight and sturdy. No re-gluing required. The last week has included the patching of the bellows. The leaking bellows was what started this whole process in the first place. Bellows repair has actually gone better than I originally expected. If it holds I will be quite glad that I did not pay for a new bellows. If it doesn't that always remains an option and iI now know what would be required to remove the bellows from the rear box/standard. I have placed black fabric sports tape on the inside at the bellows points where light could be seen coming through. It seems to adhear well, is flexible, flat black so it should not cause light bounce and seems to work fine when the bellows is openned and closed. The pleats still seem to fold properly. Then I used high flex black silicone caulking to seal the rubberized coating on the bellows exterior. The result seems to be a good seal, light tight and first impressions are that it should be pretty durable. The caulking seem to be appropriately pliable. The rest of the rubber on the bellows seems to be in pretty good shape.

The more I work with the camera the more I am convinced it was underwater for a time. I have been reluctant to take it completely apart. Instead I have chosen to stay focused on fixing the parts to get them functional with a little less emphisis on appearance. I decided last night to reinstall the range finder. It does not fully function as far as I can tell but since I have the parts it went back on. It is brighter now that it was cleaned inside. Should I decide that this camera is for carting out to the field and that I want it to be as light as possible it might get taken back off.

I am now in the process of putting it all back together. After I put the front standard back together i will start testing how well it opens closes. One of my next big steps will be to craft a replacement leather strap for the handle. I am also thinking about ideas for a button/cap for the case opening mechanism. Right now it is just a wire coming through the hole. I assume there must have been a metal part that is missing. Time to get creative.

Photos to follow shortly.  

Graflex Crown Graphic Rehabilitation Project Starts

New Years day project starts

It is really silly that someone who takes as many photos as I do started a project without photos of the original condition. I can't believe that I did not take pictures before I started, I thought I had but cannot find them now. Oh well! Back in September of 2013, in a quest to find a light camera to replace my Sinar F for shooting 4x5 film outdoors, I purchased an old Graflex Crown Graphic, early 50's from the serial number list on Graflex.org. It was in really quite rugged shape but did not cost much $123 plus $12 in shipping at auction on Ebay. The lens has fungus and many cleaning scratches, the shutter sticks on slow speeds, the bellows leaks, looks like 5 holes in all at the corners and the leather the leather covering was shot. From what I can tell this camera was likely in a flood. As it came from down south it might have been a hurricane. Regardless this camera has been badly abused. The leather and paint was cracked and pealing especially on the front bed but really on the wood parts as well. But she is complete with all her parts and the working mechanisms seem to function fine. When I realized she was going to take a fair amount of work to make into a working camera again I decided to put her aside and I purchased a bargain price Graflex Super Graphic which is now all set up as a working camera with my glass from the Sinar.

So over the New Years holiday I started the job of figuring out what to do with her. I had come to the conclusion that I was not going to try to restore her. I just wasn't in the mood to buy leather and do the whole recovering thing and have seen some nice looking Graflex cameras with the leather removed. Since the leather on mine was in such bad shape I have decided to go that direction. Hard decision but I plan on exposing and refinishing her mahogany wood box. I plan on stripping the old paint off of the painted graphlock back and other metal parts and repainting them. Still not determined if I am going to paint or leave bare the drop bed. I have seen them both ways.  I may put the view finder that mounts on top back on but may leave the rangefinder off for weight savings. Since I would likely use her as a handheld so I might be looking for a replacement lens and shutter that works. Plenty seem to exist and if I am patient I hope to not pay too much for. I can always use the 135mm I have on my Super Graphic Lens board. I think they are interchangeable.

The leather seems to be glued on with some kind of water soluble glue. so I have been soaking it and gently removing it with a sharp paint scraper being careful not to dig into the wood.  It is coming off fairly easily. The glue on the metal parts is a bit tougher. More photos to follow.



Side view with leather coming off. Bellows has 5 holes at pointed corners, very common!  




Front View

Side view - Leather handle brackets have been removed. Missing bed drop "button".

View of Front Standard, Bellows on this side seems free of holes.

Focusing Screen Success - Cant wait to start taking photos

So the Cambo/Calumet ground glass focusing screen arrived and it works perfectly. It mounts without any additional modification to the revolving section of the Graflex Super Graphic camera back. I shot a couple of instant film images and the Fuji 405 instant film back insets and seats without issue. Something that it will not do with my Sinar F. So I am very happy about that. The Polaroid 4x5 film also inserts and seats without issue but since I am down to my last pack of Fuji FC100c45 film I won't matter. Well unless either the Impossible Project or New 55 starts to make film again that is actually 4x5.  Here are the photos of the new camera. I can't wait to load up some film holders and take it out into the field and take some photos. I will also be posting some photos of the beater Graflex Crown Graphic that I have. I am trying to decide if I am going to restore it or put it up on E-bay and unload it.

On another related front the older Soligor 1 degree Spot meter that I picked on E-bay for $15 is working and appears to be correct when tested against my digital cameras. It took a little creativity to solve the missing battery cover issue. But a little Yankee ingenuity to make a retainer spring clip to hold the hearing aid batteries in place and viola "success". My transportable, low cost (cheap!!!) 4x5 film, field camera set up is almost all together.

Front View Graflex Super Graphic Camera

Side View

View of Cambo Ground Glass focusing back with extra deep spring clips. Mounts perfectly where the missing Graflex back should normally mount.

Front View with camera bellows sliding back ready to be closed up.

All closed up. This makes a nice tidy package compared to my Sinar F. Much easier to put into a back pack.

The Cambo/Calumet focusing back easily mounts and removes without needing to modify the slide clips or other parts of the camera. It has enough depth to accept instant film backs and seems to work perfectly. The Super Graphic has more movements than older versions of the Graflex press camera with a sturdy aluminum box. Not all the bells and whistles that some field cameras have but also not the cost.

Looking for Smaller, Lighter, Easier

So I have embarked on a project to have a smaller, lighter, and easier camera to do 4x5 film photography. The camera I have been using is a Sinar F and while it is a dream of camera in terms of interchangeability of parts, amount of movements and quality it is just too heavy and slow for me to use when I am out in the field. As I looked at good field cameras I just wasn't going to spend a fortune so I have been bargain hunting on E-bay and am now the proud owner of an old really beat 1950's Graflex Crown Graphic and and a Super Graphic. The Super Graphic is missing its ground glass focus panel. The goal has been to find, at really low cost an alternative to the Sinar which I can keep in the car and take with me if I hike someplace with minimal gear. The Sinar while a great camera was never intended to go into the field unless it was manned by a crew. Once the prefect camera for shooting architecture and interiors but in those days the team consisted of a photographer and one or even two assistants.

I will post some photos of the cameras in there current conditions. If I decide to make the Crown into a fully working camera I will have to restore or re purpose it. The leatherette skin is shot, the bellows has holes in it and the overall camera is stained and dirty. I suspect it was in a flood or at the least stored in a garage or barn for many years given the accumulation of residue. But the price was right. It will require some TLC in any case.

The Super Graphic is in better overall working condition, the bellows is light tight, the movements all work and by being a Super, it gives me more of the movements I might expect had I actually gotten a real "field camera". Funny I don't find myself using that many movements even with the Sinar outdoors but we will see. I am curious to experiment with more selective focus and shallow depth of field and slower exposures. Something that I find problematic with digital cameras. The real problem with the Super Graphic is that it is missing the ground glass focus panel. Even if the rangefinder worked I can't seem myself handholding this or using it as my focus methdod. So solving that problem is paramount if it is going to really be a working camera. Graflex completely re-desinged these parts for the Super Graphic so the Graflock back from the Crown will not mount to the rotating back of the Super without removing the slider clips necessary for attaching roll film backs etc. I am presently awating a Cambo back which I have been told does mount to the Super's rotating back. So the journey commences.

All this because I still want to shoot "film" even thought my Nikon D600 cranks out really great, sharp, high resolution images that don't require any of the processing, scanning and photoshoping that is necessary to simply get a film image up on the web or printed. I don't have a real drakroom so my process is a hybrid of analog film and digtal. In the end I am hoping to still do really large prints. I have a good color plotter that prints up to 48" wide and I would like to create images that  hold together at that size. The Nikons full frame sensor gets me pretty close and it is a consumer grade semi pro piece of gear. In the past I would have needed a Leaf or Sinar digital back. But you can almost do it now with consumer grade equipment.  In the end this may still be a fools errand as color transparency film, labs