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Photo Forum / Film Photography / Large Format / November 2006Crown Graphic questions
I have a Crown Graphic with flash that I'm thinking of selling. Serial # is 921798. Is there any site that can date this? or get amanual for it? It has a Schneider-Kreuznch Xenar 1:4.7/135 lens, and is in very good condition. Thanks. > Crown Graphic ... > Is there any site that can date this? or get amanual for it? http://graflex.org/  SignatureNicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio Darkroom Automation: F-Stop Timers, Enlarging Meters http://www.nolindan.com/da/index.htm n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot com >> Crown Graphic ... >> Is there any site that can date this? or get amanual for >> it? > > http://graflex.org/ The Graflex.org site will help to identify an approximate date but the Graflex serial numbers beginning about the mid-1950s are a mess. Roger Adams, the former manager of Graflex Western Division, who was writing a history of the company, told me that serial numbers were issued in blocks. Not all the numbers were used, and that some serial number blocks were re-used. Some of the records were missing. So, up to the Pacemaker series dating by serial number can be done but beginning with the Pacemaker its not very reliable. The first Crown Graphic was a Pacemaker series camera so you will have to be satisfied with an approximate date based on features, etc. Note that the type of back can be misleading. The Graflok back was made available for 4x5 cameras about 1951 but it can be re-fitted to most Graphic and Graflex models, so the fact that a Pacemaker has a Graflok back instead of a Graphic back does not necessarily make it a late camera. Side vs: top rangefinder models are an approximate clue as to age. When buying or selling a camera condition counts for much more than age. Note also that lens serial numbers are not very helpful because they can be so easily interchanged. Also, I don't know of any database of Wollensak serial numbers. Kodak lens dates are easy beginning about 1940. A two letter prefix was begun then indicating the last two digits of the year. The key word is CAMEROSITY for the numerals 1,2,3, etc. Signature--- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA dickburk@ix.netcom.com >I have a Crown Graphic with flash that I'm thinking of >selling. Serial [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Thanks. Assuming the lens is original (not always safe for Graphic cameras) you can date it from the serial number list at the Schneider site. That will give you an approximate date for the camera. Signature--- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA dickburk@ix.netcom.com Richard Knoppow spake thus: >>I have a Crown Graphic with flash that I'm thinking of >>selling. Serial # is 921798. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > at the Schneider site. That will give you an approximate > date for the camera. When selling it, keep in mind that your camera has a fancy-schmancy lens (brand-name wise) that's not actually very good; not nearly as good as the more common Kodak Ektar 127mm lens. This has been noted many times here in the past, and was confirmed by testing by an acquaintance of mine. SignatureJust as McDonald's is where you go when you're hungry but don't really care about the quality of your food, Wikipedia is where you go when you're curious but don't really care about the quality of your knowledge. - Matthew White's WikiWatch (http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/wikiwoo.htm) > Richard Knoppow spake thus: > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > the past, and was confirmed by testing by an acquaintance > of mine. Evidently Xenars are somewhat variable. I never had a 127mm f/4.7 to test but other Xenars, for instance those on Rolleiflex and Rolleicord cameras, are excellent lenses. One test I've found useful is to look for smeared looking point sources in the corners. One can test using a distant penlight or any very small, bright, highlight. All Tessar type lenses have some coma and some oblique spherical aberration. These tend to make bright spots at the corners have a smeared out tear-drop shape. The tear drop can point toward or away from the center depending on its sign, or, in other words, where it is originating in the lens. These aberrations proportional to the stop. A good f/4.5 Tessar type lens, like the Kodak Ektar or Zeiss Tessar will be mostly free of coma at around f/8 and definitely free of it at f/11. Some lenses, in particular some Wollensak Raptar or Optar (house brand for Graflex) will have noticable smearing until stopped down to f/32 and may have it there. Again, not all Raptar or Optar lenses have this fault but most of those on Graphics seem to. Graflex seems to have contracted for Xenar lenses at about the time the top rangefinder Graphic came out. Speed Graphics with Xenars are marked Speed Graphic Special but I don't know if the Crown Graphic also had this marking. My advice is to check the lens, both on the ground glass and on film. I am not quite as willing to condemn it as David is, but he could well be right. Signature--- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA dickburk@ix.netcom.com If you're selling it, it's partly market-driven. Stopping down significantly on a Tessar is a known issue, except among people who don't know. There are frequent inquiries about soft corners from people who acquire a lens of Tessar design (like the Xenar) who weren't aware, nor does the lens say it anywhere. A friend has a Wollensack on his Crown and when I say I 'only' have a Xenar, he expresses jealousy...so it's all relative. I too have ready more opinions about the Kodak Ektar option being the best of the three, but David's is the strongest expression (nothing wrong with that) I've seen so far. At least it has a lens...that helps price somewhat. I not too long ago saw someone asking $200 for the lens you describe. I don't know if it ever sold, however. Search eBay closed auctions for selling prices to decide if it's worth more separate or as one package. A 135/4.7 Xenar in Compur shutter just went on e### for $160.50, complete with glowing reports of unused appearance & minty fresh breath and a set of Series VI filters that will only fit with an adapter the seller had not yet located...if the filter gels between glass haven't shriveled to look their age. |
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