I have an RH8 on Grafloc 4x5 which has the knob winder instead of the lever winder. I have been reading that the knob winder type does not hold the film as flat as the newer lever wind types. This one appears to be a hybrid as it is a RH instead of a "23" but with knob wind. The Graflex site says that the difference is that the better types have rollers. My question - are the rollers they are reffering to the small pin rollers at the edge of the film plane which this one has. I don't use it much but would like to know if there is a problem that I need to compensate for. THANKS

-- Bob Finley (rfinbob@aol.com), April 06, 2000

Answers

I have the RH8 for the Graphic Century and it has knob wind but also two big rollers (a good 16mm diameter) at each end of the film backing plate, it also has small pin rollers at the edge of the film plane. The set up is similar to my RH10 with lever wind. I also have a RH12 with knob wind where the rollers at each of the film backing plate are smaller (11mm diameter)and less sophisticated than those of the RH8. Also the RH12 has no small pin rollers at the edge of the film plane. From my understanding, the first innovation for film flatness was the small needle rollers and the second innovation the improvement of the film backing plate rollers. The transition from knob to lever wind came somewhere during the second innovation. Hope this helps.

-- Julian Bell (job@webstar.nl), April 07, 2000.