Hi everyone. I have just bought a Speed Graphic 4x5. Since it's all black, I guess it's an Anniversary. I would really love to bring this lovely camera back in great order. This would not take a lot of work, since there's not much wrong with it. I haven't tested it yet, but I can see no reason why it's not going to work.
What I want to do, is to make it look beautiful again. The leather on the dront and back has come off completely, leaving dirty metal visible to the naked eye. The camera came with the leather that had come off, so it is still complete. This leather however is looking bad. So I will look for some new on cameraleather.com. I am also planning to put a nice bright focussing screen in it.
Some questions I have regarding this camera: is there a way to take the green corrosion off the brass ehh thingies (what's the name for it. Quite a bit of screws are screwed into them...) Second: what paint would be best to paint small parts like screws (some are still black, others aren't.) and slightly larger parts like the metal frame around the lens (soory, I don't know all those words in English...)
The most important question: will a Polaroid 545 film holder fit in this camera? I have looked on this website to identify my back, and it's not a Graflok.
Well, I have more questions, but this should be enough for now...

If the ground glass is held in with flat springs, It's a spring back or a Graphic back. If there aren't any springs, and the ground glass is held in with a slide and the top and rail at the bottom, it's a Graflex back. Polaroid backs will fit a spring back but not a graflex back.

Thanks Les!
Are you talking about the ground glass itself, or the bigger thing thas holds the ground glass? (The part that can be pulled backwards to put a film holder in the camera)

The green wax is verdigris corrosion; you will find it where brass contacts leather. Scrape off the excess with a wooden spatula, and work off what's left with lighter fluid or denatured alcohol. Once clean, apply some paint over the brass before putting on the new leather to reduce the chance of the verdigris returning.

Any matte black lacquer or enamel paint will work; I use Krylon for most of my paint work on large surfaces and bottle enamel on small stuff.

Be sure to get any white corrosion off of the almuminum of the front bed before recovering it. Also, try Fargo (fargo-ent.com) for leather; they have had Morrocco leather in the past that would be the ticket. Use a strong contact adhesive such as Pliobond to attach it.