​The Camera and Lenses

Alright gear heads, I hope you’re ready; there’s a bit to go through before we reach the central theme of this piece. I’ll start first with the camera.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “I don’t remember a Toyo Super Graphic, only the Graflex Super Graphic.” You wouldn’t be shamed by many people. Toyo purchased the manufacturing rights of the Super Graphic from Singer/Graflex in the early 1970s, with the earliest Toyo versions being produced in late 1973 and early ’74.

The camera body itself is just about the same as its older Graflex brother. They even share most of the same features; a revolving back, electronic shutter release for handheld use, rangefinders with interchangeable cams, and front standard swing. There is also what is called a flash computer, but from what I’ve been able to gather, it amounts to a calculator that resides at the top of the body to aid in flash metering.

Both the Graflex and the Toyo require an odd ball 22.5 volt battery for the electronic shutter release. I didn’t use it because I’m not enough of a mad man to use this camera handheld.

What lenses did I pair with this unstoppable force? I was extremely lucky to purchase this camera with three magnificent lenses, all three of which saw use over this last week.

First, the nifty fifty and the widest focal length of the three, a Nikkor-W 150mm f/5.6. For the uninitiated, calculating the 35mm equivalent of a 4×5 lens is quite easy, simply divide the focal length of the 4×5 lens by 3, and that is your 35mm focal length equivalent. This method is used to determine if you’re using a wider angle or more telephoto lens. Since the first lens in the trio is 150mm, divide that by three, and you get 50mm, which is arguably the most standard focal length in the 35mm format.

Next in the lineup is another Nikkor-W lens, the 210mm f/5.6. The optical formula of both of these large Nikkors is comprised of six elements in four groups. A simple, yet effective formula that we have seen in Nikon’s 35mm glass. Aperture diaphragms on both are comprised of seven blades. Both lenses stop all the way down to a minuscule f/64, a favorite of large format pioneers Ansel Adams and Group f/64.

The 150mm lens takes 52mm filters which is also the same size as my 35mm lens filters. This is an incredible upside since I won’t have to worry about investing in a set of filters for at least one of my 4×5 lenses.

Finally, to round out the lineup is a Fujinon T 300mm f/8. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find much information about this lens. The few various forums that I read that even make mention of this lens just write it off as decent. Which is kind of a shame because the portraits I made with this lens were incredibly sharp stopped down, soft at the edges wide open, and even made for a great lens for architecture and detail work. Once again, longer focal length lenses not getting the love and credit they deserve; where have I heard this before?

Film

The next item on the list, what film did I use? Well, since pack film has rode off into the sunset, Polaroid is not doing Polaroid things (deciding instead to create Bluetooth speakers), and wet plate collodion is chemistry class with a camera, I used the next best thing we have available – a Lomo Graflok Instax Wide back and Fuji Instax Wide film.

This might be blasphemous to the die hard instant shooters, but Instax Wide on 4×5 is near pack film quality. Before I’m banished from all instant film circles, let me plead my case.

Instax Wide doesn’t usually come to mind when discussing the greatest of the instant films. You usually hear mentions of the various Fuji FP series. Polaroid made its name with SX70, 669, and the multitude of consumer film for which it was world famous. Not to mention, the large format peel apart, namely 4×5 and 8×10. Ansel Adams, as well as many professional photographers loved this instant tool as a means of checking lighting, composition, and a print as well as a negative to use as a reference or a print on its own. Instax Wide has the ability to take the place of those once beloved instant greats.

Lomography graced us large format nerds with the Lomo Graflok Instax Wide back to use on cameras with what’s called a “Graflok” back, otherwise known as a camera with a Graflex style film back. Since my new Toyo is a Japanese Graflex, this makes it perfect for this use.

My experience with Instax Wide on 4×5 has been nothing short of refreshing and humbling. It reminded me that large format is nothing to rush and that a simple mistake can cost an exposure. Since Instax is readily available and significantly cheaper than sheet film, I had no qualms with making a mistake on Instax. After all, it’s all apart of the process.

The quality of Instax Wide is wonderful. The color film brings vibrancy, pastel if over-exposed just a touch, and the process of watching the image slowly come to life makes even the most casual of instant film shooters smile ear to ear.

Instax Wide is very capable at 800 iso which means you can shoot in broad daylight at f/32 or in low light, so long as you meter for your highlights or shadows. Unfortunately, latitude is not this instant film’s middle name. You need to meter for shadows and let the highlights be eradicated or meter for the highlights and let the shadows fall into Mariana’s Trench. There’s hardly an in between. You can do what I did and play around with over or under exposing by a third or two since the apertures on large format lenses are de-clicked which allows for more precise control of exposure.

In case you were wondering about my metering process, I use a Pentax Spotmeter V. As simplistic as it may be, this meter does exactly what I need it to do and that’s about it. Most of these new meters are a bit too space age for my taste.

Polacon

Finally, the main event. I acquired my new 4×5 at peculiar time; one week before Polacon 7. For the non-instant shooters, Polacon is an annual convention that takes place in Denton, TX. It’s everything you think it is – photographers who are passionate about the instant film process gather for photo walks, print sales and trades, talks, presentations, comparing notes, lamenting about instant film’s recent discontinuations, and of course, all of the instant photographs.

To prepare, I borrowed the Lomo Graflok back from a good photographer friend (thanks Jen!) and quickly learned my process for using such a method of shooting.

This year would be my first attending Polacon, so what better way to do it than by attending a morning photo walk on day two of the convention? I showed up with my Super Graphic on the tripod and was quickly met with smiles and greetings. Everyone was welcoming, enthusiastic, and ready to get the instant photos underway.

All instant film types were present, Polaroid 600, SX70, I-type, Polaroid Go, Duochrome, Fuji pack film, and even 8×10 Polaroids! It was truly a sight to behold. However, there were some bittersweet undertones the more I talked to various people. Perspectives ranged from all over as the people I talked to were from various states, Minnesota, California, Florida, other parts of Texas, and so on. That’s right, this instant film convention attracts people from far and wide. Which is a beautiful thing, but the more and more I talked to these various people from different walks of life, they all had the same concerns – how much longer is instant film going to be around? Kind of a buzz kill at a convention celebrating instant photographs, but a valid question nonetheless.

One simply can’t put into words the passion everyone had not just about instant film, but the raw process of photography it involves. Instant film isn’t the sharpest, the latitude is not great, and sometimes, it down right looks kind of terrible if the exposure just isn’t absolutely perfect. None of that matters here. This was an interesting perspective and a refreshing one to embrace since I always second, third, and fourth guess about my compositions and exposures, especially on large format.

At one point or another, we’ve all experienced snobbery to some degree at a photo walk or meet up; usually a Leica with a persona attached to it. Those Lenny Kravitz Editions are especially guilty. No such snobbery was present at Polacon. Cameras of all shapes, brands, and colors were snapping and clicking away. Images printing out left and right, portraits being taken every couple of minutes. Never have I experienced such a joyous gathering.

The Future of Instant Photography

You may think that since there is a growing convention here in Texas, that should bode well for the future of instant photography. Well, this is where things become a bit pessimistic. Let’s recap how we got here starting with the formation of The Impossible Project.

Impossible Project was formed by ten former employees of Polaroid in October of 2008 who were able to save the last Polaroid production plant in the Netherlands. The goal of this team was to reinvent materials for old Polaroid cameras. A task that was deemed “seemingly impossible” hence the name of the project.

It was announced in March of 2010 that Impossible was successful in recreating a monochromatic film for certain cameras, a success no one saw coming. Just one year before, in 2009, Fuji announced a discontinuation of FP100B, FP400B, and FP500B with shipments concluding in March of that year. In September of 2011, FP3000B45, the 4×5 version of its famous high speed black and white peel apart film was discontinued with all 4×5 instant pack film being discontinued by 2013. On February 29, 2016, an infamous day to instant film shooters, Fuji announced the discontinuation of FP100C, officially putting the nail in the coffin for the beloved pack film.

That was a condensed version of a long, painful timeline of events, but here we are in 2022. Instant film is still around, Fuji pack film sells for absurd amounts on the internet with expiration dates varying wildly, averaging $150 for a pack of 10 instant photos.

Polaroid markets itself as a lifestyle brand, most recently releasing Polaroid Music, a Bluetooth speaker for which no one was jonesing.

Impossible reached out to Fuji about purchasing one of the machines used to keep the fabled pack film afloat and Fuji essentially told them to kick rocks. Those machines have since been repurposed (more likely sold for scrap) to make cosmetics, which is the primary source of profit for Fuji outside of its digital cameras and Instax film. From what most people have heard whether it be word of mouth or internet conjecture, Fuji is only making pro grade and consumer 35mm and 120 film in the 21st century out of tradition for the absolute die hard photographers.

Just a couple months ago, I acquired a pack of FP100C and FP3000B and put them through my Mamiya RB67 equipped with the Polaroid back. It was a fun, rewarding experience and a way to loosen up and keep the photo-creating process intact without having to burn film that needs to be handled in absolute darkness when developing.

I gave most of my instant pack film prints away, which for some is heresy, but I did that because it excited onlookers to watch me peel apart these two thin pieces of paper and see a vibrant image come to life right before their very eyes. Don’t get me wrong, I get as excited as the next person about peel apart film, but it’s an experience that the uninitiated will remember for a long time. They don’t know the heartbreak of the discontinuation.

I implore anyone reading this who has an abundance of pack film stored away in their freezer to do one simple thing: load that film into your holder and shoot it. You are not doing that film any good by keeping it in your freezer or fridge. It’s already gone. I’ve made my peace by giving away most of my 100C and 3000B prints. The smiles on those strangers faces are worth more than what that instant film could have brought me personally.

I wasn’t around during pack film’s heyday, I was fumbling around with a Sony A6000 at that point. I understand that many people have made memories with pack film and want to extend the supply for that much longer. The more you attempt to extend the supply, the longer you keep it in that arctic dungeon, the less likely that film will look like what you remember. Life is already short, just shoot your pack film and cherish the memories you make while doing so. When it’s all said and done, not only will you have the memories, but you will also have some priceless photographs. Is that not why we love instant photography?    

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The apocryphally informed among us will say that the motto was coined by the mid-20th century New York City-based crime and tabloid photographer Arthur Fellig, more popularly known as Weegee, whose photography was scalding hot in black-and-white, flash-exposed on the rain-slick streets, and often dripping with blood.

In the earliest days of his career, Weegee would loiter around the Manhatten Police headquarters. Whenever a notice came over the police teletype (an early fast communication device that could send written messages over phone lines) Weegee would race the police to the scene of the catastrophe, and often find himself first on the scene. This offered him an opportunity to photograph the scene of the crime or disaster without interruption or interference. He would quickly develop the film and take the grizzly, uncensored pictures to the newspaper, which paid handsomely for blood and guts.

Weegee quickly made a living (and a name for himself) out of his violent and shocking photography.

The connection between Weegee and the mantra F/8 and be there goes like this.

One day, when Weegee had achieved a certain level of fame, he was asked by an interviewer how he had managed to become the most famous crime scene photographer in history. Weegee supposedly replied with the now famous and famously succinct witticism, “F/8 and be there.”

I can’t find this interview anywhere, nor a written first-hand account. Nor, it seems, can anyone else.

Did Weegee ever speak the words? I don’t know.

But there’s reason to believe he did not.

To start, Weegee is known to have made nearly all of his published photographs with a 4×5 Speed Graphic camera preset to f/16 and 1/200th of a second, with a flash bulb, and standing from a set distance of ten feet. If a photographer spent decades shooting at essentially the same settings, it makes little sense that the photographer would offer anything but these specific settings in his clever retort to a somewhat dim question.

So, forget Weegee. I’ve found published documents in which multiple people claim that National Geographic is the source of the phrase “F/8 and be there.” 

In an article in the July 1985 issue of Whole Earth Review titled Digital Retouching: The End of Photography as Evidence of Anything, writer Stewart Brand wrestles with the question of photographic ownership in an approaching era in which photographs could be created by a computer. Interestingly for our purposes, he mentions the “F/8” mantra and its connection with National Geographic.

“The advice to photographers from the [National] Geographic is: ‘F/8 and be there.’ If content in photos can be electronically and subliminally added and re-moved, why bother to be there?” – Stewart Brand; July 1985; Whole Earth Review; Digital Retouching: The End of Photography as Evidence of Anything

The NG connection to the phrase was mentioned again in a 1993 issue of Popular Photography. In this issue the photographer Kal Muller describes how he made a particular photo. He casually mentions, “The advice, ‘F/8 and be there’ from National Geographic years ago, has long been my motto.”

Frustratingly, I’ve not been able to find a single issue of National Geographic in which the motto appears. So, forget National Geographic. And let’s forget about hunting down the origin of the phrase, and move on to something more interesting.

F/8 and Be There, Elsewhere

In a 1983 issue of Direction: The Navy Public Affairs Quarterly, Master Gunnery Sergeant Ed Evans writes about covering the Marines in Lebanon in 1982. In this article, Evans contrarily writes that F/8 and be there was, for him, useless.

“[…] Marines landed. Cameras whirred and clicked. […] It was a battlefield circus. Masses of PLO [Palestinian Liberation Organization] supporters were firing weapons and armament of every sort, artillery airbursts promised to make Vietnam-era knees buckle instinctively, automatic weapons chattered, loudspeakers blared, the crowd surged and the situation seemed always on the brink of raging out of control. […] There was no time for the “F/8 and be there” philosophy, no time to be shooting 20 shots in the hopes one would be good[…]”

As for the mantra’s popularity over time, Google Ngram Viewer attributes the first mention of the phrase to have occurred around 1968. Incidentally that’s the year that Weegee died. The phrase appeared more and more frequently throughout the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. It peaked in popularity around the year 2004, dipped considerably throughout the aughts, and climbed back to popularity throughout the latter half of the 2010s. According to Google Ngram Viewer, F/8 and be there is as popular today as it ever was.

How To F/8 and Be There, and Why?

With the lens aperture set to F/8, sufficient light enters the camera to create a proper exposure in most situations. If we set the lens to the lens’ hyper-focal distance (using zone focusing), F/8 also provides sufficient depth of field that everything up close and far away alike will be rendered sharply focused in the photo. That’s the “F/8” part of the phrase.

With the lens aperture set to F/8, the lens focus set to hyper-focal distance, and the shutter set to a general purpose speed, it’s possible for the photographer to completely ignore the camera. With the controls set in place, he or she can instead focus their attention entirely on what’s happening around them. That’s the “be there” part.

The result, supposedly, is that photographers attempting to capture a story, for a newspaper, let’s say, will have the best luck doing so by following the mantra. F/8 and be there and they’ll get the shot.

In the heyday of film photography, and to the many hobbyist photographers who idolized the reportage of the famous photojournalists who often said the phrase (apocryphally or not, who knows?), F/8 and be there came to stand for a certain photographic philosophy. It asserted that taking good photos was less about technical ability or innate talent and more about being in the thick of it, amongst the action with your eyes open and your senses tuned. To F/8 and be there was to be knee deep in the mud and up to your elbows in the drama. All you needed was guts and an eyeball.

F/8 and be there. That’s all it takes. Press the button and watch for falling Pulitzers.

What F/8 and Be There Means To Me

There are plenty of photographers who live by the mantra today. I’ve seen it written on countless blogs and heard plenty of YouTubers mention it. I’ve seen t-shirts branded with it (I’ve even considered making one myself). For many, I’m sure the motto still conjures images of the ideal photojournalist (whatever that means).

For me, F/8 and be there means something else.

I’ve long ago given up the idea that my photography will mean anything to anyone outside of my family. My photography isn’t anything special. I’m not a fashion photographer or a celebrity portrait artist. I don’t have a high concept in mind when I reach for my Nikon SP. I’m too old to be cool and too young to be interesting. As I have said on my YouTube channel and in other articles, I shoot photos so that someone I love might someday look at them and think I was pretty good.

But I can still wring some use out of the mantra F/8 and be there.

I focus on the last part. Being there. On vacation. At home with my girls. When I was in the hospital after my daughters’ births. At Disney World. I always have the camera. But I don’t really care about it. I don’t worry about it, or focus on it. Or pack it away delicately between shots, or bother with a lens cap, or bring too much gear, or obsess over getting the perfect photo.

I just shoot the thing and spend my time being there. There with my wife and kids. There with my thoughts. There for them. Just being there. For me, being there is the best part of photography.

[Below: times I was there, not necessarily at F/8.]

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The post F/8 And Be There – the Unclear Origin of a Photographic Mantra and What It Really Means appeared first on Casual Photophile.

It’s a seventy-year-old work of mechanical art from an historic photography brand. It’s solidly made, with a capable lens and interesting features. Its methodology is at first strange and obtuse, yet extended use reveals its charm. And it also provides that most elusive of all qualities in today’s world of classic camera appreciation – it’s affordable! Yes, the Graphic 35 was made for these pages.

Brief History of Graflex

For fifty years prior to the release of the Graphic 35, Graflex had been known for their medium format and large format cameras, specifically their famous press cameras, which were the standard for much of the world’s press throughout the first half of the 20th century. By 1955, when the Graphic 35 debuted, the brand had lost many of its customers to smaller, easier-to-use photographic tools. Despite this decline, Graflex was an important name in photography for some of the craft’s most formative decades and their history deserves a look.

Founded in New York City in 1887 by William Folmer and William Schwing as the Folmer and Schwing Manufacturing Company, the company that would be called Graflex produced metalworks including gas light fixtures and chandeliers. As the market for gas lighting declined, the company ramped up manufacturing of bicycles, and in 1899 they released their first Graflex camera. As the camera achieved success, the company dropped its non-photographic manufacturing lines to focus on cameras.

In 1905 the Folmer and Schwing manufacturing Company was acquired by George Eastman, founder of Kodak, and in 1907 it became the Folmer Graflex Division of Eastman Kodak and the works were transferred to Kodak’s hometown of Rochester, New York. There Kodak would continue to produce Graflex press cameras for a number of years.

In 1926, violations by Kodak of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 meant that Kodak was forced to divest itself of a number of business concerns, one of which was Graflex. Graflex, Inc. was subsequently operated under independent ownership until 1968, when it was sold to Singer Corporation (of sewing machine fame), who continued Graflex, Inc. operations until 1973, when the brand was finally wound down and all tooling sold to the Japanese view-camera manufacturer Toyo Corporation.

Throughout this period, Graflex created some amazing press cameras. The Graflex and Graphic range of machines were used by some of the greatest press photographers, who created many of the most iconic press images of the first half of the 20th century with Graflex cameras. In fact, no other camera manufacturer can claim as many Pulitzer Prizes as Graflex.

Notable users of the Graflex and Graphic press cameras include Dorothea Lang, Arthur Fellig (more popularly known as Weegee), Ansel Adams, Margaret Bourke-White, and Louis Mendes (among countless others).

The Graphic 35 in Its Own Time

The Graphic 35 is very different from the cameras that Graflex is most known for producing. Where their press cameras were large and serious and required attention and expertise to use effectively, the Graphic 35 was comparatively small and streamlined, and intended for use by amateur or enthusiast photographers.

When the Graphic 35 was conceived in 1955, photography was rapidly shifting from a complicated art form into a hobby for everyone. Cameras were becoming easier to use and less specialized, and photography was suddenly a way for people to easily and beautifully document their lives in an optimistic, forward-facing, post-war recovering, baby-booming 1950s America. Camera companies were rounding the edges off of their machines (figuratively speaking) and creating cameras that the average mom or dad could point at their kids, set a few dials (usually color-coded or marked with fool-proof indicators) and snap a shot for the family photo album.

The Graphic 35 was this sort of camera. Except, unlike some competition from Kodak or West-German companies, the Graphic 35 balanced its functionality more evenly. It wasn’t so simple as to be limiting as some of the consumer-level Kodaks were, and it wasn’t too complicated to scare buyers away.

The Graphic 35 was a camera which took elements of successful past cameras and combined them with attention-grabbing innovations (I won’t call them gimmicks). In some ways, it was a traditional camera with cost-saving compromises such as the rangefinder focusing viewer remaining unintegrated within the main finder, as found on many older cameras. But it also included innovative features like its push-button focusing mechanism and fool-proof Spectramatic Flash System, and front-mounted shutter release lever. These innovative features were heavily promoted by the Graflex marketing team as ergonomic godsends.

In addition to this excellent balance of usability and capability, the Graphic 35 was one of the best values in photography at the time of its release. Costing just $77 for the version equipped with the 50mm F/3.5 lens and $98 for the faster F/2.8 lens, it was one of the most affordable full-featured 35mm film rangefinder-focusing cameras in production at that time.

The result of the camera’s combination of respectable performance, eye-catching new features and reasonable price was as we’d expect; it was popular. In just tree years of production, the Graphic 35 sold approximately 68,000 units.

Graflex Graphic 35 Specifications

• Film Type : 35mm film
• Shutter : Prontor SVS leaf shutter, speeds B, 1, 1/2, 1/5, 1/10, 1/25, 1/50, 1/100, 1/300
• Lens : Two fixed lenses available – 50mm F/3.5 Graflar; 50mm F/2.8 Graflar; both lenses color-corrected and coated
• Filters : 31.5mm diameter screw on filters
• Focusing : Coupled split image rangefinder with push button focusing (patented Visi-ready Footage Scale)
• Viewfinder : Two finders – one for focusing and one for composing
• Flash Capability : X Sync at all shutter speeds; M bulbs at all speeds; M2 bulbs up to 1/50th
• Self Timer : Yes
• Cable Release Socket : Yes
• Tripod Mount : Yes
• Frame Counter : Yes

Notes on the Innovators

The Graflex marketing team honed in on two innovative control mechanisms found in the Graphic 35 and featured those innovations prominently in their marketing material. These were the push-button focusing system and the Spectramatic Flash System.

The focusing mechanism is particularly interesting. Many traditional focusing methods involve spinning the camera’s lens, which turns on a helicoid and moves the optical group closer to or further from the film plane. But the Graflex Graphic 35 replaces this system with a pair of sympathetic levers to the left and right of the lens. By pushing one or the other inward, the lens extends from or retracts into the camera body. The system has a corresponding dial atop the lens mount which shows the focusing range precisely. This allows the user to either scale focus at a glance, or for more precision, to look through the rangefinder window to the coupled split-image rangefinder patch. When the images within the rangefinder window align, the subject is in focus.

This focusing system was invented by a Graflex employee participating in a development program which Graflex created in an effort to drive innovation within the company. Graflex employees could submit an idea, and if it proved useful or valuable, the company would pay a bonus to the inventor and officially submit the patent.

The push-button focusing method was created by a man named Louis Traino, who worked as an instrument maker in Graflex’s experimental shop. He developed the focusing system during his off-hours at his family home, presented it to the company, and was awarded a $4,000 prize when his invention was integrated into Graflex cameras. For reference, that $4,000 is approximately $40,000 today. In a newspaper clipping from the time, the Traino family said that they intended to use the award money to buy a house. Mr. Traino’s wife was reported to insist that their new house should have a dedicated workshop for her husband. (This is so cute.)

I’ve included the patent documents for Mr. Traino’s invention below.

The Spectramatic Flash System was another new innovation found in the Graphic 35. Graflex’s Director of Engineering, Vernon Whitman, came up with an idea for simplifying flash photography by using color coded bands which would tell the photographer which aperture to use depending on distance to subject and flash guide number.

After setting the guide number for the flash being used, the photographer focuses on his or her subject and observes the color represented on the focusing scale. After that, the photographer simply selects the aperture with the matching color.

It’s a very simple system, when explained, but it was still confusing to many users and dealers at the time of the Graphic’s release. For this reason, push-button focusing remained the camera’s most emphasized feature.

I’ve included the patent documents for the flash system below.

The Graphic 35 Today

I used my Graflex Graphic 35 in 2021; that’s 66 years after someone in Rochester tightened the final screw and packed it in a box to be shipped to a camera shop. Cameras have come a long way in those 66 years, and yet the Graphic 35 remains a lot of great things, things that we still value in a camera today.

It’s compact. It’s dense. It’s beautiful. It’s well-made and works like magic. Its knobs and dials and switches and levers actuate with precision, emitting the whirrs and clicks and thwicks that mechanical-thing-likers live for. In an earlier article, I called the Zeiss Contina a “clockwork camera” (a term that other bloggers and YouTubers have adopted despite a conspicuous absence of royalty checks). The Graphic 35 is similarly clock-like.

Its die-cast body is elegant and concise, and its satin-finished metal is smooth and pretty. The removable back is thick and weighty, and its scratch-free pressure plate is lovely. Knurling on its controls is precise and fine. The leatherette is a gorgeous grey-tone covering which perfectly complements the satin-finish metal. The tiny, blue Graflex logo is mesmerizing for idiots, like me, who love three-dimensional decorative embellishments. (Have you seen the Linhoff crest?)

The film advance is controlled via a knob, which was already old fashioned in the Graphic 35’s own time, and slower than a wind lever. In addition, film advance is not coupled to the shutter, so cocking the shutter must be done independent of film advance. This, more than any other unusual feature (push-button focus, front-mounted shutter release lever) slowed me down. I simply wasn’t used to this intermediate step between film advance and firing a shot. On the plus side, I got used to it within a couple of rolls and the problem evaporated. Another angle – this methodology means that multiple exposures are possible at any time – simply re-cock and fire the shutter without winding the film.

The push-button focusing system, new and strange when it debuted 66 years ago, is still new and strange. Throughout my first roll of film, focusing was slower than with a traditional focusing helicoid as I adapted to the methodology. By my second roll of film, focusing felt natural and I no longer found myself thinking about the process. By my third roll, focusing was (perhaps) very slightly quicker than when spinning a lens.

Scale focusing works great, but in instances in which I needed more precision, a quick glance through the separate rangefinder focusing window allowed near instant focus lock. Like any other rangefinder camera, focus is achieved when the image in the split image viewfinder lines up. It’s easy and fast, despite the requirement to focus in one finder and compose in another.

Do I wish the rangefinder patch was integrated into the main viewfinder? Of course! Many cameras of the Graphic 35’s era were doing just that (the Konica fixed lens rangefinders of this period are a personal favorite). But the Graphic’s disposition toward the older two-finder system isn’t a deal breaker. It works fine and becomes second nature in time (that said, second nature is still not first…).

The most useful practical takeaway on the focusing system would be the observation that when my film was developed I hadn’t missed focus on more photos in a roll than I would have with a traditional focusing system. I missed a few shots, but that wasn’t the system’s fault – I would’ve missed them on any other camera as well due to subject movement, or my bad eyesight, or because a mosquito buzzed my ear just before snapping the shot, or because of any other of a number of factors which make us human.

I’ve heard it said that for a new technology or a new way of doing something that has long been done through other established methods to gain widespread adoption and success, that new technology or way of doing things cannot be only as good as the old technology or old way. It must be unquestionably better. It must be cheaper to manufacture, or provide a far improved user experience or yield measurably better results. This focusing system isn’t better than other focusing systems. It’s as good, when we get used to it, sure. But it’s not better.

And it’s because of this, perhaps, that push-button focusing is found on very few cameras (literally, about four in the history of photography). Whether this reticence for adoption or replication by other brands is simply because it was a patented system and companies didn’t want to pay the patent holders to use it on their own cameras, or because it’s simply not good enough I won’t venture to guess. But I think I know.

If you’re looking for my final judgement regarding push-button focusing on the Graphic 35, I’ve got you.

It works fine. Don’t be scared of it.

The Spectramatic Flash system, ignored by the casual photographer in its own time, will be similarly ignored today (likely more so). I rarely use a flash, and most vintage camera shooters are similarly flash-averse. I so completely doubt that anyone reading this review will actually use their Graphic 35’s flash system that I’m done typing about it.

My version is equipped with the 50mm F/2.8 Graflar prime lens. It’s the faster of the two available lenses, and its coated to resist flares and punch up clarity. The lenses of the Graphic 35 were manufactured by one of two German firms, Rodenstock or Enna Werk (the exact manufacturing details are lost, but both of these suppliers were contracted by Graflex to produce their lenses). Mine is marked with an “R” to signify Rodenstock manufacture. Whichever version comes attached to your Graphic is fine. There will be no appreciable difference in images made by one compared to the other. If you need the extra stop of light gathering (if, say, you love shooting at night), get the F/2.8.

Shots through this lens and the German Prontor SVS leaf shutter, are sharp and contrasty. Edge image quality is naturally softer than it is in the center, but as we stop the aperture down the image sharpens up beautifully. Shot wide open and focused on a close subject, we can get some decent bokeh that, while not being creamy smooth, does have some nice character. Focus fall-off is gradual and fluid.

Simply put, this lens produces beautiful, vintage-styled photographs. Those who enjoy classic lenses will find nothing about which to complain.

Final Thoughts

The Graflex Graphic 35, as mentioned in my opening, is the kind of camera for which I created Casual Photophile. It costs almost nothing today, and it’s worth every penny (it would be worth twice the pennies, actually). It’s an unusual camera. It’s a nice looking camera. It feels great in the hands and makes all the right sounds. It’s unlike anything else that you could’ve bought new in the past sixty years.

On top of all of the tactile and cerebral stimulation that the Graphic 35 provides, it’s also quite simply a capable camera. Capable of taking great photos. Capable of keeping me interested. Capable of making me smile. I really like it, and if you’re like me you’ll like it, too.

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