Category Archives: history

flowers in the attic

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. We often (at least I do) think about discovering historic artifacts during renovations, This happened just south of here at Geneva NY. Lawyer David Whitcomb discovered an old photographic studio during renovations to a commercial building he planned to … Continue reading →

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a tap in time

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. The old Kodak excelled at deciding what problems affected their customers and how to solve them. Ads like this LIFE ad in the issue of September 25, 1970 addressed one problem and silently showed how two others were solved. … Continue reading →

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how about photos in ten minutes?

Posted on January 31, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. 1941, war-time, and as the lawyers say, “time is of the essence”. Traditional photography took hours or days between the taking and the viewing of the results. But how do you get the results taken, and then viewed many … Continue reading →

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do-si-do and allemande left …

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. .. familiar words to square dancers everywhere, but did you know a special version of a “bicycle” for two in the early days was the dos-a-dos or back-to-back tricycle (photo is c1880). Member and cycling expert Lorne Shields showed … Continue reading →

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somethin’ flashy

Posted on January 25, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Did you ever hear of the ‘National Vulcanized Fibre Company’ (NVFC)? Neither did I. However, parts using that company’s products played a key role in the use of flash in photography. A number of companies in the early 1940s through … Continue reading →

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a festival of their own

Posted on January 23, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. From time to time,  my posts have mentioned the trend for smartphones to become the camera of choice for amateurs. These pocket sized marvels of technology have replaced the digital point and shoot cameras and are making inroads as … Continue reading →

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the long and the short of it

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. In the 1930s, Leitz sold a special short mount coded as COOED for the ELANG 9 cm f/4 Elmar lens head. This strange focusing mount and lens head were intended for use on the rotating focusing stage coded OORES … Continue reading →

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hey, hey, hey, it’s fat Elmar

Posted on January 20, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. In 1930, Leitz began marketing the tiny Leica with an interchangeable lens mount. According to Dennis Laney in his “Leica Collectors Guide” of September 1992, The medium telephoto 9 cm Elmar was one of the first three lenses added … Continue reading →

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ah! movies and cars- how great was that?

Posted on January 19, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. In the 1950s, I remember clambering in our car or a friend’s car and trundling off to the local drive-in to watch a movie outdoors and listen to a tiny tinny speaker hung on the widow. Sadly up here … Continue reading →

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keeping your head down

Posted on January 17, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Any enlarger I used was vertical in design. In fact, I never saw a horizontal enlarger until I visited the late Larry Boccioletti, one of the founders of this society. At the time, Larry was looking for an old … Continue reading →

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