I have a Crown Graphic that's obviously been cobbled together from several cameras - it's even painted black, so this is a user, not a collector camera.

That said, I like to use this camera like a press camera - carrying it around and shooting street and urbanscape photos with natural light and with an electronic flash.

The Synchro-Compur shutter on the 127mm lens has gone bad, and I understand the shutter can no longer be repaired.

My question is, what is the best way to get a reliable lens/shutter combination for this camera that will last a long time? It must have x-sync. Find an Optar or similar vintage shutter from someone such as Jim at Midwest? Buy a new Copal and send my old lens to Grimes for remounting?

Thanks for your thoughts.
John

paxety wrote:

The Synchro-Compur shutter on the 127mm lens has gone bad, and I understand the shutter can no longer be repaired.

John, why do you think your SynchroCompur can't be fixed? Have you asked Carol Miller?

If you must replace, eBay is full of lens/shutter combinations that will fit your camera and that can be closed in it. And of ones that will fit that can't be closed it it. Its hard to make a really bad mistake if you stick with Ektars, Xenars, and the like. Or with Symmars/Sironars and the like.

Cheers,

Dan

Carol Miller's website says she cannot repair the Synchro-Compurs. Parts are no longer available. She was the first person I thought of.

I'd like to find something dependable, and ebay is such a crapshoot. I suppose Jim is my best bet.

paxety wrote:

Carol Miller's website says she cannot repair the Synchro-Compurs. Parts are no longer available. She was the first person I thought of. I'd like to find something dependable, and ebay is such a crapshoot. I suppose Jim is my best bet.

John, whether Carol can do the job depends on what's broken. You might also check with Dean Williams and Tim Sharkey. Asking's cheap.

All that said, given the relatively low price of, e.g., 127/4.7 and 152/4.5 Ektars, you may well be better off buying another lens in another shutter than trying to get the shutter you have overhauled. And MPEX is a fine store.

Another alternative, since shutter sizes were fairly well standardized by the time the Synchro Compur came out, is to look for a modern shutter that's the right size. At the moment I'm using a #1 Copal Press that used to hold a 127/4.7 Tominon. Come to think of that, if you can live with the limited coverage, one of them might do for you. And I have a #0 Copal Press that came from a Sirchie Fingerprint Labs ID camera, it has a 105/4.5 Comparon in it.

I wouldn't rule out eBay or for that matter KEH. But whenever I buy a lens in shutter via eBay I budget for a shutter overhaul. Sometimes its needed, sometimes not.

Cheers,

Dan