Graflex.org

Orion83 · Joined: 05 Apr 2017 Posts: 3 Location: New York

Thanks so much for the add to the group! I just bought my first large format camera as part of an estate sale. A gorgeous Crown Graphic with case, flash, bulbs, manuals and film plates. I'm super excited to get into the hobby and appreciate that there is this terrific resource here for noobs like me to bounce my silly questions around.

My first couple questions, I'm sure I'll have more as I get into it, have mostly to do with the flash unit. It came with a Graflex 2 Cell unit (a gorgeous piece of Art Deco design in its own right) that connects to the Crown via this black wire. Unfortunately the wire is in a pretty bad state, frayed and all, so I'll have to replace that with one that I have lined up. My question, though, is (and forgive how basic this question will seem to all you seasoned camera veterans), how do I remove the current cord? It looks like it should just simply pull out, and that's what I read in the flash manual, but when I pull on it it doesn't budge and I certainly don't want to damage this gorgeous piece of engineering. Am I missing something or do I just need to set my fears aside and give it a bit more muscle?

Second question, from the manual it looks like there is supposed to be a red button that screws in to the same hole this cord connects into that I guess swings down and out of the way when not in use. From what I gather this is the Main Switch that fires the flash manually (?). Anyway, this unit doesn't have one and I guess my question is, 1) will it function without the button, and 2) does anyone know where I can get one of those red buttons to fix the unit?

Thanks so much for all your help! I really appreciate any guidance and apologize for these questions that I'm sure are so far beneath all of your collective wisdom on these cameras.

I will add pictures as soon as I figure out how to do that as well.

- Matt

Orion83 · Joined: 05 Apr 2017 Posts: 3 Location: New York

Hopefully this link works for photos of the camera and flash unit.

http://s350.photobucket.com/user/mkosara1/library/

- Matt

45PSS · Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2017 7:34 pm Post subject:

You are just going to have to pry the cord out the flash, hopefully without marring the flash.

You won't need the red button unless you want to fire flash bulbs manually.
In the manual its called the main switch and should be attached to the case via a rivet or similar so that it pivots out of the way when not attached to the socket. I can see something on the right side of the cord about a half inch below the socket but cannot make it out so are you sure its missing?

Any chance its in the case if its not pivioted on the synchronizer case?

What is the camera serial number? Its on the ID plate riveted to the bed
_________________
The best camera ever made is the one that YOU enjoy using and produces the image quality that satifies YOU.

Orion83 · Joined: 05 Apr 2017 Posts: 3 Location: New York

45PSS you were exactly right, about everything! Thanks so much! The cord, after a bit of firm persuading, came right out. And, after a bit more vigorous searching I found the red button in the bottom of the case under a package of flash bulbs. So appreciative of all your help.

To answer your other question, the camera serial number is 428455.

I updated the Photobucket site link above with a few more pictures. Man, I'm blown away by the romance of these cameras!

45PSS · Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2017 2:55 am Post subject:

428455 is in the last 500 of a batch of 2000 2 1/4 x 3 1/4 Crown Graphics made around May to July 1947.

Nice that parts are not missing.
If you need instructions for the camera see
http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info/graflex_5.html

Enjoy!
_________________
The best camera ever made is the one that YOU enjoy using and produces the image quality that satifies YOU.