The COMPACT GRAFLEX CAMERA
Postcard Format
3¼x5½ inch film or plate.
Many specific details about history, use and repair of
The COMPACT GRAFLEX CAMERA
Postcard Format
3¼x5½ inch film or plate.
Graflex Compact 3 ¼x5½ reflex camera
Manufactured By Folmer & Schwing.
1915-1925
Focal Capacity 10 "
Kodak 3a Film 122
Curtain Aperture
Automatic Safety Curtain
Postcard Format
Flash back
to the begin of the 20th century
In the year 1916 the Graflex Compact cost US $ 70,00
without lens and $120,00 including a Bausch &
Lomb Tessar -C lens.
The Tessar lens was manufactured
by Bausch and Lomb under licence from Zeiss Germany
However these prices don't mean anything until you are
aware about the average earning in USA, back in 1915.
In 1913 income tax came on the scene. You were doing about
average if you were making $ 687 a year, according to the
Census*
Public school teacher $ 507.00
City Ministers $ 1092,00 *official survey of the
population of a country in order to find out how many
people live there and to obtain their age and job.
As cameras were expensive and not widely available in the
early part of the last century, families would often visit
a local photographer studio to have their photo taken.
These shots were turned into postcards so they could be
sent to family and friends.
The above photograph shows the Graflex 3 1/4 x5 1/2
inch Compact camera manufactured in the early decades of
the last century by W. Former and Swing.
This particular camera has been equipped with new made
bellows to replace the old worn one.
Why is it named Compact?
The Graflex Compact Camera is a reflex camera designed
to take postcard format film or plate and was reduced in
weight and size compared to the 4x5 or 5x7 inch Graflex
reflex cameras.
To achieve a smaller camera rather than the long
construction of the mirror house of the bigger Graflex
cameras at that time,
the Graflex Compact Reflex was designed to enable
sliding the bellows including the lens standard
completely back into the camera housing.
To make that possible the mirror bottom could be moved
back by pulling the M mirror setting lever backwards
while the hinged top of the mirror holds its place.
This backwards option together with the smaller design
of the mirror itself, allows packing the lens including
bellows and lens in the camera housing before closing
the camera.
The box shaped camera in closed (folded) position
measures less than 5 " in comparison with the 4x5 Super
D which length measures 8 "
The new design demands a safety curtain to protect the
film for incoming light when the curtain is set to a
different curtain slit.
The W.F. Folmer's patent printed here below shows this
clever and ingenious design in all its facilities.
The Compact Graflex is all that the name implies. It is
not only relatively small in size,
but built with the accuracy and rigidity necessary in a
3 1/4 x 5 1/2 reflex camera.
Beside that, the size of the mirror 3 1/4x5 1/2 inch
rather than 4 x 5 inch saves enough space to allows the
mirror free movement
With bellows pulled out, the mirror could move
freely in the mirror house and thus saving 3/4
inch of space.
Even a safety curtain, a sort of light baffle, found a
place in the back of the camera.
When winding the shutter curtain, the safety blind
covered the film frame just before the slit could pass.
In fact a double safety precaution because the mirror
position already assured that light could reach the
exposure frame.
I already mentioned the ingenious developed storage
system of track and bellows. This invention enables
swift, safe and easy set up of the camera, ready to
shoot and grab 'n go!
This new feature made the camera to be a lot more
compact than its predecessors and allows the use of
Postcard film format.
As the name suggests this film format was very popular
with the professional traveling city postcard
photographers.
Travelling city postcard photographer in the early 1900
's.
Example of such a city postcard photo . This is the main
street of my hometown more than 100 years ago.
The British Journal -1950 Photographic almanac-
Sands Hunter-37 Bedford Street London W.C.2
Want
to explore the today's use of such a camera?
To open the camera front, press
lever on the right side of the body seen from the
back.
The drop bed swings down and a light push on the bed
locks it firm on its place ready to draw the lens out
of the camera housing.
The Graflex Compact Camera embodies many -for that time- new
features and particular the automatic safety curtain.
That curtain is actuated by the swinging mirror frame,
protecting the sensitive layer on the plate or film
for incoming light while setting the mirror.
As soon as the release lever is pressed the hinged
mirror takes its place in top of the exposure house
and at the same time drops the safety curtain to allow
the focal plane shutter to make the exposure in the
usual way.
So there is no risk to blur your negative when setting
the mirror for the next exposure.
The dark slide is exclusively needed if the holder is
taken down from the camera back.
No need to slide it on/off when setting the mirror.
The mirror frame in this camera is constructed of
aluminium, which reduces the weight of the camera and
as the mirror frame seats against an air cushion in
the top of the camera, it eliminates all danger of
vibration,
which is a valuable feature when making slow exposures
holding the camera in the hand.
An improved mechanism was provided for setting the
shutter for Time or Iinstantaneous
exposures and the improved shutter winding tension
is so constructed that all mechanism inside the plate
is thoroughly protected. However its successor had a
square plate and improved Time release lever.
The focusing hood is made amply large to afford full
view of the focusing screen when making exposures with
the camera held in position for making either
horizontal or vertical negatives.
This hood is detachable and affords easy
access to the focusing screen. The lens board support
is made out of metal and is equipped with a spring
actuated clamp which firmly grips the track at any
desired point.
The Compact Graflex Camera is fitted with the regular
Graflex Focal Plane shutter permitting exposures of
any duration from Time to 1/1000 second .
Two tripods sockets were provided, one in the base for
horizontal and one in the left side for vertical
exposures.
The back of this Compact Graflex camera was
constructed to take the postcard film pack holder.
More about that here below.
Directions
for Operating
Open camera
and focusing.
1) Release catch near centre of camera to open the
top cover.
2) Raise the cover which automatically extends the
focusing hood.
3) Press down the two side arms which will draw the
focusing hood taut and hold it rigidly in position.
4) Open front of the camera by pressing the release
lever R.
5) Pull the drop bed down until it locks itself.
6) Squeeze the spring actuated clamp of the lens
standard and pull the lens standard to the infinity
mark on the track of the drop bed.
7) Adjust fine focus with rack and pinion on right
side of the drop bed.
8) Turn diaphragm to adjust wide open and less open
aperture and check the effects on the ground glass.
9) Enjoy focusing on near by and far away objects
and practice opening and closing the drop bed.
Having said that, you know or at least would soon
find out, that there is no postcard size film on the
market anymore.
The manufacturing of the 3 1/4 x 5 1/2 format has
been discontinued in the 20th of the last century.
However there are two possibilities to try out to
take pictures with this fine classic camera.
There are still 3
1/4 x 5 1/5 roll film holders to be found on
eBay. However, as said before, unfortunately no
appropriate film.
The good news is that there are film adaptor kits
for sale on eBay to enlarge your 120 film spool to
the larger size of the old 124 Kodak Film
which was the appropriate film for the Graflex
Compact 3 1/4 x 5 1/2 camera. In other words, the
normal available 120 film spool, gets an adapter on
both sides to fits
between the spool reception mechanic of the camera.
Another option is to use the old Postcard sized film
pack holder. This holder was used with the no
more available 3x5 film pack.
These holders are often to find on eBay and mostly
very low priced.
No need to alter this film pack holder. Just a block
of wood or plastic with the size of the inside
hinged cover of the Film Pack Holder to serve as
a filler and light baffle as well.
It fills the gap between the back of the sheet of
film film and the cover of the holder and closes the
slit of the holder light tight.
You only have to cut down the 4x5 sheet film
to 3 1/4 5 inch and place it with the sensitive side
to the front with the dark slide.
Place the block on top of the sheet film back and
close the hinged cover.
Unnecessary to tell that loading the holder with
film has to be done in fully darkness.
Setting the mirror
for focusing and exposure
foto above shows the
oval top control plate with mirror control,
winding mechanism and Instant - T ime
setting plus T ime-release lever.
Pull the lever
H backwards until the mirror locks in focusing
position.
This position, with the mirror on 45 degree,
allows a view on the ground glass to focus on
the subject.
The shutter contains 5 apertures or slits
ranging from full opening to 1/8 of an inch.
When the letter O appears in window F,
the shutter is wide open.
The other apertures 1½, 3/4, 3/8, and 1/8 follow
in rotation visible in window F as the winding
key is turned to the left.
The plate mounted to the viewing hood shows the
curtain aperture.
The combination of curtain open slits and
tension of the focal plane shutter - visible in
numbers on the lower plate window G -
results in the obtainable shutter speeds.
Preparing the settings for Instant exposure
The calculator table on
back of the focusing viewing hood will help
you to choose the exposure time setting.
Nowadays we can use an electronic exposure
meter rather than guessing. Press down lever H
into the mirror focusing position
Set bar beneath disk on I = instant
by sliding the bar D to the left to
its utmost position. I
appears left from the disk.
Now wind the curtain by turning the key to the
left, until the required number appears in the
window F.
If the curtain is set at a smaller aperture
than required, release the curtain by pressing
the lever M downward until the proper aperture
is registered at window F.
Note: as the first Compacts were not
equipped with a long lever,
operation is not easy. You may like
testing this procedure several times.
Note: A safety lock prevents the
rewinding of the curtain before the
mirror is set in focusing position. This
prevents fogging the film
making it necessary to set the mirror
before rewinding the shutter curtain.
Instant exposure setting Time exposure setting.
Now we move our attention to the
lower plate.
Here we're going to set the spring tension
of the focal plane shutter.
The spring tension is needed to draw the
curtain with the previous programmed slit,
down along the film surface.
To achieve this, turn the milled tension
knob B on the lower plate
anticlockwise until the appropriate number
appears in the window.
The tension numbers can be set from 1 to 6
If the previous setting appears to be too
fast, the tension can be released by sliding
the escapement knob P upwards.
Each move reduces the speed one number.
Check the setting again and if they are
correct, the camera is ready for taking
photo's.
Place the film holder
slide dark slide in open position
Now the shutter has been set and the image
on the ground glass is properly focused, the
exposure is made by one gentle downward
pressure of the release lever
which is located on the forward, left hand
side of the camera body.
This pressure on the release lever
simultaneously releases the mirror and the
safety curtain.
Once the safety curtain is pulled down, the
focal plane shutter including its previous
set slit, starts its trip along the film to
expose.
Slow instantaneous exposures of about 1/5
second can be made with the curtain set at O
(full opening) and tension number on 1.
Pressure upon the shutter release causes the
mirror to rise just before the curtain with
the slit drops, closing the exposure
aperture.
What happens during the exposure
By moving
the protruding lever H
backwards the mirror is swung in a 45
degree position. In this operative
position the image is effectively
projected on the ground glass.
When operating the exposure knob, the
mirror frame including the mirror flies
upward and closes the focusing aperture
and seals the exposure chamber from the
entrance of light from the ground glass.
The arrival of the mirror frame in
closed position pulls down the safety
curtain. Now the film exposure frame is
set free, the exposure curtain starts
its travel along the film surface.
The pre-set opening slit together with
the pre-set curtain speed tension,
exposes the film as it should be.
Time exposures
1) place the film holder against the camera back but don't open
the dark slide.
2) Press down lever H and slide the bar to
the right, exposing letter T indicating
time exposures. See picture above.
3) Wind the curtain until letter T is
registered at F.
4) After focusing the image, release the
mirror by pressing the shutter lever on
the left hand front side.
The mirror flies up against the ground
glass and leaves the mirror house wide
open to the lens. No focusing is possible
any more.
Slide the dark slide in open position
giving free access to the film.
6)To make the exposure press the lever M
downward, a second pressure on the lever M
terminates the exposure.
7) don not forget to slide the dark slide
in closed position.
Good luck!
Closing the camera
Push the bellows and lens standard
back into the camera
while pushing, hold lever H backwards.
Pull back
the mirror lever H till the utmost left
position
This is very essential.
Not following the right sequence may
lead to serious damage of the camera!
Before
storing the camera for a long period, it
must be closed, with the bellows and
lens secured inside the camera’s body.
To achieve this, the mirror setting #4
should be kept back in its utmost back
position even behind the exposure
setting and hold it.
Now squeeze the lens standard lock
and push the lens standard inwards the
camera house as far as possible.
Now the lens standard has reached its
position.
Release the lens standard lock. This
will fix this position of the lens
standard before you can close the drop
bed.
To be sure if the lens standard has its
right position please check again if the
lens standard is completely inside the
camera body.
Press side brackets to fold the drop bed
till it locks in the snap lock.
Some more
interesting technical details
The bellows storage system.
US Patent 932,457
William F. Former.
Drawing shows clearly the slant
position of the frame (7) of the
partly stretched bellows.
Fig 1
1 indicates the camera body, the
detachable back has been removed.
2 The exposure chamber
3 The bed
4 The extension bed.
5 The adjustable front.
6 The bellows
7 The tilting bellows frame pivoted
to 8
8 pivoted frame which when tilted
back to an erect position, makes
room within the body for housing the
front.
At the top of the exposing chamber
(2) there is a focusing opening 9
surrounded by a focusing hood and
fitted ground glass.
Convertible Zeiss Protar Lens F:6.3 - F:7.7
Bausch & Lomb - Zeiss Protar
Series VII focus 11 3/16
Rear lens cell Protar Series VII
focus 11 3/16
Part Two
Restoring the Compact Graflex 3¼x5½ camera.
demands skills and experience
here are some handy tips to help you with the first steps.
Renewing Bellows
by pulling out the lens board as far as possible the bellows may show its imperfections.
Before working on the camera, remove the focusing hood and ground glass.
Cover the mirror to protect its silver sensitive surface coating.
Never rub such a mirror. Cleaning only with a nylon static dust cleaner.
To start disassembling
separate the bellows including inside front plate from the back of the
lens board.
-----
Photo on the right: Backside with film holder. Don't remove film holder to avoid touching the focal plane shutter or use a
cardboard protector shield.
To spare the power of the spring make sure the mirror is in horizontal position. Push release knob before storing the camera.
Start inspection of the camera before beginning to disassemble.
Note the gray plate cover
protecting the mirror setting assembly shown on the left photo.
Right photo. Check the working
of the focal plane shutter.
Unlike most of the Graflex
focal plane shutters, this one is equipped with a third blind which
raises
while the mirror is set
in focusing position and thus at the same time protecting light coming
into the exposure chamber.
Now the normal curtain setting
by key winding can be done without the need of the dark slide.
Check the working of this.
Remove old worn Bellows
New Bellows for the Graflex
Compact Camera
Startthe work by removing the old worn bellows.
To remove the lens including
the lens board unscrew the top plate of the lens standard and slide the
lens board including the lens upwards out of the standard.
Store the lens on a save place.
Remove the infinity screw on
front of the track and pull out the lens standard. The outer board is
coupled with the board inside the bellows.
Separate them by carefully
bending the little hooks holding the inner lens board. The inner lens
board can be taken off now.
If you bend the hooks too
much they might brake off, so you better bend just enough to be able to
get the outer board separated.
Bellows
with frame can be taken out
now.
When working on the camera make sure the mirror is in rest position to protect its urface coating.
Level H points to the front side of the camera
The left picture shows the Compact Camera inside with removed bottom plate.
Picture on the right side shows the plate with blade spring.
The star* marked hinged plate holds the bellows frame
under spring tension.
This
bottom plate is equipped with a blade spring which keeps the bellows
frame -mounted on black hinged plate - in its position.
While unscrewing the
screws of the bottom plate keep the plate with one hand tied to the
camera to avoid damage to the screw holes in the wooden camera body
as well as flying screws in your work place.
After removing the bottom plate, the brass hinged plate becomes visible.
6 more screws are waiting
to be unscrewed but make notes and keep the screws separated.
No need to dismount the hinged drop bed.
From now on the inner
bellows assembly is free to be removed out of the camera housing.
The left photo shows the partly disassembled camera bottom.
After completely taken
down the bottom assembly, you'll be able to pull out the bellows frame
including the worn bellows including the inner part of the front lens
board.
To achieve that, fold the
bellows together as much as possible and slip this package through the
open gap in the bottom.
The advantage of this
procedure is that the front of the camera is open now and you'll be able
to tinker with both hands to get the whole package safely out of the
camera.
While disassembling, please pay attention to store the screws separately and make notes and take photos of
their original location.
Each part of this assembly has its own screw size. It is very important
to put them back on their original location.
The
bellows inside the camera
house is fastened to a wooden frame by nails and you have to be very
careful getting the little nails out without breaking the frame.
Be aware that you won't
find those very tiny nails in your local hardware shop nor in your
surrounding world, so you'd better try to get them out of the frame
without spoiling them.
The separated
bellows is very useful for taking the measurement to create the new
bellows.
Take length measurement of
the four folds and
length and width of the
frame and inner lens board. Make a dummy out of thin cardboard for
testing purposes.
Making New Bellows.
The
slant shaped bellows are not easy to design and to manufacture.
First make a paper or
cardboard dummy to check if the old bellows fits around it and if the
slant back fits precisely into the bellows frame.
Use Photo Shop® or Coral
Draw® to design the bellows folds. Print them on normal print paper and
glue them to the dummy cardboard design. (right picture
below)
9 mm for each stiffener,2 mm for the space between them and so on.
cut out the space between the stiffeners and make sure to use removable tape to consolidate their position.
If the drawings are ready cut two pieces of fabric out of the BK5 Black Nylon fabric.
One piece for the
outside and one for the inside cover. Take at least one inch more than
your pattern.
Only use spray glue and
and glue the stiffeners to the BK5-Black Nylon Blackout fabric.
You should end up with a
round closed model which needs to be formed with your fingers to the
bellows.
Mount the inner lens board into the front of the bellows.
I used the test
cardboard dummy to hold he new bellows strait while working on it.
Mount the back of the bellows to the frame using the original tiny nails.
I'm really happy to
present the overhauled 1917 Compact Graflex in perfect working condition and equipped with new bellows.
Camera and repair Photos Jo Lommen