Graflex.org

[Springback]

$125 and it looks pretty good to me from the pictures--on ebay of course! It has the tripod adapter, but alas, no red bellows (on the other hand, it has had new black bellows installed somewhere along the way!) What I'm really stoked about is that I already have two lenses on "C" boards---a 162mm Velostigmat Series II and a 203mm f/7.7 Ektar I'll borrow from the 5x7 Speeder when needed. What I'm curious about is what to keep this camera in---it doesn't come with a case, so can anyone recommend a good "container" that would fit a GVII?
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"A new philosophy generally means in practice the praise of some old vice"

[willysmb]

Red bellows are not only replacement one.
Military GV where mounted with black bellows.
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/willysmb/images/Graflex-View-2-General-Set.jpg

Laurent

[Springback]

Thanks for the info, Laurent
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"A new philosophy generally means in practice the praise of some old vice"

[RichS]

Congrats on the GVII!

Many later models came from the factory with black bellows, so it may well be original. You can check the serial number on this forum to find it's date.

Graflex also made a "Vulcanoid" carrying case for it. They usually run in the 50 dollar range if you can find one.

Be aware though that there is also a vulcanoid case for the GVI which is smaller and won't fit.

The GVII case is fairly easy to recognise over the GVI and Grpahic cases by it's dimensions.

Outside dimensions are: 20" long, about 13 1/2 inches high and 9 inches deep.

The easiest way to tell a GVII case from a Graphic case is the cover (if you can see a pic). The Graphic cases have a much lower cover. The GVII case has a top cover that is 4+ inches high. It's very obvious if you look at both of them. The GVII case also has a series of rivets in the front that are unique. Two columns of three rivets. Using all this info should help you tell one case from another. I just checked a couple of good sources but they don't list a GVII case right now. Places to keep an eye on are:

Pac Rim http://www.pacificrimcamera.com/
Manfred Schmidt http://www.manfredschmidt.com/graflex.html

KEH http://www.keh.com/

and of course ebay.


If you can't find one and are at all "handy", I had long ago bought a tool box (Home Depot or someplace like that) with dimensions enough to hold the GVII. The original case is basically just a box with two dividers (held by those rivets). The camera goes into the case upsidedown with the rail resting in grooves cut into the dividers. the tripod base remains on the rail which is why the cover is so high. It's not all that difficult to make such a case...

Good luck with your camera and enjoy it!
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"Ya just can't have too many GVIIs"
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[Springback]

Thanks RichS! I cna't wait until it gets here!
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"A new philosophy generally means in practice the praise of some old vice"

[disemjg]

Enjoy your new toy; the GVs are classy cameras. I have two IIs and one I; one of the IIs is a later one with the black bellows.

The cases do turn up; I recently found a good one at a local camera show. Check with Midwest, and watch ebay. Fifty bucks should get you a nice one. After market cases also exist, and one of my IIs is in such a case. If you see a case and are not sure, look for the V notches in the cross panels inside the case.

I have a 203 Ektar on the GV I; I'm surprised to hear that yours is being lifted from your 5X7 as I did not think that the lens would cover that format. How does it do on the 5X7?

[Springback]

disemjg,

The 203mm has very little wiggle room on the 5x7, and just barely covers, but on the speeder, used hand held, movements aren't much of an issue On my 5x7 Agfa I use a 215mm Ilex/Caltar which allows greater movements. I can't wait to see how the Wollensak 162mm Velostigmat will perform, but it needs a cla so I'll just have to wait (until I have the $$!)
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"A new philosophy generally means in practice the praise of some old vice"

[45PSS]

There is a Kodak Ektar Lens Catalog posted at http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info.html .
The opening paragraph for the 8" f7.7 Ektar reads: This lens, primairly intended for the Kodak View Camera No. 2D , and other 5 X 7 cameras, is of the symmerical, air spaced type which retains its corrections to a high degree when used for extreme close-ups. It gives extremely sharp definition over the whole field for all subject distances at maximum lens aperture.
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The best camera ever made is the one that YOU enjoy using and produces the image quality that satifies YOU.

[Springback]

Well, I just picked up a correct case on ebay for the GVII! My "kit" is slowly coming together
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"A new philosophy generally means in practice the praise of some old vice"