Forgot to mention a helpful hit ( at least for me) is the addition of a Graflex tension/aperture matrix plate I added to the backside of my iPhone clear case. So as I take a light meter reading, I flip the phone’s backside to determine my combination. PS My local Graflex guru tells me to always take your shutter curtain to T before adjusting tension.
A couple of months late but I enjoyed the video. Especially the modification with a file and hacksaw. That made me laugh out loud. Thanks Ari for explaining the workings and pros and cons. Looking at one of these on eBay myself.
A Graflex SLR is an amazing piece of Engineering for its day and is today. I shoot the 4x5 RB Tele and 3x4 Series D (4x5 converted). The experience is a slowed down moment of time one files away. Love your commentary and images. Thanks for sharing your Graflex moment.
Very, very good video, as usual! What a wonderful chamber, it must be a real pleasure to shoot with it. Guaranteed success with other people. When I shoot in the street with my modest Yashica 124 (non G), people come to me to ask questions, and I love it! I like the way you speak: very understandable for a French like me, sometimes american accents are weird! Live long and prosper.
I don't know how many times I have watched this video, but I love it ! Sure hope you come out with more about these great cameras. The music is wonderful too ! These are my favorite cameras and I'm having a lot of fun modifying them and making them better than original. Have you checked out 20th Century Cameras yet ? Graflex Parts has some great ideas too. John Minnicks is a guy that does fantastic things with these cameras as well . I just won a Graflex RB Tele-Graflex 3x4 that I'm going to modify with a Fuji GX680 90% viewfinder and a Graflok 4x5 back so I can shoot many different film types. I'm going to have a lot of fun with this one ! Thanks again for all these great inspiring videos and the beautiful music too. Larry
I love these Graflex RB's. David Burnett has had a wonderful career and in recent years has been producing wonderful images using his John Minnicks custom made "Aero-Liberator" Graflex.
Wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful story. This is not just photography, but above all camera emotion from head to toe. I had another great moment.
@@ShootOnFilm I can’t seem to get the shutter to engage. No matter what I do the shutter doesn’t show up in the back, it seems to be stuck. The one I have looks to be 5x4 back. I’ll do some searching to see if I can trouble shoot the problem.
I own a Graflex Super D RB 4x5 camera. I really enjoy working with it. Thanks for the great explanation of how to use these cameras. The different backs can be confusing at first. I sometimes forget that I am vertical orientation when I mean to be in horizontal.
Great video, beautiful camera and stunning pictures Ari! 👍 The curtain shutter, the rotating back and the use of non standardized and hard to find film holders remind me a lot my large format Mentor Studio camera. But the sound and the vibrations the camera makes are very different. If I release the shutter of the Mentor the earthquake it produces can be noticed on the other side of the planet. 🙂
I have a rotating back Thornton Pickard ruby reflex quarter plate which is from the 1930s. It has a Taylor Taylor Hobson Cooke 135mm f4. 5 lens. I have a 6x9 rollfilm back for it as quarter plate film in no longer available. The focal plane shutter works perfectly.
At first you said you filed off both "hills" on the Graphix back, but I noticed when you showed the finished back, you left the most outside hill there. I wish I would have watched more carefully the 100 times I previously watched, I would have saved a little time. I found using small 400 grit sanding discs, then 100 grit to smooth really made fast work with my angle grinder and a stone on my Dremel made a quick slot. Mine works great now with the 6x9 modified back. Wish you would have mentioned it though ! But my next ones will be better. I'm working on a magnified viewfinder with rectangle cut wood with sheet metal that makes ears on the side that puts pressure from inside and holds it tightly in place when flared out enough . Using 58mm close up lenses from 1-4. You will want to check out 20th Century Cameras for some very innovative parts for these cameras. For some reason they don't have much for the 2x3 cameras though, but I plan on getting him more interested in doing some 2x3 stuff ! Check them out, you'll at least get some great ideas.
Excellent video. I was given one of these and want to use it. I recently found a manual online and I'm looking at roll film backs for it now. After consulting the manual and trying the shutter, it is sluggish and inaccurate I think, so it must have been stored with tension on the spring. Now I must figure out how to adjust or fix that. Thank you for such a great video.
thank you for the video, its nice to see a beautiful camera in use. I have to say that I have a similar relation to my Zeiss Ikon 9x12 folding camera, it is about just as old, folds into a book (like the speed graphic but much smaller) has a great old lens and a double extension (!) bellows which allows for macro work, en egg comes out 1:1 on full extension, almost want to eat it! I hope one day to find a way of using it as an enlarger for the 9x12 negatives, just need to figure out a lightsource and attachment to the camera!
This focal plane shutter is the biggest reason I bought a Speed Graphic instead of a Crown Graphic. Just as your RB has no shutter in the lens, I can use lenses on my Speed Graphic that have no shutter -- and in fact the one I keep on it and for which I've calibrated the rangefinder on mine is a 13.5 cm f/4.5 Tessar mounted in a shutter, but the shutter has no working parts, just the aperture iris and its adjustment. Using the focal plane shutter exclusively on a camera that doesn't have the mirror your RB does is a little different -- I have to remember to insert the dark slide or cycle a Grafmatic to "between sheets", else I'll (over)expose the film when I wind the shutter back for the next exposure. You have that problem, too, if you don't manually lower the mirror or insert the dark slide before you wind the shutter.
I have been thinking about getting one and getting a digital camera adopter do you think a digital camera would be able to work with it like the other 4x5 camera's?
Very interesting video and camera. Not a camera I've paid any attention to before. It would be interesting to try it with an enlarger lens as a taking lens.
@@ShootOnFilm It will be interesting to hear / see how you get on with that. It should be pretty good at near distance subjects, and quite possible beyond. I would certainly give it a try.
I guess at some time they determined that such a large number of different shutter speeds is not really necessary as the Speed Graphic Pacemaker I have has only 6 speeds (and of course T), 3 different slits and two settings for curtain speed, one with a friction governor engaged and one without. The earlier film backs are kind of a mess, yes. My camera fortunately has the Graflok back which is the most versatile of the different backs and accepts standard film holders and numerous other accessories. When I bought my Graflex from the USA on Ebay it came with four film holders. Unfortunately they were of the older style like your's (except that they are 4x5 of course) that fits the Graflex back but not the Graflok so useless in my camera. So I now have 4 original Graflex-made wooden film holders in excellent condition (they are really almost like new) I can't use. Maybe I should try to sell them somewhere. Fortunately I also bought a lot of 10 standard film holders at a very good price so I have enough even though the ones that came with the camera are incompatible. The seller of the camera also gave me a partial refund because of the wrong holders and a couple of other issues on the camera so all good. An interesting note, one of the film holders had sheets of film loaded and by googling the notch codes it seems they are Ansco Superpan Press- brand of film made in the 40:s and 50:s so they have probably been in the holder for a very long time. Unfortunately I, not knowing they were there, pulled the dark slides in daylight. On the other hand the dark slides were inserted the silver side out so the sheets probably were unexposed. Had I known they were there and not exposed them to light I certainly would have tried developing them anyway. I would certainly love to have a Graflex RB, a really cool camera, but they tend to be pricey. Nice pictures by the way.
Forgot to mention a helpful hit ( at least for me) is the addition of a Graflex tension/aperture matrix plate I added to the backside of my iPhone clear case. So as I take a light meter reading, I flip the phone’s backside to determine my combination. PS My local Graflex guru tells me to always take your shutter curtain to T before adjusting tension.
A couple of months late but I enjoyed the video. Especially the modification with a file and hacksaw. That made me laugh out loud. Thanks Ari for explaining the workings and pros and cons. Looking at one of these on eBay myself.
A Graflex SLR is an amazing piece of Engineering for its day and is today. I shoot the 4x5 RB Tele and 3x4 Series D (4x5 converted). The experience is a slowed down moment of time one files away. Love your commentary and images. Thanks for sharing your Graflex moment.
Thanks thanks. Graflex is a marvelous piece of engineering!
Very, very good video, as usual! What a wonderful chamber, it must be a real pleasure to shoot with it. Guaranteed success with other people. When I shoot in the street with my modest Yashica 124 (non G), people come to me to ask questions, and I love it!
I like the way you speak: very understandable for a French like me, sometimes american accents are weird!
Live long and prosper.
Thank you, thank you! We Europeans need to stick together :-) And yes, it attracts even too much attention.
I don't know how many times I have watched this video, but I love it ! Sure hope you come out with more about these great cameras. The music is wonderful too ! These are my favorite cameras and I'm having a lot of fun modifying them and making them better than original. Have you checked out 20th Century Cameras yet ? Graflex Parts has some great ideas too. John Minnicks is a guy that does fantastic things with these cameras as well . I just won a Graflex RB Tele-Graflex 3x4 that I'm going to modify with a Fuji GX680 90% viewfinder and a Graflok 4x5 back so I can shoot many different film types. I'm going
to have a lot of fun with this one !
Thanks again for all these great inspiring videos and the beautiful music too. Larry
Thanks for watching -- and yes, what a marvelous camera! 20th Century Cameras -- didn't they have a devastating fire lately?
I love these Graflex RB's. David Burnett has had a wonderful career and in recent years has been producing wonderful images using his John Minnicks custom made "Aero-Liberator" Graflex.
Yeah, this is still fairly new to me. I've shot quite a bit with a Speed Graphic and Crown, but these are totally different. I like this a lot!
Wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful story. This is not just photography, but above all camera emotion from head to toe.
I had another great moment.
Thanks thanks! I’ve been having a good time with this camera!
Fascinating design!!
Indeed :-)
Fascinating, Ari. Thanks. Great to see you're in such a well balanced mood.
Everything is in order now!
Thanks for explaining how this thing works. I inherited one these and haven’t had time to investigate it or figure out its function.
Thanks, thanks. Do you think yours would work?
@@ShootOnFilm I can’t seem to get the shutter to engage. No matter what I do the shutter doesn’t show up in the back, it seems to be stuck. The one I have looks to be 5x4 back. I’ll do some searching to see if I can trouble shoot the problem.
I own a Graflex Super D RB 4x5 camera. I really enjoy working with it. Thanks for the great explanation of how to use these cameras. The different backs can be confusing at first. I sometimes forget that I am vertical orientation when I mean to be in horizontal.
Thanks thanks. I do the same vertical horizontal mix. As there is nothing in the viewfinder that would indicate the orientation:-)
Very interesting video. Good job!
:-) Thanks Thanks
Great video, beautiful camera and stunning pictures Ari! 👍
The curtain shutter, the rotating back and the use of non standardized and hard to find film holders remind me a lot my large format Mentor Studio camera. But the sound and the vibrations the camera makes are very different. If I release the shutter of the Mentor the earthquake it produces can be noticed on the other side of the planet. 🙂
Haa!! There is a minor 3.5 Richter going on with my Graflex, too.
I have a rotating back Thornton Pickard ruby reflex quarter plate which is from the 1930s.
It has a Taylor Taylor Hobson Cooke 135mm f4. 5 lens.
I have a 6x9 rollfilm back for it as quarter plate film in no longer available. The focal plane shutter works perfectly.
Interesting camera and great pictures! Keep it up! 😊👍🏻
Thanks thanks! :-)
At first you said you filed off both "hills" on the Graphix back, but I noticed when you showed the finished back, you left the most outside hill there. I wish I would have watched more carefully the 100 times I previously watched, I would have saved a little time. I found using small 400 grit sanding discs, then 100 grit to smooth really made fast work with my angle grinder and a stone on my Dremel made a quick slot. Mine works great now with the 6x9 modified back. Wish you would have mentioned it though ! But my next ones will be better. I'm working on a magnified viewfinder with rectangle cut wood with sheet metal that makes ears on the side that puts pressure from inside and holds it tightly in place when flared out enough . Using 58mm close up lenses from 1-4. You will want to check out 20th Century Cameras for some very innovative parts for these cameras. For some reason they don't have much for the 2x3 cameras though, but I plan on getting him more interested in doing some 2x3 stuff ! Check them out, you'll at least get some great ideas.
Thanks, thanks. And I'm really sorry I was vague on this!!! Truly sorry. But happy you are making progress :-)
Good video. I was just researching these 45 minutes ago.
Thanks, thanks. These are very interesting cameras!
I love my Graflex camera.
Me too :-)
Excellent video. I was given one of these and want to use it. I recently found a manual online and I'm looking at roll film backs for it now. After consulting the manual and trying the shutter, it is sluggish and inaccurate I think, so it must have been stored with tension on the spring. Now I must figure out how to adjust or fix that. Thank you for such a great video.
Thanks. It s an awesome camera. Btw, follow these steps to get the tension adjusted. ruclips.net/video/kZuo_j1DfKs/видео.html
@@ShootOnFilm Ah okay, I will, thank you!
There's a good video on RUclips by Graflex Parts that shows and explains it well. Worked for me. LarryMac
thank you for the video, its nice to see a beautiful camera in use. I have to say that I have a similar relation to my Zeiss Ikon 9x12 folding camera, it is about just as old, folds into a book (like the speed graphic but much smaller) has a great old lens and a double extension (!) bellows which allows for macro work, en egg comes out 1:1 on full extension, almost want to eat it! I hope one day to find a way of using it as an enlarger for the 9x12 negatives, just need to figure out a lightsource and attachment to the camera!
That IS a very cool camera!
brilliant
This focal plane shutter is the biggest reason I bought a Speed Graphic instead of a Crown Graphic. Just as your RB has no shutter in the lens, I can use lenses on my Speed Graphic that have no shutter -- and in fact the one I keep on it and for which I've calibrated the rangefinder on mine is a 13.5 cm f/4.5 Tessar mounted in a shutter, but the shutter has no working parts, just the aperture iris and its adjustment.
Using the focal plane shutter exclusively on a camera that doesn't have the mirror your RB does is a little different -- I have to remember to insert the dark slide or cycle a Grafmatic to "between sheets", else I'll (over)expose the film when I wind the shutter back for the next exposure. You have that problem, too, if you don't manually lower the mirror or insert the dark slide before you wind the shutter.
I have been thinking about getting one and getting a digital camera adopter do you think a digital camera would be able to work with it like the other 4x5 camera's?
Very interesting video and camera. Not a camera I've paid any attention to before. It would be interesting to try it with an enlarger lens as a taking lens.
That's a good idea. I have one 135mm Nikkor. I'll try that!!!
@@ShootOnFilm It will be interesting to hear / see how you get on with that. It should be pretty good at near distance subjects, and quite possible beyond. I would certainly give it a try.
You could try a détente special by pairing it with Soviet Industar 23U 110mm enlarger lens which will cover 6x9 - petty cheap on eBay.
@@urbanimage I tried Helios 44 (the flower pic in the video). And I was surprised it covered the 6x9 so well!
amazing
:-)
Excellent video , love the camera and the picture you taken magnifie , thans
Thank you thank you. Appreciated!!!
I guess at some time they determined that such a large number of different shutter speeds is not really necessary as the Speed Graphic Pacemaker I have has only 6 speeds (and of course T), 3 different slits and two settings for curtain speed, one with a friction governor engaged and one without. The earlier film backs are kind of a mess, yes. My camera fortunately has the Graflok back which is the most versatile of the different backs and accepts standard film holders and numerous other accessories.
When I bought my Graflex from the USA on Ebay it came with four film holders. Unfortunately they were of the older style like your's (except that they are 4x5 of course) that fits the Graflex back but not the Graflok so useless in my camera. So I now have 4 original Graflex-made wooden film holders in excellent condition (they are really almost like new) I can't use. Maybe I should try to sell them somewhere. Fortunately I also bought a lot of 10 standard film holders at a very good price so I have enough even though the ones that came with the camera are incompatible. The seller of the camera also gave me a partial refund because of the wrong holders and a couple of other issues on the camera so all good.
An interesting note, one of the film holders had sheets of film loaded and by googling the notch codes it seems they are Ansco Superpan Press- brand of film made in the 40:s and 50:s so they have probably been in the holder for a very long time. Unfortunately I, not knowing they were there, pulled the dark slides in daylight. On the other hand the dark slides were inserted the silver side out so the sheets probably were unexposed. Had I known they were there and not exposed them to light I certainly would have tried developing them anyway.
I would certainly love to have a Graflex RB, a really cool camera, but they tend to be pricey. Nice pictures by the way.
:-) Nice! These are interesting beasts. The whole lineup! With all their problems and madness!