Graflex.org

[lamb]

I wann ask one question:
Is there any viewfinder for super speed graphic? Or the viewfinder is combined with rangefinder?
Thanks!

[t.r.sanford]

I have seen "Super Speed Graphics" with what seem to be "Pacemaker" viewfinders installed. These slide into a shoe bolted to the top of the camera; the shorter one, made for "Crown" and "Century Graphics," probably would be better. The ads I saw for "Super Speeds," forty years ago, did not show an optical finder at all; the open frame finder was always shown. I don't think the rangefinder can double as a viewfinder, but will defer to those who own "Super Speeds" on that issue.

[lamb]

Ok.Thanks a lot!
I'm wondering if I'll buy a super or a crown.
This helps me making a choice.

[Les]

The Supers had an optional view finder that looks like a Pacemaker viewfinder painted in Super colors.

However the attaching mechanics are different and therefore not interchangeable between a Pace and Super viewfinders.

Les
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=15247&item=3828704163&rd=1

[ This Message was edited by: Les on 2004-08-02 15:15 ]

[Siu Fai]

My Super Speed came with the optical viewfinder. Les, is right, it is the same thing as the Speed and Crown's but with a different base. It is the reversed attach mechanisme from the Speed/Crown, so the accesory shoe alike thing is on the finder and the rail is on the camera. The finder has two prositions: set at front and you can rotate the back but the finder sticks out at front, set at back position and the camera's front is flat but the back cannot be rotated.

Siu Fai

[t.r.sanford]

I hadn't thought of the rotating back issue, but I can see that it would require some design ingenuity to get around. And I seem to remember a large, cylindrical finder mounted high above the top deck that was offered by Toyo when they put the "Super Graphic" back into production. Perhaps that was shaped to allow clearance for the back in its vertical position. I wonder whether it had a rotating mask to allow composing verticals through the viewfinder...

[disemjg]

As has been pointed out, the correct tube finder for a Super is hard to get. When I got my Super it had been modified to accept a standard Pacemaker finder, with the chrome sheetmetal base attached in place of the heavy rail that the Super is supposed to use. I think Fred Lustig was making this modification, as when I called him to get the rail he said that it was done to get around the short supply of correct finders. As I wanted the camera to be authentic, I installed the rail without the finder. Mabye I'll find one some day, but no big deal as the frame finder is more useful (at least to me).

And while I am not sure, I think the cameras were sold without the mounting rail or the finder itself; it could be added as an option. All you had to do was open up the covering to get at the threaded holes the factory provided.