At one reader's request, I thought I would start to document some of my experiences and "learnings" with the Crown Graphic Special. Mine is about vintage 1958/59 and came with the top-mounted rangefinder.
Like many, it is missing the battery door on the top of the rangefinder. When I removed the rangefinder housing to adjust the rangefinder (quite easy to do) I found that the the battery door is kept in place with slots cut in the housing. So one could fab up a new door out of ABS plastic of the correct thickness or even sturdy wood (or some veneer). Put it into place, with batteries while the housing was upside down and then secure it to the camera. Hey presto, the batteries would never come out with removing the housing.
But I don't use the lighted rangefinder feature anyway. I don't have much interest in focusing with it when I can use the ground glass. It has a place though. I was taking some photos the other day of an Arab stallion and I thought I would try using the Crown handheld.
Of course, one really has to use the body-mounted shutter release button and it has to be properly adjusted but it is quite possible. The problem is that one doesn't have a lot of time and thus the rangefinder came into its own. In the end, however, photographing a horse is much like photographing a person. It's a thing of the moment and I found my Rolleiflex much better suited to the task of moving quickly.
So far I've cleaned the camera tracks and body with chlorotriethylene (found in Brakleen brand brakecleaner, no other will do) which is the 2nd-choice solvent recommended by the Graflex corp. Cute tips and chloro did a great job on removing crufty deposits from the metal of the camera, especially the tracks. Keep it away from the plastic of the rangefinder housing, however, as it will melt it.
Keep it away from your skin too.
I lubed the tracks with some white thermal grease (available from Radio Shack in the US). Ask for heatsink compound or grease. Small tube, less than $3. Also recommended by Graflex.
I have two lenses at the moment: a somewhat flare-prone Schneider-Xenar 135/4.7 and a Wollensak 90/6.8. The Wolly is my current favorite as I love the super wide-angle it gives me (about equivalent to a 28mm on a 35mm camea). Make a point of dropping the bed if you get one, as it will show up in the photos otherwise.
I took apart the Raptor shutter and dipped the entire thing in naptha (Ronsonol lighter fluid) for a few hours in an airtight jar. After a bunch of crud had floated loose, I replaced the fluid and let it sit for another hour or two. Then I lubed contact points with a very light oil and hypodermic and greased a few contact points with the aforementioned white thermal grease.
I've read that these shutters never really keep the time listed on the front. When I had mine timed, this was exactly the case. I recommend you get yours professionally timed. I charted mine and wrote the times down on the lensboard that contains it. Makes it very easy to get the correct exposure - a worthwhile exercise if you wonder why your camera isn't giving you good results.
Cleaned the lens with Kodak lens tissue and fluid. Both front and back elements and then reassembled.
I'll write about cleaning the bellows and ground glass later, as well as my attempts to fit the Linhof anatomical grip to the camera. I've bought a second body, front standard, and bellows and plan to customize the body heavily by stripping off the leatherette and refinishing the mahogany body. Then I'll mount the Linhof grip and a Voightlander finder (28mm). That should yield a great looking camera.
Posted by artandscience at September 5, 2005 09:43 PM