I am thinking of buying a 4x5 Crown Graphic for nostalgic reasons, and would like to know what films are available for the camera. Does the Graphic 23 rollback work well with the 4x5 Crown - I have heard some negative comments.

I looked on a film website and could only find B & W film in 4x5 size.

Any help for this beginner would be appreciated.

-- John Daughtrey (johnd-gman@mindspring.com), January 17, 2000

Answers

B&W, chrome ("slide"), and color print are available. The site you looked at was obviously limited. Got to B&H (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/) and take a look.

For the camera in general, look here - http://www.graflex.org

The 23 rollbacks work just fine. The lever wind ones (RH-8) (with addtional rollers for film flatness) work better - http://www.graflex.org/speed-graphic/accessories.html#RollFilmBacks

-- sheldon hambrick (sheldon_hambrick@hotmail.com), January 17, 2000.

All 4x5 films will work in a Grafic, the 23 film holder works great in my Grafic and it is a nob winder, I have no problems with flatness. Pat

-- pat j. krentz (krentz@cci-29palms.com), January 17, 2000.

As far as I know just about every emulsion made (with the exception of Kodachrome) is available in 4x5. See Calumet Photo and Freestyle for some choices. I have had very good results recently with the Arista that Freestyle sells. I may try a box of their C-41 color neg to see what I get. If you have the Graflok style back on your Crown you should be able to mount a wide variety of roll film backs. If you have the spring style Graphic back you are limited to those that are made like a standard 4x5 film holder. See the Graflex site as the other gentleman suggested.

-- Tony Brent (ajbrent@mich.com), January 17, 2000.

Not only are most of the better known types of film available in 4x5, there are many you never heard of available. Get a copy of Kodak's and Ilford's professional film catalog. You may need to get in touch with the professional sales division to find the catalogs. They have lots of products designed for professional photography. I haven't looked, but that info may be available on their websites. Doug

-- Doug Paramore (dougmary@alanet.com), January 18, 2000.

I own several Crowns, and can get nearly anything I want in the way of film types. The Crowns are far from pure nostalgia, as they offer a high quality, inexpensive method of doing hand-held 4x5 photography. And, they are a whole lot more portable than my Sinar view camera...

There were two styles of roll holders, knob wind and lever wind. The lever wind is more prone to defects. However the newer style lever wind backs had (4) pressure rolls to help with film flatness, compared to older backs which had only 2 rollers. I understand the old knob wind guts can be installed in the newer 4-roll shell, but can't testify to doing it personally.

All Graflex roll holders employ reverse curl film paths. If you let your film sit, it will take on this reverse set, and have more of a tendancy to bulge and lose focus. The Calumet roll holder operates like a sheet film holder and does not exhibit this problem.

Your Crown *must* have a Graflok back installed if you are going to use the Graflex-style roll holders. The Calumet holder will work just fine in a spring back or Graflok back.

Polaroid 545 holders will also latch directly into the Graflok back and let you remove the focus panel entirely.

-- Bruce Gavin (doc@compudox.com), January 18, 2000.