I have been playing around. My first Graflex Crown Graphic had broken hooks on the Graflok back, and I had to hold the back on with rubber bands. I bought another Crown Graphic from KEH to cannibalise, but it turned out to have a Graphic (or spring) back, not a Graflok. With a set of jeweler's screwdrivers and some determination I swapped the backs, changing the ground glass
only focusing screen from the Graphic to the ground glass and fresnel lens from the Graflok in addition to changing the backs. I suspect only someone who has played with these Graflex cameras will be following me at this point! The concern at this stage is that the ground glass surface that used to sit at the same plane that a sheet of film in a film holder would occupy in the donor camera is now displaced by the plexiglass fresnel lens that I have placed under it. Why didn't I think of that before spending hours making a hybrid camera? Shall I take out the fresnel, move it above the ground glass as some recommend? Use the ground glass by itself which is bound to work but will be dark everywhere except the centre, obviating the possibility of using the limited movements offered by Graflex cameras? I decided to try it out and see what happens. I found a Graflok back on the Bay all by itself so I can afford to do an experiment while I wait.
Now just to be difficult, I didn't want to stick with the Linhof 127mm lens that I got with my first Crown Graphic. It equals a 42mm lens in 35mm ('tiny format') terms and I want to do portraits. I have obtained a Rodenstock Apo-Sironar N 210mm lens and ordered a carbon fibre lens board from the Czech Republic to mount it. This should equal a 70mm lens in the tiny format, which was the minimum for portraits that I would choose in my days there. I hate doing experiments with too many variables—don't you? Thinking that a day with no film developed is a day wasted, I went ahead and corralled my poor wife into sitting in the kitchen. I took two photos, one at f16 for increased depth of field in case my fresnel lens added to the Graphic back threw off the focus, and one at f5.6 just in case it didn't. The second turned out to be just fine! Now I have to decide whether to swap to the proper Graflok back or not when it turns up in a week or so—I suspect I shouldn't mess with proper focus! Here it is, HP5+ @400, f5.6, 1/15, Rodinal 6ml in 900ml for 40 minutes semi-stand and a Hasselblad X1 scan:
Chris