Speed Graphic Project and Rollei T

[McQueen278]

You'll have to forgive me for the poor pictures. I didn't exactly take my time. I recently "Finished" work on my Speed Graphic. It was a complete junker when i got it. I looked like it had been buried in sand for a few decades, the leather had shrunk a lot, the front standard has no tilt for some reason only a little bit of rise and a tiny bit of shift, the lens has two bubbles in the glass, but the shutter tests out just fine. I've never seen another Gralfex with the same front standard as mine. It may be some kind of cheapo replacement. Well anyways I went to town on the body to make her look pretty again. I removed the rangefinder because it was broken and used the hole to mount a shutter release. I removed the sport finder so that the camera could fold up with the shutter release in place. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves I guess.

A few days ago I also picked this little guy up off of the local craigslist. It was quite a find for the price. I am very quickly becoming a huge fan of this camera.

 

[Mitica100]

Two jewels! Nice job on the Graflex!

 

[Dwig]

...I've never seen another Gralfex with the same front standard as mine. It may be some kind of cheapo replacement. ...

Nope, its original. Its the early configuration properly known as the "Speed Graphic". The later "Anniversary Speed Graphic" and other variants added the tilt. Yours should also lack the drop bed with the link to a movable rear track. This provided some additional movement options and allows focusing 65mm wide angles which needed the bed dropped out of the way and needed to be on the rear track to obtain infinity focus.

 

[McQueen278]

...I've never seen another Gralfex with the same front standard as mine. It may be some kind of cheapo replacement. ...

Nope, its original. Its the early configuration properly known as the "Speed Graphic". The later "Anniversary Speed Graphic" and other variants added the tilt. Yours should also lack the drop bed with the link to a movable rear track. This provided some additional movement options and allows focusing 65mm wide angles which needed the bed dropped out of the way and needed to be on the rear track to obtain infinity focus.

Actually it does have a drop bed. It has detentes in the guide rail that allow it to drop significantly, but once it is there it is extremely hard to get back up. It also has the link in the track. I'll post some pictures of that in a minute or two. I think this was a donor camera at one point. Either way, I like it.

 

[McQueen278]

 

[Dwig]

...
Actually it does have a drop bed. It has detentes in the guide rail that allow it to drop significantly, but once it is there it is extremely hard to get back up....

There was quite a range of Graphic models; they were made over quite a number of years. Yours appears to be a middle vintage then. I had suspected that it didn't have the drop bed partly because of the older style front standard (black w/ no tilt) and the lack of raised serations on the door braces (they provide traction when you puch down the braces to change the bed angle). The picture you show with the bed dropped illustrates the link to the rear track well. I also notice that the infinity stops are one of the older styles. The later postwar versions flipped up so that you could have several sets for different lenses and could get the standard way out front for closeups much easier.

BTW, the natural wood look is nice. Its almost a crime that the well made box joints were hidden be the leather all these years. As a note to others, the very late model Graphics, mostly the Crown models, had plastic bodies and won't look this beautiful when striped of their leather.

 

[Sjixxxy]

Looks nice. I'm glad to see new life being breathed into an old Graphic.

Mine lost the leather on the front bed a few years ago after an adventure I took into Lake Superior with it. Rest of the leather has pink scuff marks all over it. I imagine someday I might have to strip it down.

 

[Dwig]

Ah, here's a link to the table I needed to refer to earlier:

Graflex Graphic Models

According to it, your Graphic is an Anniversary Speed Graphic. It was made for some 6-7 years in the early 40's. It updated the earlier model by adding the linked tracks amoung other things. It had the shortest production run.

The later Pacemaker model is the one that added the tilting front standard and introduced the "Crown" alternate model (not focal plane shutter as in the "Speed" model).