Graflex.org

JCT · Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 10

Hi all,

My young son became fascinated by my view camera (a shen hao 4x5) so I tracked down a pretty ancient 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 Speed Graphic to work on as a project with him. Probably of early 40's vintage and it has a graflok back (hooray)-- so we can use roll film (I already develop 120 at home).

I read through the site and am still a little confused about which roll back to hunt down for this camera. I *think* a 23 Graflex will do the trick, but the way people describe the se roll backs on ebay has me rather confused.

Can anyone give me some tips on exactly what roll backs I should look for? And it seems like Polaroid is a no-go?

Thanks in advance!

Jil

**Note: I just found the list of roll backs on the site and that should answer my question. But I am sure I will be back with more questions as I try to get this old guy up and working. ****

[ This Message was edited by: JCT on 2007-03-14 10:51 ]

45PSS · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:42 pm Post subject:

Any Graphic (knob wind) or RH series (lever wind) that was made for 2x3 cameras will work. The RH series will be the more desirable. The numbers after the name indicate the image size or number of frames per roll, RH20 for 20 6cm x 6cm images(frames) per roll of 220 film.

The roll holders made for 2x3 cameras will have no board on th mount side to take up the extra space between the roll holder and the camera back opening, they will be the width and length of the roll holder only.

Samples:
A knob wind 2x3 (6cm x 9cm) roll fiml holder for 2x3 cameras:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-Graflex-23-Graphic-120-Film-Roll-Holder-NR_W0QQitemZ160096121255QQcategoryZ29973QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

A lever wind RH10 (6cmx7cm) roll film holder for 2x3 cameras:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Graphic-RH10-Roll-Holder-for-Graflex-XL-Singer-EX_W0QQitemZ230102377655QQcategoryZ29973QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[ This Message was edited by: 45pss on 2007-03-14 16:55 ]

JCT · Joined: 14 Mar 2007 Posts: 10

OK, that helps a ton-- some of the ebay listings I found were really imprecise about which camera the back was designed for.

Thanks so much for the help!

Jil

C. Henry · Posted: Fri Mar 16, 2007 1:48 pm Post subject:

One thing that I learned the hard way on these 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 roll backs is that the pressure of winding them can move the back enough to fog the film if the dark slide is not inserted first. It doesn't happen every time but Murphy's Law says it will happen on the most important exposure!

C. Henry

clnfrd · Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2007 2:04 am Post subject:

Just be sure the roll back is a Graphic and not a Graflex. However, just to confuse the issue, I have an old Graflex 120 Roll Holder that is not grooved, and is for use in Graflok backs on 2-1/4X3-1/4 cameras. Fred.