Hey Everyone. It's a been a while since I posted anything new here. I guess I've been spending way too much time working and not enough time making pictures. Anyway, I recently picked up a 3x4 Anny Speed Graphic. I had planned on just using it for parts and once I got it, even that was questionable. It had obviously been kept in a damp environment as there was lots mildew inside the bellows and between the leather and metal surfaces, not to mention that mildewy smell. The focal plane shutter was frozen, the Graphic Supermatic shutter was only firing at one speed and glass surfaces were all foggy.

Just for kicks, I removed the main winding plate for the focal plane shutter and found the mechanism was rusted at the shutter release pivot point. I soaked, cleaned and lubed it and it's now working properly again. The shutter curtains all look good and the timing seems to be about right.

The next thing was the Supermatic shutter. I removed the lens elements and cleaned the shutter. It came back to life nicely. The glass cleaned up fairly well with a few remaining marks, but nothing too serious. The ground glass cleaned up very well as did the rangefinger and the viewfinder glass. The chrome parts, especially the little trim along the edges of the front frame all polished up nicely. I wiped down the inside of bellows and cleaned out all of the mildew and have put the camera in a box with the lots of crumpled up newspaper in hopes of getting rid of that smell.

I still have to re-glue the leather back on, but it's in surprisingly good shape. The camera came with eight 3x4 film holders, four of which need new leather on the ends. The other four are certainly usable.

Now that I've cleaned it up and it's mostly working, I'm thinking it's better to keep it intact rather than using it for parts. However, I do have a few questions. First, what glue should I use to re-glue the leather to the metal surfaces? Second, is there something else I can do to get rid of that musty, mildewy odor? And lastly, should I actually use this camera? I see there is some 3x4 B&W film available, although it doesn't seem to be that cheap. Is there anyone out there shooting 3x4 on a regular/semi-regular basis and if so, what draws you to this format?

Thanks,
Rachel

Well, I don't know what's the point of having such a nice camera if you don't use it...

For the leather, generally you'll want to use some kind of contact cement, preferably a variety that can be removed without too much cussing in a few years or decades, next time someone wants to do something to it. Pliobond is often suggested for this on smaller cameras, though I've heard of folks using anything from rabbit skin glue to Elmer's to rubber cement.

I don't shoot 3x4, but I do have 9x12 cm and 4x5. 3x4 is a nice aspect ratio, same as old style TV screens and the old standard format motion pictures. It was popular once because it would contact print to a perfect size for a newspaper column, and before that because it was "quarter plate", a format that harkens back to Daguerreotype days when the "plate" referred to was a standard size of copper plate which was plated with silver, burnished to a fine mirror finish, and then sensitized with fumes of bromine and iodine -- quarter plate was a pretty big Dag. Quarter plate has, to date, survived the American Civil War, two World Wars, and a bunch of other conflicts, as well as the not just the transition from glass plates to film, but the earlier ones from copper to glass and from collodion to dry gelatin plates. It's a format with a lot of history behind it...

The best source for (relatively) inexpensive 3x4 had been J and C photo, but they are no longer. check with freestyle to see if they will be importing any.

Quote:

First, what glue should I use to re-glue the leather to the metal surfaces?

I like Latex/Neoprene based contact cement such as Elmers product number E-753 (hard to find) or Weldwood Nonflamable Contact Cement (quarts easily available). Latex contact cement works easier than solvent based contact cement and cleans up easier also. (I can give you some of the Weldwood, check your PM's.)

Quote:

Second, is there something else I can do to get rid of that musty, mildewy odor?

Wash the leather and bellows with Isopryol Alcohol and a clean lint free cloth then treat with Pledge Natural Beauty by coating and allowing to soak for and hour or two to overnight then wipe down. http://www.pledge.com/

My standard flexible contact adhesive for camera repair is the Pliobond previously mentioned; it is cheap, powerful and can be pulled apart if needed later. It does smell bad.

While you will never completely get rid of the musty odor from the mildew, kill it as best you can with lysol and wipe down all the affected surfaces. Treat the leather with neatsfoot oil. A product that I find useful for taking the edge off of the mildew smell is something called Super CD, from Schmid labs. It is designed to kill odors, and I put a scrap of paper towel holding a few drops of the CD inside the bellows to let the fumes soak in. I frequently drop a piece of the treated paper towel into any compartment case that smells a bit dank. I would not apply the CD directly to any camera.

While J&C is lamentably gone, isn't Film For Classics still around? I've gotten 3X4 film from them before. It is a nice format and I like it.

Hi Imagemaker,

Thank you for the glue recommendation, that makes perfect sense. I guess I'll have to bite the bullet and order some 3x4 film. I do have a 2x3 Century Graphic and it's a great size to carry around. I also have a few 4x5 Crown/Speed Graphics, but I'm finding them a bit too heavy for a handheld work. Perhaps the 3x4 will end up being a good compromise between film size and camera weight.

Thanks,
Rachel

Hi Les,

Thanks for the film source recommendation. I found some B&W film at www.filmforclassics.com. I didn't see anything at Freestyle, but I'll send them a message and see if they're planning on carrying it.

Thanks,
Rachel

Hi Charles,

It's good to see that you're still here. Thank you so much for the advice on cleaning and treating the leather on my camera. I'll pick up some supplies this weekend and start to work on it. I purchased a box of baking soda last night and put that into the box with my camera. I don't know if it will actually help, but i guess it can't hurt.

Thank you for the offer of some glue. I'll send you a PM if I can't find a reasonably sized container of glue when I'm out shopping for cleaning supplies.

Thanks,
Rachel

In terms of lightness relative to film size, and not to push things off topic for a Graflex forum, but have you looked into plate cameras? Most of them date from the 1920s and 1930s; I have a couple made by Zeiss-Ikon and one of its pre-merger components, Ica. Mine use 9x12 cm film, which is between 3x4 and 4x5 in size, though they came in a few other sizes as well, but the camera is both much more compact and a lot lighter than any Speed Graphic of comparable film size -- in fact, not much bigger and still lighter than even a 2x3 Speed, comparable weight to a 2x3 Crown, I'd think, with about twice the film area.

The trick with these, which haven't been made in 70+ years, is finding plate holders (with good light seals) and film sheaths to allow use with modern 9x12 cm film, and then getting the actual film. Used to be easy when J&C were open; they carried 9x12 in three Efke and one Foma emulsion, and had another Foma on special order. In theory, you should be able to order Kodak films in 9x12 cm, since it's a standard size in much of Europe and Kodak products *are* cut and sold in that size, but in practice there are few Kodak dealers operating now who even know that's possible (and Kodak won't sell in onesies direct to the public, except with cine films). Worst case, Fotoimpex can ship film in that size anywhere, but it'll cost to get it across the Atlantic.

OTOH, they'll generally do anything a pre-War Speed can do (almost all have rise, fall, and shift, a few have some means of simulating tilt), except use barrel lenses (no focal plane shutter) and run at very high shutter speeds (mine top out at 1/250, which was about normal for 1920s vintage leaf shutters; the very last, made in the late 1930s, might have gone to 1/400 with Compur-Rapid shutters).

Hi disemjg,

That's great information, thank you. I'll see if I can find the Super CD product you mentioned. It's good to hear from someone who still shoots the 3x4 format.

Thanks,
Rachel

Hi ImageMaker,

I once looked into the 9x12 format, but decided to go with handheld 4x5 instead. In addition to my various Crown and Speed Graphics, I picked up a converted Polaroid 110B and made something similar to a Sinar Handy using a Sinar rear frame.

However, you've certainly given me some food for thought. I may just have to look into 9x12 again.

Thanks,
Rachel

As an update on my 3x4 Speed Graphic project, I've gotten most of the musty smell out, I've re-glued the leather back on and have ordered 50 sheets of 3x4 Efke from Freestyle. I can't wait to give it a whirl.

Thanks,
Rachel

what is the web address for Freestyle?

Freestyle's address is:

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/e_main.php