Graflex Speed Graphic1947

History

Graflex Inc. grew out of the Rochester Optical Company and was acquired by Folmer & Schwing, which became part of Eastman Kodak, before eventually operating as an independent entity. Large-format press cameras had been produced under the Graphic name since the 1910s. The Speed Graphic line was introduced in the 1920s with the defining feature being the focal-plane shutter that allowed use of fast barrel lenses - at the time, shutter technology could not match the speed available from a body-mounted focal-plane mechanism.

The Anniversary Speed Graphic (1940) preceded the Pacemaker and differed in the front standard design. The Pacemaker Speed Graphic (1947) replaced it with a more refined front standard, improved bellows attachment, and a simplified body casting. The Crown Graphic appeared in the same era as the leaf-shutter-only lightweight variant. Both Pacemaker versions were produced in 4x5 as the primary size, with 2x3 (6x9cm) variants also made.

Production continued until 1973. By then, the 35mm SLR had displaced the press camera for most photojournalism, and Graflex ceased large-format camera production. The design had remained essentially unchanged for twenty years.

Why It Matters

The Speed Graphic is the most recognizable large-format camera in American cultural history. It appears in countless news photographs from the 1940s through the 1960s, identifiable by its flash bracket, the Speed Graphic nameplate, and the characteristic rectangular body. For a period roughly spanning World War II through the early 1960s, it was the standard equipment of American press photographers.

Famous images made with the Speed Graphic include many of the most widely reproduced American news photographs of the era. Weegee (Arthur Fellig) made his entire body of nighttime crime and social photography with a Speed Graphic and an Oster 4-cell flash. The camera's association with mid-century American photojournalism is sufficiently strong that it functions as a visual shorthand for the concept of press photography itself.

The focal-plane shutter is the Speed Graphic's primary technical distinction from the Crown Graphic and from European contemporaries like the Linhof Technika. It provides action-stopping capability (1/1000s) independent of lens shutter speed, though at the cost of flash synchronization complexity and additional weight.

Lenses & Accessories

The Speed Graphic uses Graphic lensboards; factory supply was primarily:

• Kodak Ektar 127mm f/4.7 - the standard factory lens; tessar design, sharp, common
• Kodak Ektar 101mm f/4.5 - shorter standard for tighter coverage
• Graflex Optar 135mm f/4.7 - rebadged Wollensak, common alternate supply
• Schneider Xenar 135mm f/4.7 - European alternative on some export models
• Kodak Wide Field Ektar 100mm f/6.3 - wide angle with reasonable image circle
• Barrel lenses - mounted without shutter for use with the focal-plane shutter only
• Kalart rangefinder - side-mounted coupled rangefinder, the most common accessory
• Graflex rangefinder - top-mounted alternative to the Kalart
• Grafmatic film holder - 6-sheet sequential holder, widely used for fast shooting
• Polaroid back - 4x5 Polaroid back for type 55 positive/negative and pack film

Sample Photographers / Notable Use

• Weegee (Arthur Fellig) - used a Speed Graphic with 4-cell flash for virtually all of his 1940s New York crime and street photography; his work is inseparable from the aesthetic of the camera.
• American wire-service photographers (AP, UPI) used the Speed Graphic as standard equipment from the 1940s into the early 1960s for domestic news coverage.
• Military photographers in the US Army Signal Corps used the Speed Graphic extensively during World War II and the Korean War for documentation and press imagery.
• Joe Rosenthal used a Speed Graphic to photograph the flag raising at Iwo Jima (1945), one of the most reproduced photographs of the twentieth century.
• Press photographers at major sporting events, political conventions, and crime scenes throughout the 1940s and 1950s used the Speed Graphic as the default tool for news photography.

References

• Camera-Wiki: Speed Graphic
• Wikipedia: Graphic camera