After some practice with the Polaroid Land 800, I was at a point of no return.  I finally drown myself in the Large Format world.  After seeing some photos from the Kodak Aero Ektar lens, I have decided to get a Graflex Speed Graphic.  A couple of months ago, I was lucky enough to acquire a 1955 Graflex Speed Graphic from the US.  In the original box of goodies, from the expired pack film inside, it seems like the machine had not been used since 1967.

The machine was in mint condition and was definitely taken care of.  From the warranty card inside, I traced back to the original owner named Charles H Marshall, whom purchased this from McCurry Foto Co in Sacramento, CA.

Prior of receiving this brick, I purchased a Polaroid back which was proven to be super handy for testing out this beast.  When I was back in Toronto early this year, I attended the yearly auction from the Photographic Historical Society of Canada.  There, I picked up three Grafmatic sheet film holder for a great bargain!

When the camera arrived, I was faced with another issue, a super solid tripod for focus and film pack insertion. The Speed Graphic, I weighted it on the scale to be 3kg.  The film back adding another 0.5kg.  The Kodak Aero Ektar lens (which will arrive soon!) coming in at 1.5kg.  This totals to 5kg.  My old Manfrotto tripod can only support 2.5kg and a new tripod has to be purchased before I can go out and shoot!  After some research, Gitzo is out since what I needed cost around $7k HKD.  My beloved Manfrotto was also out since it will cost around $5k HKD.  I am not too kind to my tripods and I can’t justify spending so much on it.  Finally I settled on the Benro C-2570T + B-2 head.  The tripod itself only has three sections and can support up to 12kg.  The B-2 head supports 20kg.  This combination is rock solid and the carbon fiber tripod only weight in at roughly 2kg.

I need a cloth for focusing badly in bright outdoors.  I substituted that with my film dark bag for the time being.