Auteur: Dan Fromm
Date: 01-01-2007 02:09
J-P, pardonnez mon anglais.
If you were better acquainted with the cameras you would realize that cutting off the outer end of its outer bed or excising the front door entirely will make a Graphic nearly impossible to focus. This because the little rack and pinion used for fine focusing is at the front end of the outer bed. One of the nice things about these cameras is that they are easy to focus with a short lens and, yes, a dropped bed. There I was yesterday with my little Biogon of nothing at all, front standard inside the box, bed dropped, ...
The minimum is the minimum. That is, front standard as close to the film as possible. Lens makers specify flange focal distance as the distance from the front of the lens board (= back of the shutter) to the film plane. Camera makers specify it the same way.
The 4x5 Anniversary Speed Graphic's minimum flange to film distance is 65.1 mm. The 4x5 Pacemaker Speed Graphic's minimum is 66.7. The 4x5 Pacemaker Crown's minimum is 52.4 mm.
If you want to use the shortest lens that will cover 6x12 and hold costs down, mutilating a Graphic is not the best solution. Are you acquainted with artisanal cameras that consist of a pair of concentric boxes? The inner box slides to focus. You can make a short one that has a 4x5 Graflok back without too much difficulty. You can even make it with rack and pinion focusing. And then you can shoot your short lens on 4x5 without movements and crop the results to suit. No need for a 6x12 rollholder as long as 4x5 film exists.
Remember that the better is the enemy of the good. If you insist on having the better (I recall your asking which lenses were best! The best is the enemy of the better.) you risk having nothing at all. If your budget won't allow you to do the ideal, sacrifice part of the ideal in order to do the essential. And the essential is, according to you, 120 degrees horizontal angle of view on as large a piece of film as possible. Concentrate on that, not on press cameras.
Good luck, have fun, and happy new year too,
Dan
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