[rollei_list] Re: (OT) Rilex Press Cameras
- From: "Richard Knoppow" <dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2012 09:59:43 -0700
----- Original Message -----
From: "Kirk Thompson" <thompsonkirk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Rollei List" <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2012 10:10 PM
Subject: [rollei_list] Re: (OT) Rilex Press Cameras
But despite what Mr. Riley may have named it, that's just
not press camera.
First of all, at that time, it would have been 4x5. 6x9s
(called 2-1/4s) were used by night club ladies in scanty
outfits who took your picture, passed the film out the door,
and had your glossy 8x10 back before you finished your next
drink. But no newspaper, or at least no local one, would
have had a supply of 2-1/4 film holders.
Further, it would need a flash bracket and a (Kalart)
rangefinder. It would have a back window cover, as in the
picture; but it would never be focused that way (except
perhaps for copy work). With 127 & 135mm lenses (often
Ektars; sometimes Xenars, etc.), a rangefinder would be
almost as important as a film.
And finally, instead of the clumsy rails it would need a
folding bed for protection when it was tossed into the
coupe. It probably went in a battered case that held the
camera between two rows of exposed/unexposed film holders.
Press cameras got banged around, so no press photographer
would have bought an odd size/brand. It had to be a Speed
Graphic with focal plane shutter, for sports; or for budget,
backup, and weddings, a Crown Graphic (lighter, w/o the
heavy thudding shutter). Anyone who abused one could have
it fixed quickly. You could adjust the RF and flash synch
yourself (the latter, by photographing a bare flash bulb on
an extension cord, to see if it had burned brightly while
the shutter was open).
The only wannabe competitor was the Busch Pressman.
Ah, those were the days (said the high school boy who drove
the nearly blind local reporter/stringer and took his
pictures).
Kirk
Graflex tried hard to promote 3-1/4 x 4-1/4 for press
work. The cameras are smaller and lighter as is the whole
kit, but they were not successful and 4x5 remained the
preferred size from perhaps the 1930's. Before that it was
5x7. Graflex SLR's were often used for press work until
around the late 1920s and even after and there was a 5x7
Speed Graphic.
Speed and Crown Graphics did not come with rangefinders
until the very late models. Rangefinders were fitted by the
dealer. Beginning with the Pacemaker series the cameras had
some fittings for the Kalart to make orienting it easier.
Some other rangefinders were offered and are very
occasionally found but the Kalart was by far the most
popular. Some rangefinders had built-in flash brackets but
more often a separate bracket was supplied, both to reduce
mechanical strain on the rangefinder body and to fit the
various styles of flash guns used. After WW-2 Graflex began
making their own flashguns and they became the most often
used. The flash solenoid was, beside its intended purpose,
a convenient remote tripper for the shutter so its not
uncommon to see pictures of press photographers with no bulb
or even no reflector where the flashgun was used simply as a
convenient way to trip the shutter and as a handle for the
camera. Solenoids were often fitted on shutters with
built-in synchronizers for this reason.
I don't think many press photogs actually used the
focal plane shutter. It was useful for using lenses in
barrels and for a limited amount of motion stopping. One
often finds old press cameras with the shutter spring wound
way up to increase its speed. Just like between the lens
shutters the FP is not completely efficient so the marked
speeds are _effective_ exposure speeds, not the speeds you
will measure using a simple shutter tester. Actually,
because the shutter plane is some distance from the actual
focal plane the efficiency of the Graflex shutter is pretty
low when the smaller slits are used. The shutter is really
very crude. The story is that F&H designed a much more
elaborate, self-capping, FP shutter and used it in some
early cameras but found it unreliable and went to the very
simple arrangement used ever since.
No doubt the Rilex was also fitted with rangefinders
and lens-shutter combinations by dealers in the same way
that Graphics were.
--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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