Category Archives: history

the alpha and the omega of enlarging

Posted on November 1, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. I first enlarged negatives when in high school. A few years later in Northern Quebec I bought my first enlarger – a very cheap affair labelled as a Federal. The small town I was in had only contact printing … Continue reading →

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a look in the future to see in the past

Posted on October 29, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Russ Forfar is a science nerd as well as once repairing film cameras in the days before electronics took over. Russ sent me a link to this intriguing article in Science Daily. The article, “Need for larger space telescope … Continue reading →

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in da frame

Posted on October 28, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. There are camera collectors and there are camera collectors. Over a couple of decades ago,  I analyzed the interests of our members so we could reflect the appropriate topics in our journal, and program material. At the time, about … Continue reading →

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an Exakta in my future

Posted on October 27, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. After a few months in Labrador, a few of us decided to buy a top quality camera. Many nights were spent discussing the pros and cons of various German makes, especially Exakta and Leica. A visitor had a IIIf … Continue reading →

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Montreal, Minolta, Marvellous

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Before heading north to Labrador, I spent a few months training in the old Salada Tea Building on St Lawrence in Montreal. To an Ontario boy, Montreal discounts were exciting. The best camera deals were said to be at … Continue reading →

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those were the days

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. As a kid I bounced between radio and photography. The first ‘real’ camera shop I ever entered was Vi and Joe Waterer’s CameraCraft in Barrie. The store was at one end of a long block. I had  joined the … Continue reading →

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where there’s a will …

Posted on October 23, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. … there’s a way. This old chestnut came to mind when I saw George’s email showing the famous NYC store, Willowbys, advertising the anvailability of Hasselblad cameras. A couple of words of explanation: Willowbys was a block-long 5th ave … Continue reading →

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an inspiration for the Hassy?

Posted on October 22, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Bentzin made cameras in Görlitz, Germany beginning in the late 1800s. The firm collaborated with Zeiss over in Jena to make high end cameras to use Zeiss lens designs. Sadly, both Jena and Gorlitz fell in the Soviet sector … Continue reading →

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an unusual roll film camera from Germany

Posted on October 21, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Have you ever heard about or seen a strange camera from the 1930s called a Makina III? Originally designed pre WW2 (one may have been auctioned off last May in Ohio), sales and manufacture were interrupted by WW2. The … Continue reading →

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when is a brick not a brick?

Posted on October 20, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. When its an Argus C-4! The Argus C-3 was an awkward rectangular weighty thing loved by all. In 1951, Argus took a shot at replacing it with a C-4 camera but the C-3 lived on. This ad on page … Continue reading →

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