I really just have a question about the age of the Graflex 22. Could anyone tell me what year it was manufactured and if the Graflex 22 with Graphex Graftar f/3.5 85 mm lens is one of the top of the line models? Thanks in advance for your help.

As far as I know the Graflex 22 is from the late 40's before that the camera was made by Ciro-flex.
Greg

from what I have the Graflex 22 was in production from1952 to 1956

I believe that the higher end models of the '22' had a maximum shutter speed of 1/400 and the lower end models only went to 1/200

but maybe this had more to do with date of manufacture

Kim

According to Morgan & Lester's "Graphic Graflex Photography" (10th edition, 1954, p. 395), the "22" came in three lens configurations: (1) 85mm f/3.5 Century; (2) 85mm f/3.5 Graphex; (3) 83mm (yes, 83) f/3.2 (yes, 3.2) Graphex. Shutter speeds on the Century were 1/10 - 1/200, on the Graphexes (Graphices??) 1 sec. - 1/400. The Graflex 22 was based on the earlier Ciro-flex; tools and production rights to this camera were acquired by Graflex in 1951. To me the larger question is, what the heck difference could there be between an 85mm f/3.5 and an 83mm f/3.2 that would justify carrying BOTH in the catalog?

Thank you all for your input. It has been most helpful!

Regarding the lenses, I think the 83mm was a four element design, while the 85mm was a three element. Can anyone else confirm this?

Sounds right to me. The 105 Graftar-in-Century shutter is a triplet, and I think the 85s were Graftars also. My experience with the 105 Graftar is that it's a pretty sharp lens, but it doesn't have the coverage you need for movements. This of course is not a factor with the Graflex 22. By the way, neither the article I cited in my previous post, from "Graphic Graflex Photography," nor the Graflex ad on page 422 in that same book, identify the lenses---only the shutters! Strange?

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<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Henry on 2001-11-28 17:16 ]</font>

The top of the line Graflex 22 had an 83mm 4-element lens just like the top of the line Ciro-Flex, it also had the better 1/400 shutter. The camera was renamed because manufacture switched from Ciro to Graflex. The Graflex 22 is almost identical to the Ciro-Flex, just a few small changes were made.

I have a Ciro-Flex D, E, and F. SO has a C that her dad bought new. Mine were bought on Ebay or a vintage camera store.

C, E, and F have shutters that go from T to 1/400.

D goes to 1/200.

D and up have some sort of flash-synch.

F has a fancier flash synch, plus a 4-element lens where the others are 3-element.

F models I own also have a paralax correction frame, so that as you focus the frame moves in the viewscreen to compensate for parallax. Other models I own don't have that.

Some of the models I own have had Fresnel viewscreens, and some don't. The F's don't, at least not the ones I've bought. Not sure if it was running change or something that previous owners added as an accesory from Ciro-Flex.

I suspect that there were lots of small changes over the course of the production run. Just the way things go in factories sometimes.

Interesting trivia - the Ciro-Flex factory still exists. I went by it a couple weeks ago while on a trip to Columbus. It's now a couple church ministries, a plumbing supply, and a karate school. Pictures supplied if you're really curious.

doug I would like to see some pictures of the ciro-flex factory.
thank you in advance

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: richmellor on 2005-04-29 10:54 ]</font>

I don't have a photo of the CF factory on this computer, but tell you what - if you want to drop me an email I'll send you one. Might be Monday before I can, as I'm heading out of town in a few minutes for most of the w/e.

doug@douggrosjean.com