Graflex.org

Tarnsman · Joined: 05 Aug 2004 Posts: 3 Location: New England

Hello, I have a Crown with a 105/3.7 lens & a 203/7.7...Both are Ektars....I have numerous questions ..How do I get the top viewer to show what the 203 covers ?...Where is the cable release hole on the shutter ?..Is there a body release for the shutter ?....How large prints can I make from these lenses ?...I will be using 100 speed film....Thank you in advance for any information....M

t.r.sanford · Posted: Tue Aug 10, 2004 7:37 pm Post subject:

It would be useful to know whether you have a 2¼x3¼ "Crown," for which the 105mm. lens is normal, or a 4x5, perhaps equipped with the 105mm. lens to use with rollfilm adapters.

Are both "Ektars" in "Supermatic" shutters, or what? In fact, just about all the shutters in which such lenses are mounted will have cable release sockets on the side of the shallow cylindrical body, quite near the shutter release arm. The socket usually is just a small threaded hole, often in a flat metal plate or, sometimes, a slightly raised metal or plastic block.

The "Crown" has a body release. If it has not been messed with, that release works a little bell crank mechanism on the side of the body interior that pulls a length of flexible wire through a spring sheath, very like a cable release in reverse. The other end of the wire attaches to a mechanism on the front of the camera that includes a vertically traveling rod with a flat horizontal arm secured to it by a setscrew. If you mount your lenses in the correct orientation, that arm should lie right over the shutter release, and trip the shutter when you depress the body release.

The optical viewfinder accepts slip-in frames, or masks, for lenses of different focal lengths. There is a useful table of these viewfinder masks on this site, which should allow you to match up a 203mm./8-in. lens with the format you want to use.

If your lenses are in good order and you use fine-grain 100-speed film, I think you ought to be able to make enlargements just about as big as you want; certainly 16x20 with ease, very likely 20x24, probably even bigger. A lot depends on where people will stand to look at them.