Graflex.org

[Joe Sexton]

All:

My father passed away and left a vintage Graflex Speed Graphic 4 x 5 camera that I know very little about . . . I'm dealing with disposal of many of his things . . . I figured I would sell this camera . . . it's actually a complete outfit in a big metal case with lots of film backs, flash and reflector, filters, etc.

My first problem was how to open the camera and I found a note on this forum about the little "bump" under the vinyl that one must push. That worked fine and I opened the door down and was able to roll the lens out on the rails and back again. Now, however, the door won't close.

As I'm sure you know, what I'm calling the "door" that opens down is attached to a metal bar on each side. Each metal bar has a long slot in it and there is a rivet or something like that that slides in that long slot when the door opens.

I don't know if my difficulty in closing the camera back up is just because the slots in the metal bars aren't lubricated any more and the rivet things don't slide very easily or if there is another kind of "bump" that I must push. It did seem to me that I noticed a little "click" when I opened the door into the fully-open position.

Can someone please help me? If I need to lubricate the metal bars with the slots, can someone tell me what lubricant I should use?

Thank you in advance,
Joe Sexton

[Joshua Szulecki]

Push gently on both of the metal bars and they should disengage and allow you to close the camera. I use my thumbs to disengage both at the same time. You need to push downwards.

**EDIT**
As Troublemaker said below, be sure to unlock the front standard, roll in the focusing rails all the way, and push the front standard in. Failure to do so could damage the camera.

[troublemaker]

Unlock the front standard, and then turn the focussing knobs so the rails go all the way to the rear of the camera inside the body. Then push the front standard all the way back. Then as Joshua said, with your thumbs press the two arms downward to unlock them and the drop bed should fold up. Be careful not to break the rear rail guides etc or bind the front shutter release cable if present under the bellows. If you have problems someone can post a link to the owners manual.

[Joe Sexton]

Gentlemen:

Many thanks for the advice on how to close the camera . . . it worked so well it left me feeling lacking . . .

Any advice on selling the camera? Actually, it appears to be a pretty complete outfit with big metal case, flash and reflector, and lots of film backs, filters, etc. It has an AEC ORNL metal property tag affixed . . . AEC is Atomic Energy Commission and ORNL is Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee . . . that was all a part of the Manhattan project which gave us the atomic bombs that got dropped on Japan and ended World War II so that is some clue as to age . . .

Joe