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Monday, July 02, 2007

Got myself a Graphics 35 camera, but....

A month ago I happened to stumble upon a Graphics 35 camera at an outdoor junk/garage sale (see blog-post about the camera here).
Its rather unique push-focusing mechanism and classic looks intrigued me and it was not long until I was the happy owner of a mint copy of this odd camera. Heck, it even came in the original box from the 50's along with all possible accessories - all in unused condition. Things couldn't be better. But, then I decided to...use it.

This is a horrible camera. There is no way around it. It sucks.

Let's see, what
didn't I like;
a)
Weight. It's heavy. It weighs more than my Leica M3,
b)
Focusing. My initial fascination with the very unique focusing system quickly turned into frustration over what in reality was a rather poor ergonomic design choice.
c)
Viewfinder. One small window for rangefinder focusing and a slightly larger viewfinder for composition. The focusing window is potentially the smallest one I have ever seen and is even further reducing the pleasure of using this camera.
d)
Shutter speed range. Fastest shutter speed is 1/300. Enough said.
e)
The shutter. After advancing the film the shutter needs to be manually cocked. Something I kept forgetting and caused me to miss the shot I had intended to take. In addition to this the shutter release is located on the front of the camera and, this is ingenious..., is a lever that you pull to the right. So after you have focused the shot you move your finger down to the lever and pull it outwards, to the right. Fantastic.
f)
Film frame counter. It's manual in that you have to set it to the number of frames of the film. Minor inconvenience taking the above into consideraration.

What
did I like;
a)
The lens. The camera I got has the slower f/3.5 lens but it performed fairly well in a number of situations both inside as well as outside. It was the one really positive surprise.
b) Hm. Nothing else really.

Below are some sample photos taken with the camera that shows that it does have the ability to render light and dark onto a strip of film.






Away it goes
Now, I'm sure that different people 'bond' differently with different cameras so it may well be that there is someone out there that would love to own - and use - this rather unique piece of... so I'm more than willing to sell mine to anyone that think that they can give it a good home.

The camera came is in near un-used condition (wonder why...) after having had two rolls of film through it. It comes with the original colourful paper box, original flash, leather case, wrist strap and shoulder strap. All in mintish condition. I paid about $60 for the whole package including shipping and would be more than happy to let someone else suffer with it for the same price.

4 Comments:

Blogger Sigivald said...

In that condition, I'd toss it on eBay - nobody here's likely to buy it after that review!

eBayers seem to be willing to pay 20-30 bucks for those in average user condition.

Near-mint with a box, you could even turn a profit to a collector.

July 02, 2007 1:44 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'll buy it. This is identical to my very first 35mm camera which I got at age 14, in 1959. Call me a sentimental old fart but I'd pay that much just for the nostalgia value.

Howard Ritter
hlritter@bex.net

July 02, 2007 7:35 PM  
Blogger Richard said...

Howard,
email sent :)

July 02, 2007 9:07 PM  
Blogger g.o.k. said...

Rich, just stopped in to see what you've been up to. Now the next time you see a Graphics.35, you can say, "... been there."

As always, enjoyed your slideshow.

reagan

July 08, 2007 10:59 PM  

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