These things really will take pix!

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Gang,

Well, after being beat about the head and shoulders for never shooting with any of our vintage large format cameras (and MF cameras derived from LF designs), we put the Polaroid 405 pack film holder onto our Pacemaker Crown Graphic 45. Here's the first frame out:



Now I feel better!

The film was Polaroid Type 672, ISO 400, 2-1/4x3-1/4. Illumination was by a Vivitar 285HV (we have a modified Graflite flash handle with a hot shoe on its top!) The lens is a Graftar 135 mm f/4.7 at f/8.

Not a lot of attention was paid to focus (we were concentrating on some more fundamental things!).

In the picture: some more Graffies and other things. The Kodak Retina IA (type 110) on the top shelf was a gift from Dallas Realtor Sheffield A. Kadane on the occasion of his election to the Dallas City Council this past May. It was one of the last 110's made (in 1949)

On the lower shelf, toward the right, you will see our new Century Graphic (2-1/4x3-1/4) (a "Plastic Baby"). As soon as its Prontor SVS shutter gets back from Flutot's Camera Repair (having an intact mainspring put in), we plan to shoot some 120 roll film in it.

The rightmost Graffie on the middle shelf is an Anniversary Speed Graphic in WW2 "blackout" livery. It is the same model used by Joe Rosenthal of AP to take what is arguably the most famous press pic ever - the large US flag going up over Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima near the end of World War II. Ours is only a few hunderd serial numbers different from Rosenthal's.

Ironically, Rosenthal died the very day I wrote the description of our Anny for our museum catalog.