Graflex RB Super D1941

History

The Graflex reflex camera line descended from the original Graflex cameras of the early 1900s, which were among the first commercially successful single-lens reflex designs in the United States. The Series D and RB Series D were significant iterations through the 1920s and 1930s, leading to the Super D refinement. The "RB" rotating back feature had been present in earlier Graflex models; the Super D added improved shutter construction and a larger mirror box suitable for lenses up to approximately 19 inches focal length.

Production of the Super D overlapped considerably with the Speed Graphic line at Graflex. While the Speed Graphic dominated press work requiring portability and horizontal composition, the Super D occupied a different niche: studio portraiture, sports telephoto work from fixed positions, and any application where the reflex viewing advantage outweighed the camera's bulk. The Super D was substantially heavier and less portable than the Speed Graphic, limiting its use as a handheld roving camera.

Graflex discontinued the reflex camera line by the early 1960s as the Japanese medium-format SLR designs, principally the early Hasselblad and Bronica systems, offered more compact solutions with interchangeable lenses.

Why It Matters

The Graflex RB Super D represents the apex of the American large-format single-lens reflex tradition. Its design lineage traces back to the fundamental development of the SLR concept at Graflex in the early twentieth century, and the Super D carried that tradition forward with the largest practical format and a rotating back that gave photographers compositional flexibility at a time when most large-format work required repositioning the entire camera.

Sports photographers of the 1940s and 1950s used Graflex reflex cameras -- including Super D variants -- from fixed positions at stadiums and racetracks, where the long lens compatibility and reflex viewing made precise framing of moving subjects feasible. The camera's large ground-glass also made it attractive for portrait and commercial work where viewing image quality mattered.

The Super D is also of historical interest as one of the last significant large-format SLR designs before the format effectively disappeared from professional use, replaced by smaller medium-format SLR systems that offered equivalent or superior image quality with dramatically reduced size and weight.

Lenses & Accessories

The RB Super D accepts lenses in barrel mount, fitted to a fixed lensboard. Common lenses used with the Super D include:

• Kodak Ektar 190mm f/5.6 - common normal lens for the 4x5 format; tessar design
• Kodak Ektar 127mm f/4.7 - shorter normal; covers 4x5 with modest coverage
• Kodak Commercial Ektar 203mm f/7.7 - high-correction lens for commercial and portrait work
• Bausch & Lomb Tessar-type lenses - various focal lengths; pre-Kodak supply era
• Telephoto barrel lenses -- the large lensboard opening and focal-plane shutter allowed long telephoto lenses not practical on other cameras of the era
• Grafmatic sequential film holder - 6-sheet sequential holder; useful for sports sequences
• 4x5 sheet film holders - standard Graflex/Fidelity/Riteway type

References

• Camera-Wiki: Graflex RB Super D
• Wikipedia: Graflex