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Question for Ken/84 Bravo

Bubba Jr.

Back when I had the camera shop I bought a camera outfit called the Graphlex Ke-4 70mm Combat Rangefinder Camera. I had the metal case, lenses, and everything else except the flash. It was a heavy metal rugged beast designed to take high altitude photos (spy camera).

I was curious if you ever used one of them, and if you did, what you thought of it.


Joe

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4 comments

Date Votes
  • iceracerx

    Do you remember what focal length lens it came with? Were there interchangeable lenses for that beast?


    Edit: Cripes it had a film winder!

    Combat Graflex KE-4 Shutter Repair Test - Bing video

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  • Bubba Jr.

    If I remember right it had a 102mm, 135mm,& a 205mm. They mounted to the body like any rangefinder camera of the day. Twist on with a release button to remove it. They were quite rare and I got big money for it. After I sold it, I kind of regretted it.

    Joe

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  • KenK/84Bravo

    No Sir, never used that one. I believe we used one called the Speed Graflex in school. A push/pull lever on the right side.

    Once at duty station we were using Canon F-1's, we also had a Mamiya RB67Pro for Portrait work.

    Couple 4X5, and a 8x10 View camera as well.

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  • Bubba Jr.

    I know they were still using that camera in Nam, but didn't know how long after that they were still used. What I heard was that they took their pictures, then flew over HQ and dropped the film cartridges out of the plane, and rushed them to the darkroom. After processing they were taken to a large light table where they pored over the negative rolls with magnifying lenses looking for targets. At least that's what I was told, it may or may not be accurate.

    I still have a Speed Graphic in my collection. An interesting side note on the Speed Graphic cameras. They had a focal plane shutter, which means the shutter curtains went across the focal plane at varying widths depending on the speed selected. Early car races were usually taken with the Speed Graphic cameras. When the pictures were viewed the wheels and tires always looked oblong. The reason was the shutter speed wasn't fast enough to capture the movement and the car was moving so fast that the camera couldn't keep up.

    Joe

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