Week 13: 4×5 in the Auto Graflex

An Auto Graflex is a fun way to shoot 4×5 because its an SLR, with a big mirror, which allows you to use a wide aperture and then shoot immediately after focusing , as opposed to most 4×5 cameras, whose view is obscured by a film holder for a little while before shooting.  This makes the Auto Graflex more spontaneous.   Here’s a wonderful photo of some guys shooting a baseball game.  And here’s another wonderful photo.

The film is held in a magazine which holds 12 or 18 shots.  You advance the film by pulling a metal holder into a bag at the end, and pushing it onto the top of the pile of holders inside the magazine.   It has a dark slide, and can be easily removed from the camera.  Some of these cameras have a rotating back, though many just shoot in landscape format.

The camera seems to have some vignetting..or some small leak somewhere.  I’m not too concerned, as it gives the photos a unique look.

It’s widest aperture is f/4.5.  I love a shallow depth of field, so I always shoot it with that.   Its really fun to look through to compose and see that shallow depth of field with both eyes, which is a bit different than our usual one-eye peeking through cameras.

These photos are a bit grainy & uneven – probably because I’m shooting 1998 TMAX.

Here’s a photo of Jana & Kat looking at some 1962 World’s Fair slides I had just bought at an estate sale.

In this shot, I forgot to advance the film through the magazine to the next shot, and got a double exposure.

I’ll have a bunch more shots from this camera in the next week.  I just developed a bunch last night.

I wish I shot with this camera more.  Its a hoot to use, and people are receptive to getting their pictures taken with it.