I just bought a Crown Graphic and am learning it.

I would like to find the shutter lever arm; mine came without one. I might make one, but, any leads on how to find one?

Same for cams. Mine came with the OPTAR 135mm lens. How good is it?
I may want to use a 150mm lens with the camera and want a cam. Does anyone still have cams?

Does your Crown have the top or side mounted rangefinder?

What shutter lever are you referring to? The one on the lens, or the one mounted on the front standard?

The Optar 135mm is good lens... Not very generous with movements however!

Hello

I have a top mounted rangefinder.

I need the little paddle that attaches to the vertical cable shaft, and pushes down on the shutter lever of the lens.

SpeedGraphicMan wrote:

Does your Crown have the top or side mounted rangefinder? What shutter lever are you referring to? The one on the lens, or the one mounted on the front standard? The Optar 135mm is good lens... Not very generous with movements however!

See http://graflex.org/helpboard/viewtopic.php?t=5589&highlight=shutter+paddle
(site search - shutter paddle - all the terms selected = 24 matches)

Quote:

Same for cams. Mine came with the OPTAR 135mm lens.

http://graflex.org/speed-graphic/top-rangefinder-cams.html
#31, 5, 6, &7 were for 135mm lens depending on what the lens optically measured. Mismatched cam to lens results in close focused distances being off. A lens measuring 136mm being used with a cam for a 132mm lens may experience errors starting at 25 feet and get worse as you focus closer where a lens measuring 136mm used with a cam for a 135mm may not experience errors until 10 to 12 feet or closer.

Quote:

How good is it?

Top notch when it came out of the factory, now depends on how long it sat in the sun, how long it sat in a damp basement, and or how many times it was wiped down with a sweaty T shirt wiped with dirt.

Thank you for your help