THE MOST INTERESTING
GRAFLEX REFLEX CAMERAS
and
THEIR UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS

GRAFLEX REFLEX CAMERAS
 or
The start of
A NEW ERA IN PHOTOGRAPHY
in the begin of the 20th century.
 

Up till then a ground glass was mounted to the back side of a huge camera which was placed on a tripod. This forced the poor photographer to bend forward
with both hands on the camera and his head covered with a black cloth, just to be able to focus.
Once he had the "object" a panorama, a street, church or monument, a person or a group of people, "framed" on the ground glass,
the next thing to do was to exchange the same ground glass by a loaded plate holder, then draw the dark slide and last but not lease, he had to release the shutter.
Releasing the shutter could be an act like removing the photographers hat from the lens and put it back again after an exposure time from one or a few more seconds,
then push back the dark slide or, depending on which newest automatic shutter was mounted,
squeezing a rubber ball or just a simple touch with the finger on a release knob.

During all this time, the "living subjects" were supposed to "freeze" until the above described exposure act had been finished.
The time it took was because pf the fact that in the end of the 19th century the photo negatives demanded a long exposure time.
No wonder the subject(s) often moved away from the scene.  It is also an explanation of the fact that people looked serious on these old photographs.
Keep smiling and say cheese was not yet invented. 
However the film sensitivity increased dramatically at the beginning of the 20 th century and yes indeed, it was about time for a new camera concept.
The next text comes from the 1909 Graflex catalogue which will open our digital eyes how things worked out some hundred years ago.
It excellent explains what is the difference between an ordinary vintage camera and a vintage Reflex Camera.

"focusing with the ordinary camera with the awkward cloth, inverted image on the ground glass, and worst of all the time required between
focusing and inserting the plate holder. The Graflex Reflex does away with the focusing scale and the necessity of guessing
the distance between subject and camera. It eliminates the "finder," always unsatisfactory, not only on account of its
reducing image of the subject to such microscopic proportions as to be almost indiscernible, but also because of the
uncertainty that everything seen in the finder will be included in the negative. The user of a Graflex Reflex Camera knows to a
certainty that, with proper exposure, he will secure in the negative exactly what appeared on the focusing screen - that the
finished print will be an exact reproduction "of the image as it appeared on the ground glass"

"The Graflex Focal Plane Shutter, which is a part of every Graflex, is too well known to require an extended description, but there
are still a few photographers who associate the term Focal Plane shutter with exposures of extremely short duration.
While it is an undisputed fact that there is no shutter on the market to-day that can approach the Graflex Focal Plane Shutter
in securing sharp, fully timed negatives of objects moving with the utmost rapidity it is equally true that this shutter will give perfect results under conditions that with
a shutter of the ordinary type would result in failure. As the Graflex Focal Plane Shutter allows the lens to work
at its maximum efficiency during the entire period of exposure, it is possible to make "snap shots" indoors, in the
shade, or under unfavourable light conditions. The operation of the Graflex is simple in the extreme!"

The advantages of the Reflex Camera in a nutshell.

1) light in weight,
2) very fast exposure time
3) a tripod would be no longer needed any-more
4) what you see is what you get ground glass view.
5) reliable mechanic focusing and shutter release
6) revolving back for portrait and landscape

THE ANSWER WAS:
THE REFLEX CAMERA


At the start of the 20th century, a new era in photography sounded very promising.
Indeed it was a start of a new generation of photographic camera building. Rather than using a tripod,
these developments were based on the demand of handheld reflex cameras with exposures of very short duration.
That said, it must not go unmentioned that plate and film sensitivity had been increased dramatically and made
developing this new camera design possible.

What is a Reflex camera
and how does it works?

A reflex mirror is an essential part of an optical build-in viewfinder system of a mirror reflex camera.
For the first time in use at the beginning of the 20th century  when reflex cameras became popular.
The spring activated up-swinging mirror is positioned in the camera housing
directly behind the lens at a 45 degree angle. In fact this invention is still used with the "nowadays"
analogue cameras.

The 1907  patent by William F. Folmer shows the  Auto Graflex design with the (no.15) reflex mirror in focusing position.
Its inventor was one of the founders of Folmer & Schwing camera works in Rochester N.Y.

The at that time relatively new first surface coated mirror in combination with a fast focal plane shutter plus rack and pinion focusing lens
made it possible to focus with the use of a chimney shaped focusing hood, on top of a horizontal placed ground glass screen.
Another great advantage was that the reflex mirror made it  possible to focus on the ground glass with its projected image right side up.

While watching the image on the ground glass, real time exposure had been made possible by the ergonomic placed release-knob on the left front side of the camera.
Supporting the camera with both hands, and a light pressure with the left thumb on the release knob made the mirror swings up
and at the same time releases the focal plane shutter to start its travel across the film surface.

William Formers uncomplicated designed Graflex Focal plane shutter existed out of two rollers and one curtain with slits. The lower roller was spring loaded.
5 different fixed apertures openings in the curtain situated between these rollers plus several settings of the spring tensions created a wide range of exposure possibilities.
Below Folmer's 1905 Camera patent drawing. On the left side, the camera and on the right side the focal plane shutter with its 5 slits.

The Graflex focal plane shutter openings ranged from 1/8 inch to full opening ensuring an absolute uniform aperture and definitely preferable to the double adjustable curtains
 of other reflex cameras which so often coursed a wedge formed unwanted exposure opening.This sentence refers to many European reflex camera equipped with an adjustable
double focal plane shutter. These shutter were technical more sophisticated but also more susceptible to malfunctions.

This Auto Graflex camera is a cube shaped of any desired size and construction of which from top to bottom a curtain shutter is passed,
engaging with suitable guide rollers.
The upper end of the shutter is secured to a winding roller while the lower end of the shutter is attached to a spring roller.
Both rollers being suitably placed in the sides of the camera house while the guide rollers keep the shutter B in the right position.
At the rear of the camera an appropriate exposure opening (10) for a film or plate holder is provided.
In the mirror chamber a spring controlled mirror closes the viewing hood shaft when the mirror is released.
When the mirror is down or set in focusing position it engages in a manner that the rear of the mirror chamber is absolutely light tight.
Only in this setting the focal plane shutter can be set in the appropriate exposure time even with the film holder "dark-slide open".
The mirror is held in focusing position as long as desired by a latch which is pivoted upon a platform located in the inner chamber
and will be released at any time from the mirror by the release knob.

At the same time the curtain is drawn down from the top roller to the spring loaded bottom roller.
One pre set section (closed part)of the curtain including one of the various widths, passes across the open frame to expose the plate or film.
The end of each opening (32) is defined by tapes (33) suitable connected to the black out fabric of the shutter, while the longitudinal of the openings are protected by metal strips.
 

The at that time relatively new first surface coated mirror in combination with a fast focal plane shutter plus rack and pinion focusing lens
made it possible to focus with the use of a chimney shaped focusing hood, on top of a horizontal placed ground glass screen.
While watching the image on the ground glass, real time exposure had been made possible by the ergonomic placed release-knob on the left front side of the camera.
Supporting the camera with both hands, plus a light pressure with the left thumb made the mirror swing up and at the same time released the focal plane shutter to start its travel along the film surface.
This uncomplicated Graflex Focal plane shutter exists out of two rollers from which the lower one was spring loaded.
5 different fixed apertures openings in the curtain between these rollers plus several settings of the spring tensions created a range of exposure possibilities.
The Graflex focal plane shutter openings ranged from 1/8 inch to full opening ensuring an absolute uniform aperture and definitely preferable to the double adjustable curtains
which so often created a wedge formed exposure opening.
The Graflex Focal Plane shutter is composed around a single strip of opaque fabric having transverse openings of different widths
and are arranged at different distances apart.
 

Another great advantage was that the reflex mirror made it  possible to focus on the ground glass with the image right side up.
All this can be set and done by holding the camera with both hands on waist level while focusing on the ground glass and releasing the shutter with the thumb.
With the photographers head down, nobody of the persons in the scene feels "targeted" which makes the reflex camera an excellent instrument for street photography.
 

However not every reflex camera has these advantages.
Other designed cameras were equipped with complicated exposure settings which are time consuming and more sensitive to interference.

  
The Graflex shutter speed plate gives the approximate shutter speeds in fractional parts of seconds,
obtainable with the various combinations of curtain apertures and tension numbers.
 
From the begin of the 20th century when the Graflex Reflex cameras were introduced, they became
loved by the press because of the many advantages mentioned here above.
Fast and reliable and for all relatively light in weight and easy to handle.
The reflex camera in combination with the semi automatic Grafmatic sheet film holder or film-pack holder
made the Graflex Reflex cameras to the most popular press camera of that era.

Practically all these new reflex cameras were introduced in three sizes: 3¼x4¼  -  4x5  -  5x7 inch.
All of them had a stationary and later on even a reversible Graflex Back, an interchangeable lens board and a focal plane shutter with speeds from 1/10 to 1/1000 sec.
The first camera in this segment, the Auto Graflex had a front hinged cover and an bizarre looking completely closed accordion hood with peep hole.
The peep hole was a simple cut out on the back side of the accordion hood. The ground glass became visible looking downwards.
 The mirror was placed opposite the peep hole as an alternative to see the ground glass while looking strait on.
Another eye catching difference was the button shutter release. 
 
As from 1911 Auto Graflex had the normal front hinged cover with the well known chimney folding hood and a regular release lever.
The Auto Graflex remained until 1923 when the camera was replaced by the Series B which body was inherited  from the
 also stationary back Auto Graflex, but had a fixed lens in threaded mount.
Activating the focusing knob opened the pop up lens cover automatically.
Mounted on a rack and pinion track, the lens was connected to the inner mirror housing by a non tapered small bellows .
Series B the big (5x7) had a personal look with its curved upper part on top of the front.

Later manufactured Graflex reflex cameras in this segment were:
Check my site map for more information about

Graflex Series B
Graflex Series C 1926-1935
Revolving Back Film Size 3 ¼ x 4 ¼  

4x5 inch Graflex Super D 1941-1963
Updated version of the Series D
Only two tensions Low and High.
 Like Series D with semi-automatic diaphragm 190 mm
Drop Curtain 1/5 sec
Sync outlet 1/1000 on aperture plate.
Factory conversion Graflok Back.

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