[LargeFormat] intro and questions

[Clive Warren]

>hi there,
>i`m josh i`m from dallas. i`m in collage in arkansas right now. i 
>just jumped into the large  arena with a 4x5 speed graphic.
>i haven't shot much just yet. i`m trying to find a better tripod 
>than what i have. any sugestions for a cheap one?
>also the focusing screen on my camera is plastic. and showing lots 
>of use. would it be
>cool if i got some thin heat tempered glass to replace it?
>last question , i have a curtain type shutter in back and i was 
>wondering if any of yall could tell me any one who does an 
>outstanding job of fixing them.
>
>BB
>josh

Hello Josh,

The Speed Graphic 4x5 is an excellent camera - not really enough 
movement for radical studio still life work, but a great machine for 
general photography.

I love this old cameras and have a couple sitting here that get taken 
out for occasional excursions :-) They are surprisingly easy to work 
on so if you don't fancy the idea of DIY then any camera repair shop 
should be able to do repairs. There is a chap who bought out the 
remaining stocks of spares for the Graflex cameras and carries out 
repairs but his name escapes me at the moment. A German chap who 
lives in South West USA. Maybe someone else knows and can let you 
know.

There is stacks of information on the camera at 
http://www.graflex.org, including links to most of the resources you 
will need.

Focussing screens on the early cameras were plain ground glass - 
later versions had a fresnel screen under the ground glass. These 
make the image brighter across the glass - some people like 'em, 
others do not...... in any case they are usually expensive to replace 
unless you can find an old original screen. Beware that if you want 
to add a fresnel screen to an older ground glass back which did not 
originally have one then you will need to fix it to the front of the 
ground glass rather than the back. The screen does affect the 
focussing plane of the back.

As for tripod, then try a mid-size Velbon - they are light and fairly 
rigid - a Speed Graphic should be fine on one of these.
-- 
All the best,

             Clive Warren   http://www.f32.net
                            Large Format travel and stock photography