I am planning a trip with my super speed graphic, which has recently returned from the expert care of Mr Lustig. Though I am taking a tripod, I expect that I will be using it hand-held for much of the time. I am trying to get the knack for this in NYC right now. Boy, have I come to appreciate the skill of the press photographers of past! Imagine what they had to go through for each shot: Focusing, composing, inserting and removing film holders (and using the Graflex film holders are not much easier to operate!) and figuring out the exposure -- all in a few seconds! whew! Are there any short-cuts or quicker ways of doing all this? I tried using the "sports finder" wire thingy on my camera to compose my shots, but it seemed pretty useless so maybe I am not using it right. I also have a finder on top of my camera, looks like a little telescope with a rotating eyepiece...how useful is that for composing shots? Of course, using the ground glass is the best way to compose a shot, but that requires tripods . . .

As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Play with the camera every chance you get, with and without film. Study what each function does, and sooner or later all the pieces will fall into place. Use an empty holder in the camera and memorize the drill. Be sure you understand the camera before you go on the trip.

We all make mistakes from time to time (my favourite is forgetting to focus) and I suspect the old timers made their share as well.

While we each have our preference, I like the frame finder and pretty much never use the tube finder. Just remember to adjust the parallex on whichever finder you are using, and return the setting to infinity after the shot. And neither one is very precice, so "shoot loose" in your compositions.

Red,

See this thread:
http://graflex.org/helpboard/viewtopic.php?topic=3581&forum=15&10

The Super is a great camera for hand-held use. I love mine and just bought a 'spare' (but then, I have a spare of everything...).

My 'perfect' hand-held is the Super with 3 or 4 Grafmatics in a belt pouch.

Yes, I use the optical viewfinder on top of the camera, the tube one with the rotaing part in the rear for distance. If you have more than one lens, just get rangefinder cams and corrospoding masks for the viewfinder.

On my trip, I wound up never switching lenses and was very happy just using the 135mm. Once you get used to Grafmatics, they become second nature. But make sure you lock the Graflok slides into the Grafmatic. They're very easy to pull away from the body when moving the mechanism...

I also used a few standard film holders when the Grafmatics were used up. Worked very easy. Just have to keep track of the dark slides and put them back in right so you know it's exposed...

Outdoors, exposure is usually very easy. It just doesn't change that much. Although if you shoot color, or worse, slides, you do have to check more often. But on a partially Sunny day with B&W, the exposure won't change by more than a stop and that just won't make much of a difference... Carrying a meter is a good thing though

The only problem I had, after locking the Grafmatic in, was the viewfinder mask. After deveopment, I found quite a few shots were made at angles. Easily fixed in printing, buy odd. I'm not that bad... Then I remembered having to push the viewfinder mask back into the slot a few times. Didn't give it a second thought at the time except for "lucky I didn't lose that". But remembering that after seeing the negs, I realized that I had taken fast shots looking through the viewfinder, not realizing that it was sitting at an angle... If you don't change lenses often, a piece of tape over the top of the mask/finder might be a good idea...

I also found a camera neck strap that I connected to the leather handle on one side and the flash handle on the other. I walked all over the place carrying the Super around just like any other 35mm or MF camera. Wasn't bad at all. But that's probably where the problem with the viewfinder mask camer from?

For easy setup, just make sure you have infinity stops set correctly, the proper cam for focusing. And leave the shutter set for the approximate right exposure. Then just open, bump the infinity stops and cock shutter, quick focus, look though the viewfinder and click. It all works very fast after a few shots. And most of that work can be pre-done if you leave the camera open...

Have fun with the Super. It's just great walking around hand-held with it!

If you're street shooting on a sunny day set the camera for an average between the areas in the sun and areas in the shade. Keep the aperture above f11, then set the camera to the hyperfocal distance for f11 (or f16 if possible) and most everything from 6ft to Inf will be in focus.

Hyperfocal distances and Depth of field tables are available on line, just google them.

OK I will use the viewfinder on top -- let me make sure I do this right: I'm supposed to squeeze it up against my eye like any other camera to frame the image correctly, right? And I'm supposed to rotate the eyepiece to match the distance to the subject.

And what do you mean by locking the slides?

Quote:

On 2005-10-11 13:19, red jenny wrote: OK I will use the viewfinder on top -- let me make sure I do this right: I'm supposed to squeeze it up against my eye like any other camera to frame the image correctly, right? And I'm supposed to rotate the eyepiece to match the distance to the subject. And what do you mean by locking the slides?

Yep, as long as you can see the full rectangular frame inside the viewfinder, you're close enough.

If you think about the camera; the lens looks straight ahead. The viewfinder looks straight ahead. At some point, getting closer to the front of the camera, a subject will not be able to be seen by both the lens and the viewfinder. If the viewfinder sees it, the lens will be looking below it. That's parallax... So, when shooting subjects closer than 6 feet or so, the little ring on the back of the viewfinder is adjusted so it looks more 'down' to be able to see the same view as the lens will see. The closer the subject, the more it has to look down. You may notice that at 6 feet, it doesn't make much difference...

The 'slides' are hidden under the ground glass focus panel on a Super. If you pull hte GG panel back a little bit, you'll see a slide on top and bottom of the back, or if you remove the panel altogether. If you use a Grafmatic, the panel will be moved quite a bit away from the back not only showing these slides, but providing plenty of room to slide them in to lock into the sides of the Grafmatic. If you use standard film holders, you won't have to worry about the slides and the panel won't be moved that far back to even access them.

I only have a little to add to what's been said. I'm still very much a beginner with my Anniversary Speed, but I have two lens and handhold probably 85% - 90% of the time.

1) Hyperfocal and DOF are your friends. You don't mention what film and lens you'll be using, but when I have my Grafmatic loaded with Tri-X and my 127mm mounted I set it to near the 30 foot mark on the scale, f22 and adjust the shutter speed as appropriate to the light, usually around 1/25th with a K2 or 1/50th without.

2) You can focus on the GG while handholding... it's not easy, mind, but it is possible. I've actually gotten a couple of reasonably good shots that way with my 8 3/8" Tessar. Again stop down fairly far and DOF will cover for the difference of where your hands were when you focused and when you bring it back up with the film in. Just try to keep your head in the same place...

3) For street shooting, the sport finder works best for me. I can keep both eyes open and watch things as I try to compose the image. This is another instance where presetting the distance on your scale is helpfull. If you do use the tube finder, be sure your mask matches your lens. It's ... annoying... when it doesn't.

Edit: 4) Lens hood. You'll need one. It's easy enough to get by without one on a tripod, but if you're handholding, it becomes more difficult to do without. I have a Series VII adaptor rings for both of my lenses and use the same set of VII & VIII filters and a VIII hood.

Hope this helps,

William


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: wlewisiii on 2005-10-11 22:04 ]</font>