Pace Maker 23 Crown Graphic - Graflex - 1947/1973



Delicious camera to use. 5.7 x 8.3 cm sheet film (2 1/4 x 3 1/4 inches) format in sheets or 120 film, good lens, front movements, rangefinder, ground glass but also viewfinder and sports finder (the funniest) not absolutely rigid but just enough for hand held pictures. It is also surprisingly beautiful for an american design if we think of Argus and many Kodaks for instance.
One very positive point about this kind of camera to be used as a travel companion is that although we are getting used to see buildings with the vertical lines converging it is nice to have the possibility to act on it and get vertical lines vertical again. In the first picture below on the left I just put the camera on the floor, pulled the lens board all the way up and shot. With a 35 mm the same framing would never give the same solid and massive impression embedded there into the church's collums.
One negative point is that to use it with a 65 mm lens for wide angle pictures the lens board rests only partially engaged on the rails. Not so firm. I am looking forward to find a Linhof 6x9 as it was really designed as a system for wide to tele photography. I hope the digital revolution will shed some at reasonable prices on the market.

Find everything about Graflex cameras, accessories, etc in Graflex
The sheet film in that format is getting harder and harder to find. One reliable source you can find from Berlin is:  Fotoimpex  




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