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Henry · Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 1:42 pm Post subject:

If your Crown is like my Century, and I think it is in this respect, the front frame is a two-piece affair. Having pulled up the main frame as far as it will go, you then grasp its outer sides and pull up on them. This will fully extend the frame and form the rectangle that you sight through from the rear peep sight.

BTW, the parallax markings and stops mentioned by Billy Canuck in his post (above) are not present on my Century frame finder. IIRC, these are found on the 4x5 but not the 2x3 size.

If there is no sliding extension on your front frame, chances are that it has been removed. I did this once on my Century so I could get more front rise when I used the 65mm lens; otherwise, the finder struck the top inside of the camera body and prevented full rise at infinity focus.

C. Henry · Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:37 pm Post subject:

Henry;

My vintage 1947 2 x 3 Pacemaker Speed has parallelax markings for infinity, fifteen feet, & six feet on the right side of the sport finder. Maybe that was one of the differences between the Century and the Speed, or something that was discontinued at some time after the Pacemaker Series was first introduced.
I am interested in hearing if the Crown has the marks or not.

C. Henry

renes · Joined: 13 Feb 2009 Posts: 42 Location: Warsaw

Henry · Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 9:02 pm Post subject:

[quote="renes"]

renes · Joined: 13 Feb 2009 Posts: 42 Location: Warsaw

I meant Century.

Dan Fromm · Joined: 14 May 2001 Posts: 2120 Location: New Jersey

Billy Canuck · Joined: 04 Apr 2006 Posts: 165 Location: Calgary AB Canada

C. Henry, the Crown has the parallax markings as well -- at least on the 2x3 I have.

C. Henry · Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 2:13 am Post subject:

Billy

Thanks! That is what I would have expected as I have been told repeatedly that the only differences between the Crown & Speed are those items that are only on the Speed to support the focal plane shutter.

C. Henry

Henry · Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 5:12 pm Post subject:

Thanks to all for the clarifications. A question: in your individual and collective experiences, are those parallax markings a meaningful aid? Or is the view through the sports finder so approximate anyway that there is no practical value to them?

Dan Fromm · Joined: 14 May 2001 Posts: 2120 Location: New Jersey

Henry, I'm sorry but I never use the sportsfinder or, for that matter, the tubular viewfinder.

mopar_guy · Posted: Thu Feb 26, 2009 5:02 pm Post subject:

I have two 2x3 Crown Graphics and a 3x4 Pacemaker Speed Graphic and all of the cameras date to 1952. All three have the paralax markings on the sports finder. On the 2x3 Crowns, one has the 101mm Ektar and the other has the 105mm Ektar. It looks to me that when I look through the ground glass that both lenses have the same angle of view. The sports finders on both cameras have a slightly narrower view than the optical finders but the sports finders seem to be closer to what the ground glass shows. Most of the "people" shots that I do I use the sports finder at around 12-15 feet and I do set the sports finder up on the 15 foot paralax mark.

Regards,
Dave
_________________
I guess that I could get a digital camera but it would be obsolete in a couple of years (three tops). Or I could use my 3x4 Anniversary Speed Graphic. Heck, it's been obsolete for 50 years. That's way better than digital.