Did Graflex die because their product was too good?

[dave_s]

OK, photonetters, this occurred to me over the last day or so.

 

All of us know of examples where the major manufacturers have

screwed us over the last decade or two, in the interests of

maximizing profits. There's lots of examples: planned

obsolescence, mount incompatibility, unrepairable freak cameras,

shoddy digital SLRs with a high failure rate. You can read about

this ad nauseam on photo.net. You could argue that around 1990 a

transition occurred, so the manufacturers became fixed on their

shareholders' interest, instead of the photographers.

 

And yet these guys are thriving. So to turn back the clock a couple

of decades, did Graflex die because they didn't play this game?

They made simple, robust products, which were forwards and backwards

compatible. They weren't innovative, but there was almost no

obsolescence: if you bought a Pacemaker Speed or Crown in 1957,

chances are someone's still using it. This is of course great for

the user, but the kiss of death for the manufacturer. The Graphic

was the AK-47 of cameras-- it was simple and even a little crude,

but the damn things almost never failed.

 

Of course, the trend to smaller formats was another factor, but

Graflex was in there with good pro 120 cameras (top Zeiss and

Rodenstock glass) and even 35mm, so that's not the only reason.

 

So to return to the question: did Graflex bite the dust because

they were too good?

[walter_strong3]

Graflex bit the dust because of the emergence of 35mm and improved films that were developed for it.

[robert_davis2]

Well I don't know the real reason why they died but I'd wager it was like anything else. Made in America stopped meaning the right things in the minds of people. Graflex did make 35mm cameras. Remember neither of Scheinder or I guess Rodenstock lenses lived up the standard of Kodak lens before WW2. Top quality lenses used to mean American [other then Zeiss]. That changed.

 

The other thing is the world had too many camera companies. Some had to die. Graflex cameras are fine but what you liked about them is true of almost everything built in the past.

[roy_des_ruisseaux]

I agree that the switch to 35mm pretty much put a hurt on Graflex. I worked for the studio in Washington D.C. that was the official photogrpher for the 1968 & 1972 Inauguration. I was full time with them in 1968 and Graflex worked a deal to supply Graflex XLs & Graflex flashes to the staffers. I remember sitting in a meeting room at the studio a few days before things got going having the Graflex rep. showing us how everything went together. I pulled the boss aside after and told him no way was I going to start using a new camera two days before things got going he agreed with me and let me continue using a Rollei which I was familiar with and was much, much faster to use than the XL.I think a couple of guys and the boss opted to try them.We had the option of buying the units at cost after the event ..no one did though I bought one of their very powerful (and heavy) flash units.

[stemked]

Business isn't always about the best product coming out on top; Marketing often is. Think about all the useless widgets Wal-Mart shoves down people's throats. Rather than buy one high quality item from a small dealer the push is made to 'save' at the huge store (buying twice as much junk as one needs because of the price).

 

That said I have a Graflex and use it very rarely because of the points already noted by others.

[charles_stobbs2]

Many Graflex products were used by daily newspapers and they needed negatives that could be contact printed. I think enlargers must have been developed that were cheaper and had sufficient resolving power that smaller negatives could be used. I think.

[lemastre]

When photos from smaller negatives became acceptable to newspapers and

magazines, Graflex products went on the shelf. I well recall when Rolleiflexes

supplanted Speed Graphics, as entire photo staffs were given the TLRs, and glad

the photogs were to get them.

[dan_fromm2]

Um, Dave, I shoot a 2x3 Speed Graphic, also a Century. Price and the need (or lack of need) for 4x5 notwithstanding, more modern cameras are easier to use and in many circumstances are much much faster working. And yes, I'm aware of the claim that an experienced user can get off a burst of six shots in six seconds with a Grafmatic.

 

Yes indeed, it is possible to take good pictures with a Graphic. But for many uses there are better tools.

 

Graflex Inc. didn't move with the times, and things got worse after Singer bought Graflex. The XL, pretty much Graflex' last gasp, looks much better on paper than it is in use.

 

Cheers,

 

Dan

[richard_oleson]

I think they failed because people didn't want to buy their products any more.

 

A more contemporary version of the same story might be Olympus: Lovely, versatile product, great quality, even fairly reasonable pricing most of the time, and virtually obsolescence-proof: they found a way to make every new camera 100% compatible with all existing lenses, motor drives, focusing screens.... just about everything in the system I can think of except for one flash unit.... despite considerable advancement in capability over the years. But in the face of top-end autofocus systems, all that wasn't nearly enough to keep buyers coming in.

 

too bad, but that's the way things are...

 

:)=

[GerrySiegel]

I am speculating but I think Graflex went the way of Bell and Howell, Kodak camera, Argus, and TDC in abandoning the manufacture of cameras. Not that they were too good, but that the Japanese and Swedish competition was too good. Graphic was not the AK-47, more the Colt 45 and not quite that popular in the end. Still a solid machine,but durability was not solely theirs alone.

[john falkenstine]

1. Buy cut film

2. Put film and film holders in the dark bag

3. Using the reference tabs on the film sheets, load the film holders flip the little levers so the dark slides won't come out of the film holders.

4. Take stack of film holders, put in car

5. put heavy tripod in car

6. put heavy camera in car

7. put box holding light meter focusing hood, loupe etc. in car.

8. Go out and find scene.

9. unload equipment and get set up.

10. take light meter reading, get scene set up. (Set shutter and f-stop and repeatedly check.

11. load film holder, remove dark slide. Take precautionary light meter reading OOOOPS, spent so much time setting up that sun has moved, put dark slide back in, remove film holder, reset everything, put film holder back in and remove dark slide.

12. OK, I took a picture (Finally tripped the shutter)

13. Break all equipment down, put in car. RATS! FORGOT TO MARK FILM HOLDER, WHICH SIDE DID I EXPOSE???

14. Drive home quietly, angry girlfriend not speaking...ITS THE CAMERA OR ME...

15. Throw film in trash, put Speed Graphic on shelf as display item, start looking for new girlfriend....