[rollei_list] Re: INFO REQUEST


----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter J Nebergall" <iusar4s@xxxxxxxx>
To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2006 2:13 PM
Subject: [rollei_list] Re: INFO REQUEST




On Thu, 30 Mar 2006 13:14:12 -0800 Jerry Lehrer <jerryleh@xxxxxxxxxxx>
writes: 
Peter,

Yes, Ken Ruth is renowned for his quality work on quality cameras.

Do you really think that a National Graflex II falls into that
category?

Quality?

That the II is the oldest 120 SLR I have ever seen, and MIGHT predate the
Exakta 66 (will discuss that point of history with Miles Upton
(exaktaphile.com)) makes it interesting. Might get some good stuff with
it. Fascinated that Bausch & Lomb licensed the Tessar. Got the piece
from Igor Reznick (Igorcamera) who said it was "nonworking" -- but it is
working. For now. Its a real Model T -- like the Speed, the focal plane
shutter is not self-capping, and the mirror is the capper -- you have to
manually recock the mirror before you wind it. Graflex was of course
once part of Kodak (til trust-Bustin Teddy got in there) -- and as the
National is 120, I wonder why the Medalist wasn't?

Its not always about quality, or I'd not have bought my Praktisix.....
Plus, if you ck out my HARD CORE: MARGINALIZED BY CHOICE, you'll see how
I use wierd curiosity pieces to get otherwise difficult shots. The NGII
fits right in there, in the illustrious company of my Super Ikonta, IIIa
Leica, Edixamat, and Retina II.

Had an experience this morning. Near my house is a copse I pass on way
to work. For 6 or 7 months each year, I have been able to see that there
was an early 60s T-bird abandoned in there. Never stopped. Today I
stopped to grab a few shots.

In front of the T bird is a derelict 34 Studebaker. VERY derelict.

Good pictures.

Peter Nebergall
---

Supposedly, the National Graflex had a hard to work on shutter. I've never had one so I don't know from personal experience. Very often this sort of reputation means only that repair people have found the camera unprofitable to work on, not that its inferior.
The B&L Tessar was built originally under license from Zeiss but, by the time of the National Graflex, B&L had a modified design of their own. In general, B&L made good lenses but I have no personal experience with the B&L Tessar.
If the shutter is of the same general design as the one in the Speed Graphic and Graflex SLR, it is quite reliable although not very accurate.
The sheet film version of the Graflex dates from about 1915. F&S originally used a self-capping shutter of considerably more complexity than the one used for so many years, but it proved unreliable, so they went with the simplified version.
McKeown dates the Series I National Graflex from 1933 and the Series II from 1934 and discontinued in 1940.
Folmer & Schwing made an earlier Graflex (the Graflex 1A) that used roll film dating from 1909.
McKeown gives the date for the first Exakta SLR as 1933. This camera used 127 roll film.

---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 

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