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This is a Folmer Speed Graphic with none other than that hot speed demon kick butt Kodak 178mm f/2.5 Aero Ektar (an EM serno. That's 1943 for the lens). Call it and the camera somewhere around Fair/Good User condition. The body originally came with a low number EI serno on lens on it which says, '1948', but graflex.org says that 1947 was the last year for the Folmer. Maybe not? Has a spring back. Pay attention maggot! This is American Muscle Camera! Get the job done and that means, for you couch potatoes, a mildly invigorating workout at the same time. Personally, if your backpack doesn't weigh 50 pounds, you're not trying hard enough! Where are you going to get that narrow depth of field and bokeh necessary for that special impact? Only in America! Right here! 178mm wide open at f/2.5 on a 4x5 inch piece of real estate!! 100% made right here in the good ol' U.S. of A.
(Queue the Yankee Doodle music, no, make that the Marine's Hymn.) Have you got any idea how many thousands of dollars one of these masterpieces of image instantiation engineering would cost if it were made today? Ten thousand? $12,000? Nobody makes a lens this fast for 4x5! Nobody makes 4x5 cameras with onboard focal shutters! This is really a sad state of affairs! THE SPEED GRAPHIC WITH AN AERO-EKTAR IS THE BEST VALUE ON THE MARKET! The lens is a seven element dubbya dubbya two Biotar design variation and two of the elements are made with hot thorium glass. As a precaution, when 'not in use', put it away in a 'not in use' corner of a 'not in use' room of the house or down in the basement next to the radon pump. Just don't stow it under your bunk. Be smart and not paranoid. Respect is key. Your smoke detector is hotter and it is on the ceiling.
The lens is attached to the lensboard in a fashion that it can not be removed without taking out the 4 screws to remove the retaining bar at the bottom of the front standard. It will be shipped detached, so you will need a screwdriver to remove the bottom bar, put the lens back on and but the bar back on. That is because the lens is so fast that it is three inches in diameter and it is a very tight fit in that lensboard and front standard. There's not enough room for it to tilt out far enough because a good half of the lens is down inside the bellows. It works great and is very sturdy as the weight is more centered. There is a home-made 67mm filter ring on a brass shim that fits right under the hood/nameplate ring so that a filter and/or a second narrower hood may be used if you so desire. When on the lens it looks too small, trimming the outer glass view diameter a bit, but it does not vignette on the negative. The lens is supposed to spec out for at least 5x5 (over 7 inch image circle - 4x5 is only 6 diagonally which is probably why there is no vignetting even with a standard 67mm hood on it). The rear elements do appear to have a slight tint of brownish yellow, but the color negs I shoot are fine. I haven't shot chromes since the late 1970's. Why the heck do you? Wise up. A well executed obedient 11x14 print is more impressive and the color can be corrected. This lens has beautiful bokeh! Gobs of blades in the iris. Now some of the blades are showing some copper. Aperture ring is smooth with firm detents. The coating is blue (wartime circle L ?) and there is even a tiny bubble in one of the elements. I've used a 67mm hood on it and that's probably why I have no flare complaint from anything I have shot with it. No 67mm accessories are included. No lenscaps. No shutter. Oh, okay, I will include the 67mm rubber hood that works great. The lens has no shutter? That's right maggot! That is why it is on a Speed Graphic! Numb nu.. eh, dumb sh.. eh, That's why it's on a Speed Graphic! American Lens on an American Camera! DUH! Hooda thunket!? OOH RAH!
The camera has a focal plane shutter that is working great and with the top speed of 1/1000th to help open that lens up really wide. I've ran it through all the curtain combos and there are no leaks. Negative densities are consistent across all the speeds. Bellows are supple with tape only on two corners. At f/2.5 you don't need a fancy Beattie piece of glass to focus. Heck! You don't even need a dark cloth most of the time! I have experienced no problems with this combination, just glee. It works really well with infrared film too. Hmmm, I wonder if it was optimized for that. Aero? The rangefinder is intact and works, but the second image is very dim - like about 4 stops and it sure isn't set for this lens. Wait just a second! Don't tell me you're going to use the rangefinder with the lens wide open! That's asking for trouble because at 10 feet wide open, you might have all of 5 inches depth of field tops! Heck, the hyperfocal wild open is at 450 feet! Don't be stupid!
No autofocus. No auto exposure. No two and a half frames per second. No CCDs or memory cards. All of that boils down to - NO FREE RIDE!. Deliberate 100% American 'make it count photography' is here. This is indeed a part of our proud heritage that we should never forget! Real photography! Speed Graphics forever! This is real photography on real film, in real situations where thinking is necessary. Yes, thinking. Do you remember thinking? Do you like to think? Thinking requires effort of mind and will. It's rapidly becoming the single lost key to the art (& science) of photography. Thinking is how exemplary photographs are obtained - the old fashioned way, by earning them with purpose of thought and not shooting rolls off machine gun style stopped down to f/16 and gobs of depth of field. Don't you be a drive by shooter! Drive by shooting is crass, not class. Where is your honor? Clean up your act! Where is your self-respect? Get a Speed Graphic with an Aero Ektar and go kick something! Are you a photographer or just some photo equipment operator?! Quit being a weenie! You can choose to recognize the error of your ways. Repent and bid now for a chance at a life changing photographic enlightenment experience. If you cannot acknowledge the error of your ways, why have you bothered to read this far into the description? Well maybe, just maybe there is hope for you yet. Buy one! No apology is necessary for the superlative case. No brag, just fact. Can you handle the truth? Step up and be the All-American photographer you truly can be with an All-American Folmer Speed Graphic with a speed demon Aero-Ektar! I like the Folmer because I like the additional oddball shutter speeds that come with it. Me parting with this just could be your key to a chance to achieve self-actualized photographic bliss - if you will only apply yourself! Grab hold! Become enlightened! Buy one now! It's time for you to be a winner. Once again, you can do something about your terribly sad weenie of a situation - or you can go home crying to your mama! The choice is yours!
Experience is the best and most expensive education! Get one! OOH RAH! Semper Fi! Carry on.
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