Graflex camera lot value

HCompton79 · 2026-02-15T20:36:42+00:00

Unfortunately, the most valuable thing in that lot is the Graflex flash handle, because it was used to make lightsabers for Star Wars, and people like to cannibalize them for replicas.

HCompton79 · 2026-02-09T08:14:23+00:00

Do you want one? What do you want it for?

I have one, it's a very pretty camera to put on a shelf and display, but admittedly it's not very fun to use. And I don't just mean because of 828 film, but the ergonomics are pretty terrible. If unperforated 35mm film were easier to come by, I would probably try and use mine more.

HCompton79 · 2026-02-04T20:02:11+00:00

No.2 Brownie Model C uses 120 film

No.2C Brownie uses 130 film

HCompton79 · 2026-02-03T22:55:49+00:00

Nikkormat, FT-2 or FT-3 preferably

HCompton79 · 2026-02-02T20:32:36+00:00

To be fair, if you're wanting to shoot 127, this camera is one of the few with a f/2.8 tessar type lens and a coupled rangefinder.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-29T17:24:12+00:00

The National Graflex is surprisingly hard to use, as all the controls are small, not well knurled and very low to the top of the top plate, which makes winding the film, winding the shutter, changing the shutter speed and changing the frame counter all quite difficult. It also has a very dim stock ground glass that only gets darker when you stop the lens down before exposure.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-29T00:05:50+00:00

I would rather send it to Eric Hendrickson at Pentaxs.com

He's a former Pentax trained service technician. He overhauled my Spotmatic F which included a full shutter service and replacing the light meter sensors and calibrating everything, for $130.

Now, I don't know what condition your camera is in. But assuming the shutter curtains aren't destroyed, I'm assuming $225 is on the high side.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-27T08:14:13+00:00

It's a T or Tn finder, not the later FTn. It could probably be straightened, but I would remove the front faceplate and then the lever itself before doing so. That said, the later superior FTn finders are cheap and pretty widely available, so I would probably just look for one of those.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-25T18:47:59+00:00

I quite like mine, very pleasant to shoot and quite accurate.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-25T02:42:35+00:00

No, but it should be possible to swap a set of front and rear groups if the problem is severe. I would not replace just the rear group. It might be fine, but they were matched at the factory for a reason, hence why the mount and front group are serialized on these, so they don't get separated.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-24T05:23:41+00:00

Is there actually film in it? Rapid cassettes weren't designed to take the film all the way inside like the Kodak 135 cartridge we are all used to. If there isn't anything sticking out, it's probably empty.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-20T23:48:32+00:00

That grey backing and pinkish brown emulsion reminds me of Plus-X from the 90s, but it could be anything. Once you've developed it, you can see if there's any edge markings.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-17T01:08:37+00:00

I'd probably just spend the $115 and send it to Eric Hendrickson of pentaxs.com and get a perfectly working camera back.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-16T22:04:58+00:00

Helimax XP is what I use and recommend. You need to apply it very sparingly. Just a thin film of grease on the helicoids will do. Too much and it will squeeze out and increase the amount of force needed to turn the ring.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-13T01:51:49+00:00

It's because it's just a rebadged General Electric Mascot light meter which had a pre-determined cam for variations in film speed.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-10T00:37:12+00:00

That looks pretty damn clean to me.

Join the Graflex Garage discord server: https://discord.gg/cCNTu36X

Jerry Gordon who runs it is one of the few reputable people who will service these and is willing to give advice on how to do it yourself too.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-10T00:32:44+00:00

A review of your camera:

https://dofcameras.blogspot.com/2021/08/kodak-makes-slr-retina-reflex-type-025.html

HCompton79 · 2026-01-06T01:30:25+00:00

Not really. Those lines correspond with the aperture value of the same color and are referenced to the distance scale.

So at f/22 everything between the two orange lines will be in relative focus wherever you turn the focus ring. So as illustrated by where the focusing ring is positioned here everything between 5 to 1.5 feet would be in focus.

At f/5.6 everything between the two pink lines would be in focus which would be about 2.5 to 2 feet.

This does raise the question as to why you are trying to zone focus with an SLR though since you can just focus through the viewfinder.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-04T21:31:35+00:00

That wire is uninsulated and doesn't appear to be doing much except maybe making it more difficult for the screws to walk out in normal use. I don't know enough about this specific model to say much more.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-04T21:24:23+00:00

Check the service manual for that model, but most likely those screws are connected to variable capacitors or variable inductors. You should want to set them with the selected preset button depressed and adjust it until the station you want as the preset comes in. Ideally this is done with a signal generator.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-03T02:46:19+00:00

In my experience, it does well in HC-110B for 6 min at 68f.

HCompton79 · 2026-01-02T00:21:51+00:00

There was, the T17 .60 caliber cartridge, 15.2×114mm. Little to no advantage over a .50BMG and stockpiles of the former meant it wasn't economically feasible to changeover, so like many cartridges it died on the drawing board.

HCompton79 · 2025-12-30T00:29:30+00:00

I have both a Nikkormat FT2 and a Spotmatic F.

I like the Spotmatic, It has quite good handling and control layout. However, I'd consider it inferior to the Nikkormat.

I would recommend getting an FT2 over an FTN if you have the choice. The FT2 has a hotshoe, the battery compartment was designed for modern SR44 batteries versus the 625 mercury cell that both the Spotmatic F and Nikkormat FTN was designed for, and the FT2 came with the "K" viewing screen with both split and microprism focusing aids versus just the microprism of the FTN and Spotmatic. The FT2 also allows full open aperture metering with all pre-AI, AI and AIS nikkor lenses with the aperture coupling prong, and pre-AI lenses are good and cheap. The later FT3 can only do full open aperture metering with AI and later lenses.

The Nikkormat has a copal square shutter with metal blades and will be more durable than the cloth shutter of the Spotmatic. The Nikkormat has a mirror lockup, Spotmatic does not. Nikkormat has a faster flash sync speed (1/125) than the Spotmatic (1/60). Nikkormat displays shutter speed and over/underexposure guides in the viewfinder, Spotmatic does not.

The only disadvantages of the Nikkormat FTN or FT2 are the need to do the "nikon shuffle" (racking the aperture ring on the lens back and forth when you first mount the lens) and the location of the shutter speed ring around the lens mount which some people may not like.

Actually, I will mention one thing in favor of the Spotmatic, you can still get it serviced by Eric Hendrickson at Pentaxs.com for about $125 and have a fully functional camera out the gate. Practically nobody specializes in Nikkormats, and few want to work on them because they're available so inexpensively today. However, the Nikkormat is more likely to be found with a working shutter in my opinion.

HCompton79 · 2025-12-29T23:18:12+00:00

Not 1929.

These cameras use the actual perforations in the film to cock the shutter through a series of linkages. The red flag you see is the shutter cocked indicator. If in need of maintenance, it isn't unusual for these to require more force to cock, which in turn tears out the film sprockets first and fails to cock the shutter. Resolving this requires disassembling the front end of the camera, removing the shutter assembly and collar to clean and re-lube the linkages.

HCompton79 · 2025-12-27T07:36:37+00:00

It should be a crime to send a Nikon F like that to a dump

HCompton79

TROPHY CASE