Author Archives: Robert

projecting a colourful 3D display

Toronto. This article appeared in the September, 1940 issue of Popular Mechanics just a few years after Kodachrome arrived for 35mm transparencies created by an ordinary 35mm camera. Now these slides could be taken ready for 3D and projected so … Continue reading

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see you in Montreal October 16th

Toronto. Montrealer and friend Sol Hadef sent me a note with this poster. Pre COVID, Sol was a regular table holder at our fairs and a member of the PHSC. Montreal is a beautiful city in the fall. I went … Continue reading

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faking a fading light

Toronto. Earlier this year we discussed movie fades in relation to a polarizing filter set that could be affixed to many movie lenses for 8mm or 16mm cameras (a May 1940 article). A few month earlier, in October, 1939 another … Continue reading

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it pays to advertise (again) …

Toronto. … or so they say. There are many innovative ways to advertise and this article found by my good friend, George Dunbar, who shared it here with us, shows oner example. In the December, 1939 issue of Popular Mechanics, … Continue reading

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what goes around …

Toronto. … comes around. Or so the old saying goes. And to prove a point, the November, 1939 issue of Popular Mechanics carried this article about an unnamed American ‘inventor’ who came up with the idea of a circular film, … Continue reading

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better than a clockwork camera

Toronto. In May of 1939, Popular Mechanics did an article on a nameless camera that used an electric motor rather than the usual spring wound affair. Its ‘fresh egg’ was allowing a full 25 foot spool of film to be … Continue reading

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Kamloops in the news

Toronto. Over the past few years we have seen and heard about the horrific discoveries that began at the  the Kamloops Residential School. These shocking stories culminated in a visit by Indigenous Canadian delegates to the Vatican, an apology by the … Continue reading

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liquid silver

Toronto. In the days of films and glass plates, the job of a developer solution was to  convert the silver halides in the emulsion to metallic silver in proportion to the light intensity hitting the molecules. The process had to … Continue reading

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a modest merger

Toronto. In 1729, an anonymous article called, “A Modest Proposal” was written by Jonathan Swift, known for his satirical tales like, “Gulliver’s Travels“. The article was also intended to be a satirical piece but was taken as very serious when … Continue reading

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some say film …

Toronto. … others say analog (or analogue). But whatever you call the old emulsion and liquid chemistry-based photography, the prints have a certain je ne sais quoi charm and look about them. Our favourite editor, Rita Godlevskis, at PhotoEd sent me a … Continue reading

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