Graflex.org

[Christina]

I´ve just sold my Sinar and now want to use my Rodenstock Sironar-N 150/1:5,6 with my Graflex Speed Pacemaker.
Now I want to know where to set the infinitypstops?

In the begin of the frontplate there are two scales:

100 and the infinity sign and one with 6,8,10,15,20 and 50...

What are they for?

Do I have to turn the Ground until the arrow is next to the infinity sign and then focus something far away and then place the infinitystops?

Or have I do it an other way?

Hope you understand what I mean,
thanks for help
Christina

[alecj]

"In the begin of the frontplate there are two scales:

100 and the infinity sign and one with 6,8,10,15,20 and 50...

What are they for?"

Those are the distance scales for the lens you had on the Graflex before [or still if you haven't yet taken it off]. You'll need new ones for your 150mm lens. They will be hard to find.

"Do I have to turn the Ground until the arrow is next to the infinity sign and then focus something far away and then place the infinitystops?"

You can't use that set with your new lens.

"Or have I do it an other way?"

Someone else will have to explain that in more detail.

You haven't mentioned something even more important - adjusting your rangefinder to that lens. Before we can help you with that, you'll have to tell us whether this is a "top-rangefinder" or a "side-rangefinder".

As presently set up [assuming you have had the new lens mounted on a board], all you can do is use it like your Sinar, that is on a tripod viewing and focusing through the camera using the ground glass.

To properly view the subject to be photographed with that lens, you'll need a new mask for the optical viewfinder also.

It's not easy to convert one of these cameras to a new lens, as you are about to find out.



[ This Message was edited by: alecj on 2004-09-03 12:26 ]

[t.r.sanford]

In fairness, it should be pointed out that you would have the same difficulty modifying an automobile or motorcycle that's half a century old! The service organization and parts depots that once existed to perform these modifications no longer exists, so hobbyists must look out for themselves, and for one another. The thing is well worth doing.

You can adjust the infinity stops easily enough, if you have a distant target to focus on. To oversimplify just a little, the procedure is to adjust the track so the infinity indices line up on the existing scales, then push the front forward along the track until the lens focuses sharply at infinity. This is the starting-point for installing the appropriate focusing scale, and for adjusting the rangefinder.

Lock the track with the small, flat ribbed lever on the right side of the bed (when you're behind the camera). Loosen the little setscrews that hold the infinity stops in place, and slide them forward. Install your new lens. Now unlock the front standard, view that distant subject on the groundglass, and very carefully push and pull the front until the image is sharp.

When it is, lock the front standard, but keep in mind that the lock is not designed to assure that the front is precisely parallel to the back. Perhaps the simplest way to make sure of that is to push the infinity stops back into position with something that will keep them exactly aligned on the track.

A piece of heavy cardboard, accurately cut with a T-square or a draftsman's triangle, can help here. The idea is to make it just wide enough to fit snugly in between the rails, and long enough so that it will not wobble.

With the hinged lugs on the infinity stops swung up to catch the camera front, push both stops back with your tool. If both of them seat snugly against the front, all is well. If, as is likely, the front is just a little bit skewed, one stop will seat and one will not. This is where some fine adjustment, using the groundglass again, is necessary.

When you are confident that the image is as sharp as it can be when the infinity indices on the focusing scales are aligned, and that the front is squared so both infinity stops are at exactly the same distance from the ends of the track, tighten the setscrews on the infinity stops.

The next thing to do might be to remove the inner focusing scale, replace it with a piece of sturdy white card stock, and make your own focusing scale for the 15 cm. lens. This, of course, can be done by setting up targets at accurately measured distances and focusing sharply on them.

The scales you have are graduated in feet; if you prefer to work in meters, there's no reason not to set up your scale that way. But you then would want to replace both the outer and the inner one.

It would not be difficult to make a finder mask out of black paper. These masks often are available, though. There's a table on this site listing the focal lengths for which each Graflex mask was calculated, with the numbers Graflex assighed to them.

The rangefinder is a trickier proposition. As has been pointed out, it makes a difference whether it's a side-mounted Kalart (or Hugo Meyer) rangefinder, or the top-mounted one that Graflex designed for later versions of the "Pacemaker" cameras.

Courage!

[Christina]

ok, I see that it will be difficult to adjust it.

But i will use the lens together with my groundglass to get the image sharp.
I´m used to it because of my sinar.

I´ve a side mounted rangefinder with a focusspot on it.
How will I get the focusspot work?
I´m not able to put some batteries in it...

Thanks very much for your help!
Christina

[jsiladi]

The focus spot works off of a flash gun.. Some of them have a switch specifically for turning on the accessories. Honestly though, if you aren't going to adjust the rangefinder, there's not a lot of point messing with the focus spot, that is, other than the fun of it.

Jeff

[t.r.sanford]

You actually are better off with a Kalart rangefinder, if you plan to use one lens for handheld work. Lots of people did it that way in the old days, with the rangefinder calibrated to a normal lens that they used for routine press work, and with a 90mm. wide angle lens for use with the camera on a tripod, for special occasions.

The Kalart rangefinder can be adjusted (within reason), certainly for a 15 cm. lens. There are instructions on this site; you can purchase a reprint of the Kalart service manual; or you may even be able to locate an old-line camera technician who will know how to do it for you. Kalart rangefinders were around for a long time, and were retrofitted to a great many cameras, European as well as American.

As noted, the "Focuspot" is designed to draw power from a flashgun that normally attached to a bracket mounted around the shell of the rangefinder. It has a 3.8-V. filament lamp mounted in the horizontal tube at the top. The lamp routinely was supplied from a 3-cell (4.5-V.) or 2-cell (3-V.) battery case.

You can get a "Graflite" or equal flash handle easily enough -- anything that has a socket to deliver power to an accessory. Or you could pick up a 2-cell battery box from an electronics store, to use penlight cells, and make your own simple mount for it (you could hang it anywhere).

The "Focuspot" cord looks a lot like a flash synchronization cord for the bipost terminals common on American shutters in the 1950s. You can get a new cord from Paramount in New York City, if you need one; the owner knows what a "Focuspot" is.

The switch is on the rear end of the horizontal tube. It is a silver-colored knurled disc, which you rotate to turn the power on and off. You may want to check and see whether you need a new lamp.