Hello everyone! This is my first post, though I've been reading for a few weeks. I very recently bought a Pacemaker S.G. with side rangefinder and I have 2 questions.

The serial no. is 4474xx. Can someone tell me what year it was born in?

Secondly, I've not been able to focus my 135mm lens at infinity with the bed dropped, (and the lens raised back to neutral) because the hinge is preventing me from moving the lens back close enough to the film plane. (This is a Speed, with a thicker body than a Crown.) As this is the only lens I have, and I want to use the drop bed to access lens tilt downward movement to gain near-to-far focus plane tilt. I am looking into reversing the front standard to change the back tilt to front tilt.

The lens rise lock nuts have to be removed to slide up the front of the bellows so the front standard can be slid off the rail and be replaced backwards. These nuts loosen some but then get stuck. I'm assuming that the thread on the ends of the studs have been deformed to keep these nuts from unscrewing all the way and getting lost. There are no metal retaining clips here, so like I said I think it is done with deformed thread. My question, finally after this long-winded explanation (sorry) is,,, should I simply use force to fully unscrew these nuts which have to be removed, or is there a more elegant way of accomplishing this? Are these knurled nuts aluminum and the studs steel so that the thread on the nuts will get damaged?

While I definitely will use this camera handheld using the rangefinder to focus, sometimes I will want to use it like a view camera with front tilt movement to focus landscape shots. Can anyone enlighten me on these points?

Thank you, and WHAT A GREAT SITE!
Frank Scheitrowsky

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: FrankS on 2003-01-28 20:54 ]</font>

I don't know what others will say, but for a quick response before any damage is done...

DO NOT force those nuts! There should be a small screw head inside the knob. This screw is left handed and keeps the knob from screwing all the way out and preventing loss. Or as my memory serves anyway. May be thinking of the View?

My first suggestion is to not reverse the front standard.

My second suggestion is to get the repair manual before you do anything drastic. It contains blown-up diagrams of everything in the camera including the front standard. These pictures and instructions will help a whole lot for what you're doing. If you can't find it anywhere else, I have it available for download on my web site at http://www.southbristolviews.com under Graflex Manuals.

But get some more opinions before you rip it apart... And it should focus with the bed dropped. Haven't done it myself yet, but it probably depends on where you have the rail to begin with, and lens for that matter...

Rich...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 45PSS on 2005-12-25 10:28 ]</font>

Well I just went out with my Pace Speed and with a 135 Optar and ran a quick test (it's snowing, 11:00pm and 30°, no tripod or loupe was used in this test!)

With the lens tilted and raised back to a relative neutral and the standard JAMMED back against the prodruding rear rails, I could get it to focus at infinity-- ie the street and traffic lights 1/2 mile down the road, but I have to say I would have expected a much easier time of it than I had.

From the fact that Graflex made MANY different cams for the 135mm lens we know that the actual focus for a 135 can vary a couple of mm either way. It's possible mine's on the long side and yours is on the short.

YES! YES! YES!

Charles, thank you so very much!
What I did after reading your reply, was open the camera, leave the lens standard retracted fully in the body where it is with the front closed, THEN EXTENDED THE RAILS to get the hinge and rear rails onto the bed, THEN DROPPED THE BED. Voila, the hinge is no longer in the way of getting the front standard close enough to the film plane, and infinity focus is possible!
Did I mention that this is a great site?

...and thank you, Les. Going outside at this time of night in 30* in the snow just to check that for me is very generous of you.

_________________
...preferring to be on the shiny side of the film, Frank S.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: FrankS on 2003-01-28 20:32 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 45PSS on 2005-12-25 10:29 ]</font>

Charles, 59*? Lucky you! I've had water pipes freeze twice this past week.

The one little negative to this new (for me) procedure, is that with the rear rails only partially engaged in the track of the bed, the lens standard is a bit wobbily.

Rich, thanks for your website, I'll be downloading that manual tomorrow!

Quote:

On 2003-01-28 21:01, FrankS wrote: Charles, 59*? Lucky you! I've had water pipes freeze twice this past week. The one little negative to this new (for me) procedure, is that with the rear rails only partially engaged in the track of the bed, the lens standard is a bit wobbily. Rich, thanks for your website, I'll be downloading that manual tomorrow!

You're welcome.

And by the way, the difference may be in the vintage os Speeds? I checked my TRF Speed (closest & easiest to get to) and the knobs do have the left hand locking screws in the middle. But by the serial num above, it's a much older version...

And thanks to those who let us all know how to accomplish this focusing!

And "North of Toronto"!!! So we can blame you for this weather! Sub-zero all week long and snow every day... That's South of Rochester here...

Rich...

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 45PSS on 2005-12-25 10:29 ]</font>

There is no looseness in the yoke (the part of the lens standard that clamps onto the focusing rails?) When the bed is dropped, the looseness is because the rear focusing rails are disengaged from the body tracks and only partially engaged in the tracks on the camera bed and held to the front focusing rails by those double hinged hinges.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 45PSS on 2005-12-25 10:29 ]</font>