Graflex Graphic 35

[luisalegria]

I have this as an inheritance from my mother-in-law.



The Graflex Graphic 35 was an attempt by the Graflex company, the prime supplier to American professional photgraphers for four decades, to enter the very popular 35mm rangefinder market in the 1950's. To do so it purchased Ciro, another US manufacturer, and upgraded their Ciro 35 rangefinder.



Graflex added a quite odd push-button focusing system and replaced the Ciro's US-made Wollensak lenses and shutters with German imports, possibly as a way to reduce costs.



Mine has a four-element 2.8/50 Rodenstock (Ysarex?) probably a Tessar-type, and a Prontor SVS shutter. This was the top of the line, other examples have three-element f/3.5 lenses from other makers.

A large number of Graphic 35's must have been sold from 1955 to 1958 or so as they are very common on US ebay. Its an extremely well-made and very solid camera, and apparently very durable.

The oddest part of the camera is the focusing arrangement, which was by pressing on two buttons on either side of the lens. Also interesting are the excellent DOF scale arrangement and the color-coded flash settings.

As a user camera however, it has its problems. The viewfinder is small and not integrated with the rangefinder, which was old-fashioned by 1955 - even lowly Argus had a much better system in the contemporary C4's and C-44's. The rangefinder viewer is tiny and hard to use. The shutter has to be cocked manually, like the old Argus C3. The shutter lever (that thing in front that looks like a self timer switch) requires a lateral force to trip it which can shake the camera. It also takes two hands to focus this thing, so using the shutter needs some practice to do it with a middle finger.

By 1958 this thing was seriously old-fashioned, and Graflex began importing Japanese-made cameras under their brand.

This is not the most user-friendly or ergonomic camera around, and is really quite poor for fast-moving situations, but the lens is very good indeed and it is notably trouble-free. I find this one quite prone to flare even with a hood, possibly because there is some internal haze.

Some shots are of the Japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park, and the California Academy of Sciences.

[Nesster]

Thank you for the tour - I see them around quite a lot, but haven't bit due to the viewfinder etc that you describe.

Nice results though, as usual. If ever anyone wanted to seriously sell old equipment, I believe they should have you do the sample photos, as you always manage to put the piece to best possible use.

[fish4570]

nice shots. lovely vintage appearance.
what strange ergos on the camera ...

[Attila]

First one what I seen ! It went to best hands! Congrats!