I’m very excited to start using this combination of lens and camera. The camera is a WW2 1942 Speed Graphic which was standard issue to US Army Signal Corps photographers and was given the model name PH-47E.
Well documented to have taken the majority of photographs from the home front to the front line during the war. After the war the US government ordered these cameras to be destroyed, bulldozed in fact unless the individual photographers wanted to purchase their cameras after the war and these are the rare few that still exist.
I’ve spent some time taking apart and cleaning the camera up and it’s come up a treat. Shutter speeds seem to be working correctly now as they were a bit slow but I will be testing it out in the field soon.
The lens is from WW2 era too and was used in the US and Royal Air Forces. Its a 7″ 178mm Kodak Aero Ektar and was used for aerial photography during the war and has an aperture ranging from F2.5 to F16. I found the lens online locally after being used as a doorstop!
The lens elements do have a radioactive coating of Thorium but it is documented that the levels are un-harmful.
The camera did come with the original lens too but I’ve been after a camera for some time now to pair the Kodak Aero Ektar 178mm lens to and this fits perfectly (with a few modifications) with the camera having a shutter built in and the lens not having a shutter.
Looking forward to using this combination primarily for portraits with that depth of field.
Update: First trip out photograph is HERE.
Graham Binns Photography
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