Re: 70mm camera options?

[Larry Bullis <lbullis@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>I'd really like to get a 70mm camera to shoot some 70mm EIR film.  However I
>cannot afford a Hasselbald or a Mamiya with a 70mm back!  Are there any 

I see someone has offered some of the same information, but I'm sending 
this along anyway.  

I think that they have been discovered recently, too, and have got to be 
pretty pricey, but I use a Graphlex XL.  These haven't been made for a 
long time, but they are still available used.  They take a wide variety 
of backs; 120 roll in several formats, 70mm, polaroid, there is even a 
4x5 back but those are hard to come by.  The optics are excellent; zeiss 
and rodenstock.  I think you could probably fit one with a 70mm back, 
graphlok back, and a lens into $1k.  

I love mine.  If you get one, do be aware that the weak link in the 
system is that the cam followers in the lens mount are small plastic 
things.  If you get a camera that has one of these broken it may look 
good but the lens mount won't work and it will need repair.  This is not 
easy, because the type of plastic used is not one that welds; it needs to 
be done surgically.  I once got one repaired but that guy no longer does 
it and can no longer be found.  I still have one that needs repair, but 
since I have extra bodies, haven't been looking very hard.  

There are three of these things inside the lens mount on the camera body. 
 Check them all.  If they wiggle or appear cracked, send the camera back.

I, too, have an XL superwide, and it is absolutely indespensible in my 
opinion.  But then, I've made part of my living as an architectural 
photographer and it is wonderful for that.  The Brooks Veriwide is pretty 
much identical to it.  

Larry Bullis
Skagit Valley College


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