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ebrown27 · Joined: 15 Nov 2004 Posts: 45 Location: NE Mississippi

Graflex SPEED GRAPHIC 4X5 CAMERA SERIAL NO.821836

GRAPHIC SUPERMATIC (X) SHUTTER KODAK EXTAR f: 4.7 127mm. ES14548 LENS

HUGO MEYER MODEL 4PG I RANGE FINDER POLAROID 545 LAND FILM HOLDER

1/1000 sec. FOCAL PLANE SHUTTER Graflex VIEWFINDER ON TOP
This is on eBay right now with the current bid SHOWING is #112.49 there is no curtain on the ground glass but there is a polariod back. Who knows if you can still buy polariod film for these backs? Isn't the lens a little short in focal length for this camera?
Ed

t.r.sanford · Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 2:49 pm Post subject:

You can still get film for the Polaroid "545" family of adapters. It comes in single-sheet packets with paper sleeves, and is widely used for exposure testing and proofing. I haven't checked recently, but some old standbys include Type 52 (good 400-speed continuous tone black and white), Type 55P/N (slow, fine-grained B&W that yields both a print and a negative), and Type 59 color print film.

Indeed, 127mm. is wide for a 4x5 format, but the old press photographers liked the angular coverage and seldom exposed at apertures wider than f:8. The "Ektar" is a very good lens, and should perform well at f:11 or smaller.

Remember, you're looking at a 2x enlargement to 8x10! A newspaper photographer in 1955 usually would see that 8x10 reduced in size again when the photoengraving was made. So super high resolution right out to the edge was not as interesting to 4x5 press camera users as is was, and is, to 35mm. aficionados.

djon · Joined: 05 Nov 2004 Posts: 174 Location: New Mexico

4X5 negatives were commonly retouched to eliminate distractions, open eyes etc...easy to do with a soft black pencil or a dot of new coccine (whites of eyes) since most images were
sized down in print...but the old boys were good enough at retouching negatives that it didn't show in enlargements either (partially because fine prints were virtually always retouched).

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

The Hugo Meyer rangefinders were set up for a small range of lenses. Most lenses are EXACTLY 127mm or 135.
Hugo's could be tweaked, but each major rangefinder had it's own model, so you'll be stuck using that lens and that rangefinder alone.

You can always ground glass focus or focus scale focus other lenses. Kalart rangefinder can only be set up for one lens at a time, but it has a wide range of lenses it can be adjusted to.

ebrown27 · Joined: 15 Nov 2004 Posts: 45 Location: NE Mississippi

Thanks for all the information. Are these medium to large format cameras selling high or below where they should be on eBay? Most of the good to mint condition go for $400 - $550. Some that are loaded with flash and a dozen or more flash bulbs, film holders, Polaroid film backs even reach nearly $750. I am really new at this and don't know the going prices, but it seems that if you looking in a pricing catalog they are priced much lower than than what eBay sells them for. And I wonder what is to keep the seller (many of which are large camera stores any way) from bidding against you with a fake name and email address or have some of their employees bidding to run up the price?

RichS · Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2004 4:18 am Post subject:

45PSS · Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2004 6:20 am Post subject:

[ This Message was edited by: 45PSS on 2005-12-25 11:23 ]

worldphoto · Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2004 8:55 am Post subject:

Ed
If you are going to be scared about bidding on eBay....you shouldn't! From my experience, all buyers and sellers that I have done business with have been very honest!
Harry

[ This Message was edited by: worldphoto on 2004-11-19 01:03 ]