Hi I secured one of these on the auction site recently. I have examined its operation and it seems all right and hopefully I should be able to use it with my 5x4 Pacemaker Speed Graphic.

However I have a couple of questions:

It seems to be a simple answer to the problem of carrying many dark slides why do they not seem to be used more often?

On my example when the film is in the taking position there seems to be a very slight difference in the position between each sheet of film (checked visually) I haven't measured it so am not sure how much if anything.

My version is made by Wray Optics in the UK - I have seen versions by Singer and Graflex obviously, how many different manufacturers were there and is there any difference between makes?

Thanks in advance


nn

The film may shift a bit, so the border isn't always even, but this isn't usually a problem unless you print with the border, in which case you might want to crimp the septums slightly near the notched end to grip the film more tightly.

There was a comparison article on Grafmatics and other types of holders in one of the photo magazines back in the 1970s, and it concluded that film flatness was a bit better with Grafmatics, I presume due to the spring pressure and the darkslide behind the active septum during exposure.

Another variation on the Grafmatic holder was the Kinematic holder manufactured in Ohio--a little fiddlier and less reliable, but they hold ten sheets. I've got two of them, and they are a very compact way to carry a lot of film.

Fuji made a modern 8-sheet version for a few years called "Quickchange." It involved a cartridge holder and 8-septum cartridges that were sold preloaded and could be reloaded with any film, though that feature wasn't advertised particularly. The preloaded cartridges were an expensive way to buy film, and it was only marketed in Japan, though Robert White and Badger Graphic managed to carry them for a while.

SEARCH keyword=grafmatic, all fourms or accessories help= http://graflex.org/helpboard/viewtopic.php?t=4953&highlight=grafmatic . and of course most of the pictures linked there are no more. Graflex was owned by other companies and the last two were General Precision followed by Singer.

When I load my grafmatics I 1.) push the film fully to the rear of the spetum and 2.) slide the film fully against one of the long sides of the spetum so that the borders of the image are not skewed on the film. There is a slight shift lengthwise of 1mm or less that depends on the spetum and end blocks of the grafmatic. There is a complete service manual for the grafmatics at http://www.southbristolviews.com/ under the graflex manuals link.