hi there

i recently bought a 3x4 autographic, it came with a bag-mag, and it is light tight. i was wondering if there is the equiv. of a roll film adapter so i can shoot 120 film?

also - my chimney is old and brittle, and cracked along the lower seam when i removed it to wipe down my ground glass. any idea what i should do to revive it? or get a new one?

much thanks!

john

The very last Graflex large-format reflex in production was a 3¼x4¼ version of the "Super D," and it usually is pictured with a 120 rollfilm adapter. My guess is that a "Graflex" back is a "Graflex" back, whatever the age, and if you can find one of the late-model ones, it would fit back onto your "Auto Graflex."

In looking for a used "Graflex" (not "Graphic" -- this is very important!) rollfilm holder, note that there were some made eighty years ago for film formats that vanished completely before the outbreak of World War II. For some reason, "Graflex" 120 rollfilm adapters don't seem to turn up on the used market very often, but I'm sure patience and persistence will pay off.

Alternatively, you could easily get a 2¼x3¼ adapter, and less easily adapt it for use on a larger "Graflex" back. One approach might be to dismantle a 3¼x4¼ "Graflex" filmpack adapter (for which you cannot get film, anyway) and use the base and darkslide as the foundation. This would be less irksome if you decided that all you ever will want to shoot is rollfilm, because then you wouldn't have to worry about adjusting the plane in which the rollfilm lies to the existing focal plane -- you could simply adjust the groundglass, and mask it down to the smaller format.

Some rummaging around this site will turn up a lot of really good discussion on restoring old leather focusing hoods, and constructing replacements. They are quite easy to make; the hardest part is finding the materials, and there is some good information here on that, too.

I was told by a repair tech that in his opinion the lever wind roll film holders were more reliable than the knob version.

thanks!

i'll keep lookin'

-john

I have a late '09 or '10 RB Auto in 4x5. The Graflex back opening is 5 inches wide. I have a newer Graflex grafmatic and it is 4 3/4 wide. Length is the same. The blocks that the slider and bottom lock bar attach to can be changed on the Graflex SLR's to wider ones you make yourself to reduce the opening to the newer film holders width. This varation may only occur on cameras that could have used Glas Plates as well as film. I do have glass plate holders and a film holder that are the correct width, the film section is the same size as newer holders so the film size did not change.

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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: 45PSS on 2004-07-30 21:56 ]</font>