Revisting the past.

About 6 years ago when I started this blog I had a National Graflex camera.

I cleaned it up was not able to get it back into working condition because I thought one of the gears was too damaged … but a recent comment spawned my curiosity to get it working, but this time with more experience and tools … here I go suggesting you all to take the Learn Camera Repair (free) course.

My camera is a series I, based on the mechanisms and also the early serial number. The hood appears to have been replaced, as it is labeled “SERIES II”.

I found an article in the Graflex Historical Quarterly vol. 14 issue 2, that talks about the National Graflex models. It notes that there are few people who can repair this camera … though they do note a service manual was produced, but I have yet to find a copy of it.

Ok, so going back to the camera … what stopped me in the past was the film advance gear, so lets revisit it … but this time I have experience with gearing with Barnack cameras, and most importantly the slotted focal plane shutter of a Speed Graphic.

Re-examining this gear … it is not as worn as I concluded then. I took a file and reshaped it so that it has a back edge, while the front profile did not require much.

I think the issue with is camera was a combination of not using it correctly and someone trying to fix it.

The next part is with the speed setting dial that sits on top of that gear.

Here we have a picture of the dial above, and the three components for the speed setting. The black dial has a tooth inside to allow the slotted dial to position in, while the spring allows the outer shell to be pulled up.

OK, so all these things fit onto the advance post that is in the lower section.

OK, so how does this all work?

I put the advance pieces back onto the post and wound it up … both upper and lower gear turn the pickup rollers for the second and first curtains.

The lower gear engages a smaller gear to the left. This winds up the second curtain. The outer shell of the winding knob couples with it.

The upper gear also engages a smaller gear above it. This winds up the first curtain. The knotched plate in the winding knob couples with it. That plate sets the slot width (1 being the widest).

I noticed that the second curtain moves with the first curtain … they are not overlapped/closed, or released at different times.

Hmm this looks like the way a Graflex slotted curtain operates … a single slotted curtain ? Playing around with the speed setting dial I figured out that the upper dial sets the width of the opening. When the shutter is released both curtains move as one.

The following are mental notes …

Looking that the levers … the upper one obviously locks the bottom gear from moving anti-clockwise by connecting to one of the left teeth (one is lower than the other, hmmm), but I also needed to figure out the little tooth lever on the right and the large chrome lever tooth on the left. Their height indicates they engage the lower gear … the upper gear has a right tooth so it would catch something if it turned anti-clockwise … winding up the shutter?

More thinking needed …

When the shutter is released the mirror arm moves upwards and pushes the upper lever up. The chrome L lever on the left is used when in bulb mode. When the bulb lever is pushed it first moves the lever on the left to grab the tooth on the upper gear (second curtain), and moves the upper lever off the tooth on the lower gear (first curtain) so it releases first. Then when the bulb lever is released the left lever lets the upper gear go.

End of mental notes.

OK … now I found winding was very difficult. It appears that the curtain tension is set way to high so it takes a lot of force to turn the dial.

I found a site, Jo Lommen’s shutter adjustment for the Series II, that was very helpful to figure out what is going on with these gears.

I took off the covers to allow the curtains free, then let the tension down on the rollers. First I worked with the first curtain … I added some tension to the roller to assist when necessary.

I set the mirror down, then turned the I/B dial anti-clockwise to the B position, then released the shutter. then wound the advance. When the first curtain is pulled across the film plane the lathe should just pass the frame opening on the right and the tooth on the gear should lock with the pawl.

When the bulb arm is pushed it releases the upper pawl, the gear will turn until the tooth hits the lower pawl (on the chrome L arm). The curtain lathe should sit just past the frame opening on the left.

Ok, now for the upper gear. This one has a tooth in the opposite direction … hmm, so when the shutter is released it will not catch on anything. The upper gears purpose is to set the size of the slot. stop the knob from being wound too far. The outside and inside posts should be perpendicular (unlike the image).

So I wound up the shutter … made a guess … then placed the upper gear tooth so that it matches with the pawl on the right.

I placed the speed dial on set to the 1 position and turned the advance knob until it fit then secured it with the screw. I added some more tension to the roller and fired the Bulb shutter. The second curtain should not advance until the bulb lever is released … well that worked!!

Now for I … both curtains should release. Well, that worked also.

Then I setup the shutter to 4 and while holding the advance knob I released the shutter so I could measure the width of the slot … which should be about 1″ … which it was. The notched speed dial setter can be adjusted a bit to change slot width, I left it in the middle for now.

Add more tension to make the curtains clear everything, then get out the shutter speed tester. The series II hood labels 9 speed settings from 1/30 to 1/500s, so I have to assume the series I is the same … adjust tension on the second curtain to get about right … then try other speeds.

OK, now I have a working Graflex National Graflex Series I camera … no longer relegated to the “just for show” shelf.

Oh, as a reminder … RTFM (even it is just a similar model).

I feel the need … the need for speed!

When I got the National Graflex I did write up some stuff about the Graflex company … well I am adding a bit more historical information.

Graflex, not a common name that many of today’s photographers will recognize, but their cameras made some of the most iconic images of all times. They made or rebranded many 35mm, SLR, TLR, and large format film cameras, but their most prominent cameras were in large format.

One particular aspect they embraced the focal plane shutter very early on (single curtain with varying slits, you use a combination of tension and slit size settings to get the shutter exposure) … for those that think SLR’s with focal plane shutters came out in the 50’s, well it really started in the 1880’s, and Graflex started using it in 1898. The focal plane shutter gave the advantage of higher shutter speeds than the leaf shutters produced at that time … so they decided to use both in the same camera.

Many photographers used Graflex cameras, especially sports and press photographers … many iconic images that you may have seen were taken with one:

• Graflex SLR and other – Lewis W. Hine (you really should look at his body of work)
• Graflex SLR – Dorothea Lange, FSA dirty thirties
• 4×5 Graflex super D…. Weegee, the press photographer
• Arthur Fellig Speed Graphic … 1937 Hindenburg photo
• WWII signal corps

The last camera Graflex designed was in 1965, so now it has become “vintage” … and Star Wars wouldn’t have been the same without that flash.

OK … what I have is the Miniature Speed Graphic which is a 2-1/4 x 3-1/4 format “press” camera … a smaller version of the Anniversary Speed Graphic camera. It also was the first Graflex press camera to have a front rise. Made between 1939-46, Graflex produced about 47,000 of them

It is designed specifically for sheet film camera … Ilford and Arista still make this format … there was even a Grafmatic speed loader that held 6 sheets for rapid shooting. The Miniature Speed Graphic (not to be mixed up with the Pacemaker) has the classic focal plane shutter with speeds up to 1/1000s … and also included a large variety of lens/shutter combinations (I think over thirty different ones).

When I got it the focal plane shutter was running slow. It did not need much to free up the mechanism … on the left side of the camera are two metal bushings that terminate the rollers. These can be unscrewed, cleaned, and oiled a tiny bit … then some exercise and now the shutter is a go.

The Compur leaf shutter was running good, and the Kodak lens was nice and clean (I think credit has to be given to the metal lens cap), so I did not have to touch it at all.

The only real thing that was wrong was that it was dirty. While I was examining the metal “patina” I realized that the brown “aging” of the metal was actually years of tar accumulation.

Lots of scrubbing later, the yello metal looks like metal again.

National Graflex – didn’t win

I was a little hopeful that I would be able to get this one working based on the description of the item before I purchased it … well, I was too hopeful. This is still a cool looking camera to add to my collection, and it is a Graflex !!

The lens is removable so that made it fairly easy to clean. Just pull off the U clip from the back of the lens … then push the lens forward until it can be pulled up-off.

Access the interior lens elements by screwing off the ring in the back and unscrewing the front cell.

There was some slight haze that was easily cleaned off.

Now the main problem with this camera was the shutter. I was anticipating that the shutter curtains were torn … but it appeared that at least the rear curtain was intact. I was able to turn the winding knob and saw that the front curtain was also intact … but the shutter winding would not stay cocked.

Time to open it up …

First remove the hood by removing the four screws at the corners.

There will be a clamping bracket under the screw that also come off.

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I removed the plate on the left side and figured out that it is not necessary … but I will show you anyway.

Unscrew the small shutter release knob.

Remove the screw on the rewind knob and remove.

Remove the screws that hold the plate on.

The two bolts you see are holding the spring loaded shutter curtain take-up reels.

Now on to the right side

Remove the screw from the film counter dial. Pull off the dial. Remove the pointer arm.

Remove the screw from the shutter winder dial. Pull off the dial … note that there are multiple parts within the dial.

Remove the screw from the Bulb switch and pull off the little arm.

The mirror set lever has a screw and bolt through it … unscrew both.

Remove the four screws that hold the plate off.

These are the parts for the winding / shutter speed setting knob (including the gear that sits under the plate).

Not much here … and I did not find any info on the web to help me figure this out … so I moved stuff and guessed.

The golden gear at the bottom of the image (that sits under the winding knob) appeared to be the cause of the problems.

I can turn it to cock the shutter, but it would just freely wind back.

I pulled it off to take a look at what was happening underneath.

Ok, some more turning and guessing.

The gear underneath is responsible for moving the front shutter curtain. It was locking in place fine.

The gear that I removed (that was on top of it) is responsible for the rear curtain … and also locks it in place.

The toothed lever on the bottom looks like it locks the top gear.

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Looking under the top gear … I can see that the tooth was worn down, so it no long could catch … or possibly the lever that engages this is also worn down.

I would have to either mill a new part (I don’t have a mini milling machine) or get a replacement part.

Hopefully this will be of help for anyone else that is going to tackle restoring one of these … this one is sitting with the rest of my camera collection.

Skip the Yashica … now presenting National Graflex.

Ok, I have decided to put the Yashica Mat aside as it was becoming much more of a job than I expected. Too many locked screws, broken screws, and damaged mechanism … and anyway I received a new camera today.

Graflex.

Yes, it is a name that we all know well … at least for those of us that delve in the large and medium format. The picture that most people have of a Graflex camera is seeing all those press dudes in the 30’s running around with their Speed Graphic camera’s.

Originally founded by two Williams … Mr. Folmer and Mr. Schwing, under the company name Folmer & Schwing Manufacturing Company. Initially the company made gas lamps and bicycles, but for some reason they choose to make cameras after the gas market declined … some references say that they wanted to make cameras mounted on bicycles.

They produced the first Graflex reflex camera in 1896. The company was then acquired by George Eastman and became known as Folmer Graflex. In 1926 Kodak had to give up the Folmer Graflex division, and this became the company we know as Graflex.

Obi-Wan Kenobi’s lightsaber was actually the handle from a Graflex 3-cell flash gun.

 

The camera I now have in my possession is the National Graflex series I.

The National Graflex camera was first produced in 1933 under the Eastman Kodak, Folmer Graflex division..

The camera is printed with “Graflex, Inc. Rochester, NY, USA” . The name National Grapflex appears on a plate located on the back of the hood. Mine says SERIES II, but all references to the II show that it has a sliding cover over the ruby window.

This camera folds up into a neat squarish metal box. This is a sling lens reflex camera, medium format 2 ¼ x 2 ½. It was called the “Single-Lens Model”. There must have been a couple of variants of this model, as I have seen some with a swing flap to cover the ruby window … or possibly that someone modified the camera.

 

 

Once opened the camera appears to be a mini Graphic type camera.

Open the top flap and there is a fold out hood with all the control dial.

Pop open the front and the lens comes out. This model has a B&L (Bausch & Lomb) Tessar IC 75mm f/3.5 lens.

The shutter speed dial has numbers from 1-9 printed on it. The key to figuring out the exposure is done from a nice chart under the top plate that has a slider to match up the Time of Day during each month to figure out the exposure depending on the Description of Picture … no need for a light meter, though I have no idea what film speed that chart is designed for.

The lens is removable to facilitate cleaning of the mirror and the insides … the series II model was a interchangeable lens model and offered a 75mm and a 140mm lens.

This particular camera has a busted shutter and a foggy lens. I think the rest of the camera is OK, but I will not be sure until I get the shutter working … oh, and this camera belonged to “Uncle Al” based on the tape stuck to the bottom plate.

 

I forgot to add in the super duper exposure calculator

Just figure out what date/time it is, move the slider, and choose the subject type … and now you have your exposure.