Attic Find - Graflex 22

I wasn't sure where to post this, so I put it here. My child has a strong interest in photography and when this Graflex 22 was found in Grandma's attic this morning, there was great excitement. My D5100 knelt in respect when it took this photo:



It's in rough shape, but will make a great prop in my child's room. I did a bit of research and this model was made between 1952 and 1956 and uses 120 size film. The camera is held at belly level, the top pops open and the photographer peers down into the top. Top shutter speed is 1/200 Sec., lens is f/3.5 to f/22, it'll focus as close as 3 Feet and all is manual set of course. It's not worth much of anything, but it's mighty cool in our book.

I guessed it was much older, incorrectly thinking that 35mm had gained universal popularity by the early 1950's, but there must have been a strong following in other film sizes too at that time.

Very cool!

Nice! You can still find 120 film... it'd be neat to see what it can do.

MrF said:

Nice! You can still find 120 film... it'd be neat to see what it can do.

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After awhile without use, these "Compur" shutters get un-even. The slower shutter speeds will start sticking and the exposure time will vary quite a bit. Reminds me I should give my Hasselblad lenses a little workout before they start doing it, too.

Go buy a roll or two of expired 120 from lomography.com and see if she still works. If it does I bet you will be blown away by what it can do.

Both lenses have a strange sort of grey pock-marking on them, like hundreds of little spots. I wonder if its mold? We gently cleaned the outside of the lenses, but I'm uncertain if it's on the inside or outside of the glasss. I'll take a look with a magnifier. I've not tried to activate the shutter. I'll bet that Marcel is right that it's sticky. Shooting some film would be fun. I wish I still had the basement darkroom I enjoyed as a kid!

I guess it has two lenses because the photographer looks through one and the film is exposed through the other?

(PS: I also found my old 35mm bulk film loader in the attic. As a kid, I'd buy paper and film in bulk. I remember calculating that I could shoot and print 3-1/2 x 5 b&w prints for a nickel each. )

Eye-level said:

Go buy a roll or two of expired 120 from lomography.com and see if she still works. If it does I bet you will be blown away by what it can do.

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I'd not seen that website before! Pretty amazing -- even 110 film and Instamatic films are sold there.

Way cool find, I love old cameras, have many on a shelf. Some were mine but i am a yard sale junkiee, see an old camera gotta take it home.

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Found this Revere 22 3D Stereo Photo Viewer in Grandma's closet. It was the companion to the Revere 33 3D Stereo Camera, which is gone. You can see what the slides look like in this photo. The 3D effect is exactly like the Viewmaster us Baby Boomers might remember.



I took a look at some of the slides and set up a simple rig to copy them to my D5100 using my old manual set Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 Macro lens with M2 Tube. The set up doesn't yield the best sharpness, but it's better than nothing. These two photos are from 1953 or 1954. Dig the old cars!



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