Fondling my Crown...

[Farside]

...Graphic, that is.
Oh, it's nice. Many of the things on it that should smoothly slide or move or simply work with a snick noise, didn't. All it needed was a little bit of cleaning and a smidgeon of lube here and there.
I thought it was a bit of a beater, at first; but I was wrong. This camera hasn't had a hard life at all; it's been used a bit (perhaps a fair bit, but they were built for that) and then left in a room or a cupboard for a decade or two, where a bit of damp got at it. It's certainly not been a Press camera - nothing's worn or actually broken and there's no patina of wear on the bits that get moved or pressed or slid, etc. The only thing that's actually beaten up is the leather strap and I've a feeling that's not the original one. If the camera had seen as much service as that strap, it would look much more worn and beaten up.
Right; now I've got a 70mm rollfilm back for it, all I need is to find out if any of my dev tanks will take 70mm film. In the meantime I can load up with some Shanghai 4x5 and get ripping.

[luisalegria]

There are lots of Graflex 120 backs in 4x5 mounts for it, if you have a Graflok mount.
They aren't at all rare and not too expensive. I see them go for $50-80 usually.
Does yours have a Graflok back ?

Spring backs are a bit more difficult. I have an Orbit (aka Calumet) and an Adaptaroll back for that.
These aren't really rare either, there's usually a few on ebay, and sometimes go pretty cheap.

Damp and age are the big problem with most Speed Graphics. They survive physical abuse very well.

[Farside]

It has a Graflok, yes.
Well, I've already got an RH50 70mm back which fits lovely and 70mm film is dirt cheap at the moment. So, if I can process 70mmm, the idea's a go-er.
I've looked at adapting one of my 5x4 holders to taking a 120 rollfilm back from the 9x12s but it's more hassle than it's worth. It would be much easier to convert the RH50 to 120 and that might involve nothing more than a couple of adapted spools and re-strung 120 film (same idea as respooling onto 620).
Bearing in mind the overall cost - the RH50 was $25 (compared to the ludicrous prices some are asking) and 30m of Fuji 70mm colour neg is currently $8, it makes it a very worthwhile undertaking just to see what comes out.
When the 70mm runs out (old stock, so it must eventually) I can convert to 120.
The RH50 is a slightly disappointing 6x7 without much scope for widening that more than an extra cm. However, I have a couple of Agfa 6x9 bodies ready and willing to surrender themselves to the cause of experimentation.
I'd thought about going the whole hog and building a 6x12 back - but really, what's the point? I may as well just shoot a full 4x5 and simply crop it for a landscape.

[Farside]

Further to this - I've just found that if I take a 6.5mm drill to the end of a 120 spool it fits nicely on to the 70mm spool spindles of the RH50. The 120 spools float endwise a bit on the spindles, but they're quite secure and wind on properly. I simply have to make a couple of small spacers for the bottom ends of them.
This means I don't have to re-spool 120, I can simply drill every new 120 spool before I use it, and no need for 70mm film at all now.
I'm still tempted by 70mm because of it's ludicrously low price and I might still get some while it's around. I was looking for 70mm dev reels, but the only ones I found were stupidly priced; I reckon I can modify a Paterson or Jobo reel to do the job.

[luisalegria]

Thats very interesting.

There are some interesting MF cameras that this technique could revive.

There are Beattie-Coleman and Camerz SLR and TLR long-roll (70mm) cameras designed for the commercial portrait market that could possibly be used with 120. These have zero value right now.

[Farside]

That's useful to know - better get one before the prices go up
One thing that's a slight hindrance - the wind on the 120 roll is wrong, so the feed roll will be feeding other way around from a normal 120 camera - no big deal, I'll just check the first one to make sure the backing paper is glued /gaffataped onto the film, so it leads around properly without wasting film. I can see I'll be loading this in a changing bag anyway, until I'm sure of technique.

[Lloydy]

[Farside]

I can't see any used deals and 70mm is something of a rarity anyway. The price for a lot of 70mm stuff still reflects the mainly pro use it had and many sellers appear to be living in a dreamworld.
AGPhotographic have a really, really annoying pop-up timer active when you wish to have a closer look at their stock. That alone alienates me.

[Farside]

Further to this; I've just found a source of cheap 70mm dev reels.
http://www.sullinsndt.com/reels.htm
So, if they're still in business (the site was last updated 2007) the idea's a go-er. There is a steadily diminishing supply of 70mm film and most of what's available cheaply is quite outdated or clearance stock, but while it lasts at that price it's a very cheap way of medium format shooting.
I wish I could find cheap bulk 120 film.

[iangreenhalgh1]

I've got a ton of 70mm Fujichrome so am interested in hearing how you get on with it. I have a Nebro tank that will take 116 film, 116 is the same width as 70mm so I can develop it, just not found a camera suitable yet. I was going to buy an old 116 folder and spool up the 70mm and use it in that (as others have done) but it's a bit of a faff. I then thought of getting a 9x12 plate camera and shooting 12cm strips of the 70mm film in it. I'd ideally like a camera that takes 70mm natively, but I certainly can't afford a Hasselblad with 70mm back.

[Farside]

Hassy 70mm backs are dirt cheap now - I noticed it last night.
If I had a Hassy 500 already, I'd snap one up. I don't think the 500 70mm backs will fit the Russian version, either.

I gave some thought to modifying a film holder to take a strip of 70mm - wouldn't be all that difficult with a card template around it and perhaps sticking it in place with a water soluble glue - one poster on APUG used jam

I've been reading on x-pro this Fuji CDU-II film as B&W and discovered an old post in photo.net. Dev as normal in B&W chem (developer of choice) and wash. Mix 7g of citric acid in 1L of rapid fixer and stand film in it for 7 ~ 14 mins. This bleaches out the final dregs of the dye-couplers and improves the image a lot. Otherwise it's a mush.
It does produce useable images, but not as good as dedicated mono film, so it says.
Anyway, I've also come across some colour results from this film and it's OK. Unfortunately, it was a Lomo freak and he was happy with shite results. I would use a balancing filter (it's a tungsten film) and just process in E-6 as normal. It's rated as ASA 12 or so.