Here are some test images that I have made with my 1947 Baby Speed Graphic that I have been working on lately. I acquired the camera from Stew and Barbara Lang a number of years ago. Barbara's father, Alec Merriman was a longtime Victoria writer and photographer who wrote for the Victoria Times and wrote an outdoor column, including back road travel books with his wife, Taffy. My connection to the Lang's was through my high school friends, Dave and Barb McIntyre.
Lately, I have been doing some restoration work on the old camera to get it working again. I sent the lens away for cleaning and overhaul and I found another film back that was in better shape than the one that came with the camera. The film back is called a "bag mag" it holds 12 sheets of 2 1/4" x 3 1/4" sheet film in metal holders called septums. They can easily get bent. The bag part made is made of leather and it can also break down over time and that creates light leaks. I tried making a new leather bag for the original film holder, it was difficult to do and my leather-making skills were not good enough to make it completely light-tight. So I found a used bag mag on eBay that was in better shape than the one I have, so far tests have shown it works well.
Making pictures with the camera is interesting and slow. It has rangefinder focusing which is accurate so the camera can be used handheld. I have also been using it on a tripod. When on the tripod I used the optional ground glass screen and I use a magnifying loupe to find the correct focus. Once it's focused on my subject of choice, I determine the correct exposure with a light meter, set the shutter speed and the aperture. When everything is all set I trip the shutter. The camera also has a secondary shutter, a focal plane shutter in the back part of the camera, that also works but I haven't used it too much. It works by winding it up with a knob, somewhat like winding up a clock, the tension on the spring determines the shutter speed.
Since I have had the camera it has gone through some customization and modification. I made a wood handle grip out of teak which I have attached to the left side of the camera. Where the wood grip is there used to be a clip attachment onto which a large handle flash would attach, I moved this over to the right side of the camera (looking from the front) I also overhauled the flash and cleaned that up, it's made for flashbulbs. However, the newly overhauled shutter now only works with electronic flash. One day I was looking on the internet and saw these regular LED light bulbs that screw into a regular light bulb socket. What is interesting is that these bulbs have a built-in battery that can be turned on in case of a power outage. The flashbulbs for my old Graflex flash unit have the same size of the socket as the light bulb. I use the flash's test button to turn the light on which is fairly bright, about that of a 60 watt light bulb.
Trying to find film for this camera has proved challenging because it's an odd size and is not made much anymore, the camera came with some 56-year-old expired film, not really practical to use, I tried it out just to see if it would actually work. It did produce some images but not all that usable.
Recently I found some new film made by Arista, I ordered some film and have been doing some tests, it looks pretty good although I asked for a replacement box after I found some defects with the film. A photo company called Ilford makes specialty films for odd sizes like my camera, and I could have ordered some, however, their deadline was a month ago so maybe next year I will try some Ilford HP5 film.
I have been using this camera mostly for fun and I may try to use it on a regular basis for some of my other photography projects.
Photos:
The Baby Speed Graphic with the wood handle I made. The lens is a Kodak Ektar 101mm ƒ4.5 lens with its own built-in leaf shutter. It's very good for its age. The reason it's called a "baby" is that the bigger 4x5 cameras were the big brother to these little ones. My camera weighs 1. 8 Kg without the film holder and 2 kg with the bag mag film holder (takes 12 photos).
A back view of the Baby Speed Graphic with the bag mag film holder (takes 12 photos). The top right in front of the rangefinder mechanism is the winding knob for the focal plane shutter.
The Baby Speed Graphic with Graflex handle flash. Yes that is an ordinary LED light bulb, but it has a built-in battery, I can turn it on and off with the flash test button on the back of the flash. These flash handles are in demand as they were used to make the lightsabers for the original Star Wars movie.
Driftwood and raspberry plants (No. 9-8) West Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, December 2019. Copyright © Gary Nylander.
Raspberry plants (No. 9-4) West Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, December 2019. Copyright © Gary Nylander.
Rope and boat float (No. 4B-1) West Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, December 2019. Copyright © Gary Nylander.
Daisy flowers, end of the season (No. 9B-2) West Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, December 2019. Copyright © Gary Nylander.
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