Graflex.org

[neil.poulsen]

Can anyone tell me about a "bag-matic"? It's a film holder that has a leather bag at one end that enables the user to take an exposed sheet of film in a septum and move it to the rear. How difficult are these to find, like for a 3 1/4 by 4 1/4 camera.

How come these aren't shown for any camera on the site? (Just curious.)

[alecj]

I'll leave the history to someone that's seen more Thanksgivings than I.

I can, however, say that they were replaced with something a lot better, the Grafmatic. Look around and you'll find plenty of them. They only take 6 sheets, but are all metal, reliable, and less prone to wear and light leaks than the earlier models. The leather on the old bag magazines is always suspect today. Many were not well cared for properly.

[Les]

Alec is right, I'm just not sure they made a Grafmatic for 3x4.

I've never used one. They only fit on GRAFLEX backs, not spring backs or Graflok backs. There are a few Speed Graphic cameras with a Graflex back, but they were more common on Graflex SLR cameras.

The Bag mag or "sheet film magazine" or "plate magazine" goes back to the pre-kodak era--1904, but most of the ones you find are from the 40s.

Unless you replace the leather, it will always be suspect, if not for light leaks, certainly for dust. You'll need all of the septums because they are numbered from the back window--there's no lock on double exposing either from not advancing or shootint 13 shots on 12sheets of film.

In practice I don't think its that difficult to use.... you'll certainly find it more difficult to find 3x4 sheet film.