C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →slr-medium-format
The Graflex RB Super D is a 4x5-inch single-lens reflex camera manufactured by Graflex Inc. of Rochester, New York, introduced around 1941 and produced in various configurations into the early 1960s. The "RB" designation stands for Rotating Back, which allows the camera back to rotate ninety degrees between portrait and landscape orientation without moving the camera or film holder. The "Super D" designation reflects its position as the premium model in the Graflex reflex line, distinguished by a coupled focal-plane shutter with a broader range of slit widths than the standard D series.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 4x5 format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
View profile →C41
Kodak Portra 160 is a professional C-41 color negative film with fine grain, soft contrast, and natural color.
View profile →C41
Kodak Ektar 100 is a fine-grain C-41 color negative film with saturated color and high sharpness.
View profile →Develop 4x5 film
Labs in our directory that process 4x5 film.
Before you buy used
About this camera
The last and largest of the classic American single-lens reflex press cameras, with a rotating back and body-mounted focal-plane shutter.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 4x5 in (standard 4x5 film holders, Grafmatic) |
| Lens mount | Fixed lensboard -- non-interchangeable barrel, various sizes |
| Years | ~1941-1963 |
| Shutter | Focal-plane cloth, ~1/10s to 1/1000s (slit width adjustable) |
| Flash sync | ~None native (flash sync difficult with focal-plane on 4x5) |
| Viewing | Waist-level SLR mirror; sports finder for action |
| Back | Rotating back (90 degrees, portrait/landscape) |
| Movements | None -- fixed-standard SLR design |
| Battery | None required |
| Build | Aluminum alloy, mahogany, leather |
The Graflex reflex camera line descended from the original Graflex cameras of the early 1900s, which were among the first commercially successful single-lens reflex designs in the United States. The Series D and RB Series D were significant iterations through the 1920s and 1930s, leading to the Super D refinement. The "RB" rotating back feature had been present in earlier Graflex models; the Super D added improved shutter construction and a larger mirror box suitable for lenses up to approximately 19 inches focal length.
Production of the Super D overlapped considerably with the Speed Graphic line at Graflex. While the Speed Graphic dominated press work requiring portability and horizontal composition, the Super D occupied a different niche: studio portraiture, sports telephoto work from fixed positions, and any application where the reflex viewing advantage outweighed the camera's bulk. The Super D was substantially heavier and less portable than the Speed Graphic, limiting its use as a handheld roving camera.
Graflex discontinued the reflex camera line by the early 1960s as the Japanese medium-format SLR designs, principally the early Hasselblad and Bronica systems, offered more compact solutions with interchangeable lenses.
The Graflex RB Super D represents the apex of the American large-format single-lens reflex tradition. Its design lineage traces back to the fundamental development of the SLR concept at Graflex in the early twentieth century, and the Super D carried that tradition forward with the largest practical format and a rotating back that gave photographers compositional flexibility at a time when most large-format work required repositioning the entire camera.
Sports photographers of the 1940s and 1950s used Graflex reflex cameras -- including Super D variants -- from fixed positions at stadiums and racetracks, where the long lens compatibility and reflex viewing made precise framing of moving subjects feasible. The camera's large ground-glass also made it attractive for portrait and commercial work where viewing image quality mattered.
The Super D is also of historical interest as one of the last significant large-format SLR designs before the format effectively disappeared from professional use, replaced by smaller medium-format SLR systems that offered equivalent or superior image quality with dramatically reduced size and weight.
The RB Super D accepts lenses in barrel mount, fitted to a fixed lensboard. Common lenses used with the Super D include:
BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
View profile →BW
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
View profile →Graflex RB Super D
Image coming soon