Not
long after first using the Avus, I attended a camera show and came upon a Pacemaker Speed Graphic; it looked like a super version of the Avus. So I had to have it. And as soon as I got it home, I broke
it. I did something wrong when closing the case, and made pretzels out of the
focusing rails. Hangdog, I took it in to Mr. Park—who knew my name by now—and he put it back in running order. I was ready to play a reporter in the 1950s TV show Superman.
This
machine came with Kodak’s 127mm Ektar. It is moderately wide-angle for
the 4x5 format; about like a 35mm lens on a 35mm camera. Its shutter synchronizes with electronic flash; and it is sharp, sharp, sharp. To better assess this lens, I hunted down a broken Voigtlander Bergheil camera and took off the 135mm Heliar. Mr. Park mounted this on a Pacemaker lens board for me, tuned up its pneumatic shutter,
and I compared its performance with the Ektar's. The Heliar, as it is celebrated for
doing, achieves great things with color; but for black and white it has to yield the crown to the Ektar. Besides, the rangefinder on the camera is set for a 127mm lens. I
could change that, but it wouldn’t be smart. Why? When I’m working with the Heliar, I’m using big sheets of color film, and the knowledge of
what this is costing me makes me work slowly; so I may as well do my focusing on ground glass with a bag over my head.
As things turned out, I haven’t used the Speed Graphic often. Something
about claustrophobia and that bag. Also, Mr. Park couldn't get the bent rails back into like-new order, so the focusing
has a stiff zone. Every time I focus that camera, I remember what I did to it and feel like a knucklehead. And
furthermore... that monster plus its 4x5 film holders is, I’d say, ten or twelve times as heavy as an Avus kit. Its ever-ready case is a suitcase! If
I lived out of New York and traveled everywhere in a
car, the story might be different; but in a pedestrian city, I leave the big gear at home.
If God had meant us to carry around Speed Graphics, He wouldn’t have given us Rolleiflexes.
By
the way, if you are an equipment collector, you will love the Speed Graphic. You
can get all sorts of film backs and lenses for it, plus a Polaroid back and focusing lights and all manner of shiny flashguns. They are plentiful, and cost little. You
can even get new attachments for your Speed Graphic: its Graflock back has become standard, and its lens boards can,
of course, take on almost any lens.
I took my Speed Graphic up to the top of the Empire State Building one day. The view is not the only
film-burner up there; there are always tourists milling around. They have interesting reactions, and some of them wear,
uh, remarkable clothing. They are so involved in the scenery, as I discovered,
that they can ignore some guy staggering around with a strange camera and a suitcase big enough for a pilgrimage.
Although it seems unwieldy, the Graphic brought home most of the Pulitzer Prizes for news photography up through
1962. In '63, The famous Jack-Ruby-being-shot shot was captured with a rangefinder Nikon. After that coup, Nikon
displaced Speed Graphic in the winner's circle at Mr. Pulitzer's track.
My Pacemaker has a Graflock back, so I can put roll-film adapters on it. However, the adapters I've
seen are complicated and clumsy. Don't get them. As a matter of fact, don't get a Speed Graphic. Unless
you've been to the gym a lot.
