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I H8 StarWarts

 
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DHF845



Joined: 20 Jul 2008
Posts: 103
Location: Hudson Valley Area, Upstate NY

PostPosted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 12:23 am    Post subject: I H8 StarWarts Reply with quote

Isn't there something we can do about these sci-fi freaks mutilating Graflites to make toys? Get a law enacted or somthing? You know it's bad when 1) You can't buy a nice Graflex flashgun cheap anymore; and 2) Someone actually starts selling kits to UNCONVERT lightsaber toys back into working flashguns.
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Got first Speed Graphic at 15 (1976).Other kids were using 35mm SLR's. I ran around with flashbulbs and sheet-film holders, I wanted to be Weegee (#2084).
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Les



Joined: 09 May 2001
Posts: 2682
Location: Detroit, MI

PostPosted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 2:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The answer is no, we can't enact a law that dictates how you treat your Graflex flash.

and

Compared to prices when the 4th movie (or is that the 2nd movie once removed?) Graflex flash are cheap. Right now they are sell right about where they were in the 80s so adjusted for inflation, they are cheaper. In the midst of the second series, they were selling for around $400.

At least nobody is throwing them in the trash.
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"In order to invent, you need a good imagination and a lot of junk" Thomas Edison
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DHF845



Joined: 20 Jul 2008
Posts: 103
Location: Hudson Valley Area, Upstate NY

PostPosted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 8:40 am    Post subject: I H8 StarWarts Reply with quote

YIKES!! $400.00 for a flashgun? When was the second series, the early 1990's? Could have used an extra $400 back then (still could, but today I'd rather starve than see Graflex equipment mutilated by sci-f[ fans).
Still have 2 or 3 Graflex units (and 2 Heilands, a Kalart, a Mendelsohn Speedgun, a King Sol, and 1 rig homemade from an old chromed Eveready flashlight). Got them cheap in the mid 70's. If I'd sold my old Graflites to Darth Vader wannabees I'd regret it today, so all's for the best.


Last edited by DHF845 on Sun Jan 04, 2009 3:17 am; edited 2 times in total
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Les



Joined: 09 May 2001
Posts: 2682
Location: Detroit, MI

PostPosted: Sat Jan 03, 2009 1:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

some of the early Jaconson flash units were nothing more than an everready flash unit with a stamped brass channel down the side for the synchord and a socket where the reflector should have been. So that rig might not be so homemade!

I've got at least one pre=war Graflex flash with "speed lines" around the ports on top and the morse code key in the back instead of the nice red button.

but I never got my hands on an MPP (Micro Precision Products, Eng) flash. It was a clone of a Heiland but without the engraving and is what Lucas used for one of the swords (I think Darth's)
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"In order to invent, you need a good imagination and a lot of junk" Thomas Edison
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DHF845



Joined: 20 Jul 2008
Posts: 103
Location: Hudson Valley Area, Upstate NY

PostPosted: Sun Jan 04, 2009 3:10 am    Post subject: I H8 StarWarts Reply with quote

You got me there, I don't know the MPP flashguns. And you're right, I'd forgotten about the Jacobsen flash, used an Eveready casing.
I've got one that Luke & Darth don't want. It's a wartime Kalart unit. It has a black, octagonal, hard rubber tube, and runs off C-cells. No solenoid. The synchroniser mounts on the side of the flashgun and trips the shutter through a mechanical cable-release. I liked it because it was small and light and didn't need much current, just enough to fire the lamp.
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mopar_guy



Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 126
Location: Washington, the State

PostPosted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 3:43 am    Post subject: Graflex flash Reply with quote

I just got a Graflex side flash with 7 inch reflector and original cord off of the auction site for $31. You can pull up information on anyone that bids by clicking on the code that the auction site uses for the bidders. The other two bidders for this item had each bid on multiple items in the sci-fi category. Saving this item gave me a lot of personal satisfaction.
Regards,
Dave
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I guess that I could get a digital camera but it would be obsolete in a couple of years (three tops). Or I could use my 3x4 Anniversary Speed Graphic. Heck, it's been obsolete for 50 years. That's way better than digital.
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DHF845



Joined: 20 Jul 2008
Posts: 103
Location: Hudson Valley Area, Upstate NY

PostPosted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 6:39 am    Post subject: Graflex Flash Reply with quote

WTG, mopar_guy! That's a strike against their empire!
Seriously, collecting flashguns for our Graflex-made cameras is a hobby unto itself. And probably cheaper than collecting the cameras, which, like any addiction, gets expensive. Not nearly as costly as collecting Leicas or Zeiss Icons, however.
BTW, I just picked up a 3x4 Annie with a Graflex back. That's got be an odd one. My 2nd Speed Graphic was a 3x4 Annie-that was back in High School (1976).
Hey, Happy New Year, everybody! Go out and 'Graflex' some "...more interesting pictures."!!


Last edited by DHF845 on Mon Jan 05, 2009 6:42 pm; edited 1 time in total
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sevo



Joined: 18 Oct 2008
Posts: 34
Location: Germany

PostPosted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Maybe we could spread the word among the Lomo and Holga enthusiasts that pinhole cameras made from stormtrooper helmets are the latest thing to have...
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DHF845



Joined: 20 Jul 2008
Posts: 103
Location: Hudson Valley Area, Upstate NY

PostPosted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 6:40 pm    Post subject: I H8 StarWarts Reply with quote

Ingenious! I've also heard that the best view camera dark cloths are made from Darth Vader's capes!
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tsgrimm



Joined: 04 Apr 2004
Posts: 158
Location: SE Michigan

PostPosted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 9:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Got first Speed Graphic at 15 (1976).Other kids were using 35mm SLR's. I ran around with flashbulbs and sheet-film holders, I wanted to be Weegee. They thought I was nuts. They were right.

DHF845, I was one of the "kids" with a 35mm SLR. I remember reading in one of the popular photo mags of the time something like this "They are using Graflex flash guns." I didn't have a clue about what they meant.

As others have said, "At least it kept them out of the landfills". It is only recently that there has been a renewed interest in Graflex cameras. Computers and scanners may have had a lot to do with it.

Have you looked at the prices for a basic Pentax K1000 that's going to need $80.00 to $100.00 (including shipping both ways) worth of basic CLA and seals on the auction site lately? Film may live for a while yet.


Last edited by tsgrimm on Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:49 am; edited 1 time in total
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Henry



Joined: 09 May 2001
Posts: 1636
Location: Allentown, Pennsylvania

PostPosted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 12:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you're lucky, there may even be someone near you who can fix these cameras. We had such a repair service, and they got two Minolta 35mm SLRs operating again for me. Alas, they are now out of business. Face it, options for keeping these cameras and shutters going diminish daily. It's kind of like finding E6 processing anymore. "Send it to Kansas...."
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DHF845



Joined: 20 Jul 2008
Posts: 103
Location: Hudson Valley Area, Upstate NY

PostPosted: Tue Jan 06, 2009 3:37 am    Post subject: I H8 StarWarts Reply with quote

I had a Nikkormat FTN when I was a teenager, too. I went to large format for practical reasons. I was shooting spot news for the local papers. Sheet film & contact printing was fast. People thought I was weird, using 'obsolete' cameras, but I didn't care.
I remember seeing The Empire Strikes Back in 1977. I didn't think lightsabers looked like flashguns. I was shocked when I read that's what they were made from. I remember the people selling old camera equipment were my Dad's age. I don't think they tossed out unsold stuff, I think it ended up in attics and cellars.
Cameras like Pentax K1000's are dirt cheap these days. It's great that a new generation is keeping photography alive. In New York City, there's several repair shops who still know how to fix them, but they're too expensive to fix.
What's great about Graflexes is that they're pretty cheap, and I can fix them myself, on my kitchen table (until my wife says, "Honey, would you please move these cameras so we have a place to eat dinner!").
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mopar_guy



Joined: 07 Aug 2008
Posts: 126
Location: Washington, the State

PostPosted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 6:20 am    Post subject: What's great about older cameras Reply with quote

DHF,
I can see by your signature tag that we are the same age. I didn't even own a camera until I was twenty-three. Those were the years in the mid Eighties when 35mm SLRs were selling like hotcakes. Each new year brought new bells and whistles than the year before. However, I look at the photos that I took during those years and now I see that I was relying on too much on the automated features and all of my photos tended to be boring. It was only when I started to use all manual cameras that I would slow the photographic process down and allow my mind to get involved.

What I like best about my Speeds and Crowns is that I end up putting more into each shot and I get more enjoyment for the time that I invest. Why can't we focus less on fancy equipment and more on making an image that pleases us. For the new year I want to keep on making photos with my old cameras.
Regards,
Dave
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DHF845



Joined: 20 Jul 2008
Posts: 103
Location: Hudson Valley Area, Upstate NY

PostPosted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 5:24 pm    Post subject: what's great about old cameras Reply with quote

mopar_guy, I couldn't agree more. I didn't appreciate large format photography when I was a kid. I didn't get the slow, meditative pleasure of carefully composing a beautiful composition, taking in each tiny detail.
Speed Graphics earned me cash for shots of the dedication of new library, 4th of July parade, fires, car crashes, etc.
I used 4x5 and 3x4 Kodak Tri-X Ortho. I'd develop in open trays under red safe-lights, push or pull the negs. to make sure I got the shot. Then contact print it and rush it over to the newspaper office. This was lots faster than 35 mm. I didn't use the "big" cameras for much else.
My photography continued as documentary, street and informal portraits. Fast photos and 36-exposure rolls suited me. I wasn't trying to make art. That pretty much summed up the last 30 years of photography for me-until last year.
I stumbled across my old Speed Graphic and Graflex in a closet at my mom's house. I looked down into the ground glass of a Graflex for the first time in 30 years. It was a revelation.
We live upstate where the scenery is breathtaking. My vision isn't what it was-I can't focus the little viewfinders of 35 mm cameras. LF is practical and suits my way of thinking. Each time I take the Graflex out shooting, it's relaxation therapy. The photos I'm getting please me very much. I feel that photography matters as art now, more than ever.
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