Posted by BERT on February 16, 2001 at 19:55:22:
In Reply to: Graflex Bag Mag Peculiarities posted by Dick Streff on February 14, 2001 at 20:39:49:: I took delivery today of a box of old 4x5 Graflex bag
: magazines. I noticed a couple odd things about them that
: piqued my curiosity. I thought someone here might know
: the answers.
: While inspecting them I noticed all of them at one time
: had a nickel taped to the upper right back of the #12
: septum. (Only one of them had the nickel still extant,
: 1947 Jefferson to be exact.) Would I be correct to
: assume they were there to give a tactile signal to the
: photographer when he hit the last frame of the magazine?
: Or is there some other reason for them?
: Also, every one of the magazine's had the little door
: over the red window removed. Was this a common practice,
: or was the assembly just so fragile that it was often
: broken off in use? Just how important is that little
: door to keep the film from fogging? I guess I could
: always put a piece of gaffers tape over it if necessary.
: Any old press corps shooters out there have the answers?
: My years in the newspaper business started with the
: Nikon F3HP so bag mags are a few decades before my time.
Thanks,<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Dick---The nickle was not ofted used, but some of
the newspaper photogs of the day used all sorts of
tricks to "FEEL" the last septum as it was being
transfered>>>>>and the door over the red lens on the
back was part of the Bag Mag, and was there to
keep fogging to a minimum--apparently the fellow
who used these holders was a fellow who drew from
the hip, shot first, asked questions later!!!