RB Graflex SLR with Elgeet 10"

[luisalegria]

First results from my new RB Graflex SLR



I used a makeshift viewing hood to account for my eyesight (the original hood is in good shape, but too tall for me to focus on the groundglass), and I made a lensboard for my Elgeet Navitar 10"/4.5. I used a Graflex "22" 6x6 Roll back I have for the 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 Graflex mount (which is not quite like a Graflok), because it has pretty good film flatness. I am working on a roll back made for Graflex No. 51 film (3 1/4 x 4 1/4 format) to convert it to use 120 film in 6x9 format, but I haven't solved the film flatness problem yet. I am tempted to just go with 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 sheet film, but I'm not yet that insane.

So at the moment this thing is just an extra-large Hasselblad.

The Elgeet 10" is a great, sharp lens (and it covers 4x5 !), on 6x6 its like a 135mm. The camera has absolutely no problem with light leaks, the groundglass register seems dead on, or at least it matches my 120 back perfectly, the shutter curtain has no pinholes, and speeds seem to be about right too, or at least my exposures seem to agree with the shutter. Yay !

I shot one roll of Arista Edu 100 in the garden on a dark and cloudy day. I used a flood lamp on one side to get more light. I tried to meter for the skin, and that seems to have worked out fairly well. A couple of shots did get away from me as I forgot to rewind the curtain, hence going with a larger slit and more exposure, thus blowing highlights.

Any problems with these photos are the fault of the photographer, the equipment is just fine !

[Katastrofo]

Very well done, Luis, 2,3, and 4 are my faves! Lens certainly delivers, what
a portrait setup!

[Minolfan]

A wonderfull installation, that works as a camera with fin results. Really surprising!

[Farside]

Wow. Excellent and unexpected results. Still plenty of life in that old dog yet.

[greg]

Very nice results.

It keeps me going on my Speed Graphic restoration.

[luisalegria]

With Kodak Ektanon 7 1/2" (190mm) at f/4.5 - This is an old enlarging lens, but it does not seem like it is limited to closeup work, its just a nice Tessar.
Arista Edu 100 with the 6x6 Graflex rollholder. I think the rollholder may be holding the film further in towards the lens than the groundglass I used to check for infinity, my point of focus most of the time seems a bit farther back than it should be.







And of course, with no double exposure prevention if one is careless one gets "interesting" pictures like this.

[cooltouch]

Both seem to be nice lenses for portraiture, but I really prefer the first one. Great stuff.

[luisalegria]

I have this huge Ilex Paragon (Tessar) 8 1/2" (216mm) f/4.5 in barrel which I have been unable to use on the Graflex because the diameter is just too large for the sunken mount on this camera. Its a good portrait length for 6x6 or 6x9, being the equivalent of a 100mm or 80mm in 35mm format. Its also from the late 1950's-1960's, so its a coated lens.

I did in the end manage to make a lensboard for it - I used the principle of filling in the whole sunken mount with a wooden filler. Its a pretty secure press fit in the mount.



Compared to other barrel lenses mounted for this camera, and the 3 1/4" x 4 1/4" Speed Graphic also -



Ilex Paragon 8 1/2", Wollensak 7 1/2"(190mm) enlarger lens, Ilex Paragon 6 3/8"(165mm)

Some samples - now I am sure my roll film holder depth does not match the focusing groundglass. My point of focus is always behind what I aimed at, so that means the film is being held too far forward. I will try to get my other film holder adjusted more accurately.

[Nesster]

I realise this is 2 years later... have you surmounted the graflex / graflok roll film holder dilemma? I have a 6x6 graflex as well, and the graflok backs seem to be pretty rare. The difference seems to be the graflok has two ridges on the right, while the graflex has a single slot. I don't know if routing a slot on a graflok back will actually work, owing to the ridges.

I also read during my research something about 1.2 mm shim being required to do the adaptation you were talking about here.

[luisalegria]

I ended up adapting a German Rollex 6x9 holder. I attached it non-destructively on a wooden board that I cut and slotted to fit. It fits very well and seems to have no light leaks. I had to carefully trim the depth of board that carried the Rollex holder by trial and error to match infinity on the groundglass. I used a plastic groundglass in the actual film holder to check vs the viewing glass. I used an old 120 roll to take measurements of the actual center point of the film while in the holder to verify that my plastic groundglass was located exactly where the film would be.

Focus was just all over the place with the 6x6 Graflex back, as you can see with my samples. The Rollex seems to be much more consistent and gives good results even in closeup shots. And its nearly impossible to find a 3 1/4 x4 1/4 Graflex 6x9 holder, so DIY is the only way.

A true 6x9 like yours is a different case. I think you need to check the general dimensions of the back, as the Graflok and Graflex may differ. If they don't it shouldn't be hard to rout a slot. I also highly recommend getting the later lever-wind backs as the conventional wisdom about film flatness on the Graflex backs is very true.

Unfortunately, shortly after a pal at Mflenses made me a "top hat" for my 15" Wollensak, and after I had extemporized a mount for my 16.5/2.8 Zeiss Biotessar, and I was about to go mad with this amazing setup, the shutter mechanism went wonky. The gear on the top roller is worn out and is now skipping teeth, which makes the curtain travel random. I have an idea how to fix this but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

[Nesster]

I found a very good site... looks like I'm lucky in that the mod described works on 2x3
http://www.bnphoto.org/bnphoto/LFN/XLBackConv1c.htm

[Attila]

[Nesster]

Funny how things turn out... I just bought the Elgeet lens off of ebay, and in researching it I found this thread. Click here to see on Ebay The lens board is probably for a larger Graflex than mine, but I have some spare ones, plus of course there's always the bellows + SLR. I hope mine works as well as yours (I know I don't!)

[luisalegria]

For that lens this price is a steal.
Good luck !