[LargeFormat] WWII signal Corp newsgroups
Les Newcomer
largeformat@f32.net
Wed Jan 1 00:54:32 2003
The Graphic Combat camera used a rigid body and a helicalmounted
Anastigmat lens rather than sliding boxes. There was no rangefinder, Since
the lens was deeply recessed, there were thumb wheels/gears to drive the
shutter speeds and focus. It's always been said that the combat was
derived from the ringside camera, but from looking at all of the aerial
cameras F&S made before during and after WWI I often wonder. The other
curiosity is that even extremely rare Graphic cameras show up sometime,
either at the Eastman house, or on ebay-- but have yet to see a ringside
camera anywhere except in Graphic Graflex Photography. The Combat Graphic
made it in at the end of the war and the ones left over were re-tagged as
a "Graphic 45" not to be confused with the "Pacemaker 45" to come along
later.
From what I've gathered the first Anniversarys for the military was the
Type C-3 as in "Camera, Ground, Type C-3" and was straight off the shelf,
we didn't have time to have a committee in DC think up silly specs and
certainly no time to paint anything green. There is some confusion about
the "war time Speeds being all black" (there is always confusion and
contraction when dealing with Graflex) From looking at the serial number
records and what Mr. Edward Reidel of Ottawa has done, it seems most of
the chrome disappeared in early '43, and yet I have a black Speed with a
very odd supermatic (with a Wolley Velostigmat no less) that was done, not
in smooth dull black laquer, but in wrinkle finish black--including the
optical viewfinder(which is metal not bakelite)that was built in Sept of
'41-months before Pearl.
The KE-12 was part of the PH-104 set and the PH-104 set does show up in
the records (but not KE-12). The KE-12 was the first to go OD green,(I
believe) it was a side RF Pacemaker but without a side release on the body
and the back, while being a Graphlok, did not include the slide locks.
PH-47-H and E, and J
These seem to be off the shelf cameras, but couldn't descern any of the
variations. Which is my goal.
Then comes the C-6
http://home.twmi.rr.com/lnphoto/c6.JPG
which could easily be, from my uneducated eye, a PH-47
and then this one
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1948270276
Which looks like a common top RF Speed, but I noticed now there is no
governtment designation, ie Signal Corp, Navy,etc. just US Government.
Does the AF part of the contract signify Air Force?
On Tuesday, December 31, 2002, at 09:15 PM, Eve Girard wrote:
> http://www.peterlanczak.de/simmon_combatcamera.htm
> Not one tad bit of dispute re the Omega camera!
> The Simmons Combat Camera does have some similarities to the Graphics, but
> not many. It's quite a unique beast in its own right. It has a round
> lens
> shroud which swing up and over to become part of the "sports" finder. The
> Camera was designated PH501/PF and was set up for 2x3 film packs only. I'
> ve
> enclosed the link to Peter's site with the hope that the curious will find
> their answers there.
> Eve
>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Eve Girard" <evegir@reachone.com>
>> To: <largeformat@f32.net>
>> Sent: Tuesday, December 31, 2002 7:44 PM
>> Subject: Re: [LargeFormat] WWII signal Corp newsgroups
>>
>>
>>>
>>> As much as I hate to dispute Mr Knoppow over ANYTHING, I
>> do have to lodge a
>>> quibble over the Simmons Combat Camera. Peter Lanczac is
>> always on the
>>> money with his research! The Combat camera was a
>> focal-plane shuttered
>>> beast with no resemblance to the later Omega or Koni Omega
>> cameras that
>>> followed. According to Peter, the Combat camera saw
>> service in the closing
>>> months of WWII. It seems that this is very much "pre" any
>> "Omega"
>>> designators.
>>> Eve
>> This rings a bit of a bell. I seem to remember another
>> camera similar to the Combat Graphic, perhaps buit to meet
>> the same spec. As someone else mentioned (I think) the
>> Combat Graphic was based on an earlier Graflex product
>> called the Ringside Graphic, made for photographing boxing
>> matches. It was essentially a bellowsless Speed Graphic.
>> However, the Omega Camera was definitely a mid-1950s
>> product. It used 120 roll film and shot 9 pictures per roll
>> in what Omega called "Ideal Format" i.e., the same aspect
>> ratio as 4x5.
>>
>> ---
>> Richard Knoppow
>> Los Angeles, CA, USA
>> dickburk@ix.netcom.com
>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Hi all
>>>>> I have a Koni Omega medium format camera here. I heard
>> it
>>>> was used and
>>>>> actually designed for either WW2 or the Korean war or
>>>> both. I found this
>>>>> link just now in the search engines.
>>>>> http://www.peterlanczak.de/koni_overview.htm
>>>>> Bye
>>>>> Bob
>>>>>
>>>> The Omega camera was originally made by Simmon
>> Brothers
>>>> who make Omega enlargers. They came out in the mid to
>> late
>>>> 1950's. Possibly early enough to have been used in Korea
>> but
>>>> not during WW-2. I don't know when the design was
>> aquired by
>>>> Koni. The camera came out about the time that press
>>>> photographers were switching from 4x5 Speed Graphics to
>>>> smaller formats but it was never very popular.
>>>>
>>>> ---
>>>> Richard Knoppow
>>>> Los Angeles, CA, USA
>>>> dickburk@ix.netcom.com
>>>>
>>>
>>
>>
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