Old Lady Restored

[Heidi Rosser]

Just wanted to share this story.
This old lady which turned out to be a Graflex R B Super D (1941-1963) was found in a storage locker under a pile of old rags. It was estimated by the seller that it had been there for over 50 years; it belonged to a grandparent!
I have to say I have never come across such a dirty camera, even touching it left my hands covers in dirt. After several hours of cleaning I was able to see this lovely camera.
I was also surprised to that it still works. Hearing that shutter clunk was music to my ears.
Featured here with a Graflex Series B.

Just wanted to share this story of breathing new life into something that had been lost and forgotten.

 

[IanG]

Nice, I have few Graflex cameras, Speed, Crown and Super Graphic (which I use quite regularly). I also have a postcard size Compact Graflex which is awaiting restoration.

Ian

 

[Jeff15]

Looks good..........

 

[Derrel]

Can you imagine using such a beast of a camera to cover Major League Baseball? A couple of years ago I read a story about a particularly famous New York Yankees action photo made during a game, using such a huge Graflex. The press photographers used to custer near first base or third base , and would use huge, long telephoto lenses for outfield shots.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Beautiful.

There are a series of silent movies/shorts called 'The Boy Friends' I think (and of course I always notice the cameras!) and one of the young women was bopping along with a camera like this like it was a Polaroid Swinger! They seemed to think these were 'portable'!

Derrel there were two Toronto Maple Leafs photographers (brothers), the Turofskys, and one of them would hop over the boards with a Speed Graphic press camera (or similar). That'd be fun way to photograph hockey!!