Graflex
The "Graphic" Gang image by Neal Wellons (Image rights) |
The name Graflex may mean either:
- The main camera brand used by Folmer & Schwing, and (after 1905) the Folmer & Schwing division of Kodak
- The company that succeeded Folmer & Schwing when it had to be sold by Kodak in 1926
Contents
Company
photography related industry in Rochester (New York) |
American Camera | Bausch & Lomb | Blair | Century | Crown Optical Co. | Elgeet | Folmer & Schwing | Gassner and Marx | Graflex | Gundlach | Ilex | JML | Kodak | Milburn | Monroe | PMC | Ray | Reichenbach, Morey and Will | Rochester Camera and Supply Co. | Rochester Optical Co. | Rochester Panoramic Camera Co. | Seneca | Sunart | Walker | Webster Industries | Wollensak |
and in Rochester (Minnesota) |
Conley |
external links |
graflex.org - Rudolf Kingslake's "Optical industry in Rochester (N.Y.)" |
When a court had ordered that Kodak had to sell its Folmer & Schwing division, no buyers appeared. A new company was founded which was named Folmer Graflex Corporation in 1928. In 1945 it was renamed to Graflex Inc. . From the days of depression of the 1930s to 1957 the company grew from 100 to 760 employees. It made successfully sophisticated SLRs and press cameras as well as TLRs and several 35mm cameras, and some special-purpose cameras, e.g. for air reconnaissance. In 1976 Cambo purchased the complete tooling, know-how and production of the Graflex XL camera from Singer Educational Systems, and marketed a slightly updated version as the Cambo XL for a time.[1] Rights to the 4x5 Speed Graphic and Crown Graphic were bought by the Japanese manufacturer of Toyo view cameras around the same time.[2]
Cameras from Graflex and its predecessor Folmer & Schwing
Graflex 22 TLR image by Bill Strong (Image rights) |
35mm Film
- Graflex Ciro 35
- Graflex Graphic 35
- Graflex Graphic 35 Jet
- Graflex Century 35
- Graflex Century 35A
- Graflex Century 35NE
- Graflex Stereo Graphic (see also Wray Stereo Graphic)
- Graphic 35 Electric (name variant of the Iloca Electric)
- Graflex Photorecord
Medium Format Rollfilm
- Graphic 0
- 1A Graflex
- 3A Graflex
- National Graflex
- Graflex 22
- Graflex XL
- Graflex Century Graphic (described in the article Speed Graphic)
- Combat Graphic
- Graflex Norita
Auto Graflex showing typical style of early Graflex SLRs image by EspressoBuzz (Image rights) |
Sheet Film Cameras
- Auto Graflex - Drop bed 3x4, 4x5 SLR
- Compact Graflex - 3x5 SLR
- Naturalist Graflex - Telephoto 4x5 SLR
- Home Portrait Graflex - 5x7 SLR
- Press Graflex - 5x7 SLR
- Graflex Series B - 2x3, 3x4, 3x5, 5x7 SLR
- Graflex Series C - 3x4 SLR
- Graflex Series D - 3x4, 4x5 SLR
- Graflex Super D - 3x4, 4x5 SLR
- Graflex reflex models
- Graflex Speed Graphic (Super, Super Speed, Pacemaker Speed, Pacemaker Crown and Century Graphic)
- Crown View
- Graphic View cameras
- Super Speed Graphic
- Graflex XL
Super Speed Graphic image by rawheadrex (Image rights) |
Aerial Cameras
The K20, and perhaps others, were designed by Fairchild, and so may also be known as Fairchild K20.
- Folmer Graflex K20 Aircraft Camera
- Folmer Graflex K21 Aircraft Camera
- Folmer Graflex K25 Aircraft Camera
Notes
Links
- www.graflex.org resource site, especially for Crown and Speed Graphics
- Documents at Mike Butkus' Orphan Cameras:
- PDF manuals
- Catalogs (1920 - 1980s) showing pricing of various Graflex cameras when released.
- Graphic 35mm camera PDF manuals from OrphanCameras.com
- learn more about personalising the Speed Graphic camera with extreme lenses
- Complete Graflex camera listing with detailed info at Historic Camera
- Graflex Cameras Price Guide at CollectiBlend
- Cameras and User manuals at www.collection-appareils.fr (in French)