I know from info posted that exact dating of Graflex lenses is all but impossible; however, my lense does not have the typical M/F/X/off switch. Just next to the bi-pin connection it is marked with an X in brackets- (X). When did Graflex drop the selector switch? That would at least give me the oldest date. SN is 613974 if that's any use. Dank u Vell

It's more a matter of the shutter than the lens. What name is on the shutter? Is it marked "Graphex," "Century," or what? If it's a Century, that was Graflex's bottom of the line job furnished with the Century 2x3, and it doesn't have a synch switch, instead the shutter speeds are color-coded for M-synch (red, 1/10, 1/25, B, T)), F-synch (green, 1/50, 1/100), and X-synch (black, 1/200). Not sure this is necessarily an age-related thing; my Century dates from 1954, and is as described above. OTOH I have Optar lenses in Graphex shutters from the around the same period, and they all have the synch lever.

Ooops! Left out that detail, didn't I? It is in fact a Graphex shutter.

I have yet to find an introduction date for the X only shutter. The earliest shutters had no sync, then came the full sync, then the X only. But I'm certain there were years where at least two if not all three were available.

I would think that the X shutter would have been developed by the early 50s with the meteoric rise in electronic flash in the 1940s. The X shutter is just a full sync shutter with the gear train removed (the part that creates the delay) So it wasn't rocket science.


Les