Was an Accessory Shoe ever made that would attach to the flash bracket in order to use modern electronic flashes?

Not really. For a very short time they made an "electric crown graphic" that had a hot shoe, but the only specimen I've found never had the hot shoe wired in.

The reason a hot shoe was never an option, is the users of the time were used to the accessory Grafllite flash. They were also used to the out put of flash bulbs, which any electronic flash with a shoe could hold a candle to. The electronic flash for the Graphic cameras usually had a 1/4 20 socket on the bottom and a case on the shoulder.

They made a rubber plug with said thread that would fit over the Graflite-- and latter a dummy tube to set the flash on.

Some modern flashes still keep this idea up. The Norman and the Lumedyne system are two. they are big, heavy, expensive, and put out a lot of light, but still not the amount of a Press 25.

You can get a metal "cap" for your Graflite battery tube, that has a 1/4" threaded bolt coming out the top of it. Then get a shoe which is threaded on the bottom and screw it into that bolt. Makes a nice flash mount for a shoe flash.

Those caps are available from the maker of the Jones Photo Brackets.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: alecj on 2002-10-27 11:49 ]</font>