Category Archives: history

typewriters and cameras? really?

Posted on December 9, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. When I was a kid, a popular saying was that “a picture is worth a thousand words“.  In the late 1960s, there were two big ideas in amateur cameras: Super 8 home movies, and 16mm sub-miniature cameras. By then … Continue reading →

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it’s complicated

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Photographic product makers worked hard at besting one another to capture a larger segment of the ever growing amateur photography market. Typical of the strategy was this May 1969 ad in LIFE magazine touting Polaroid. The ad emphasizes its … Continue reading →

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professional photographer

Posted on December 7, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. From the very beginning of the art we had studio and landscape photographers. As the art evolved,  becoming faster in exposure, simpler in execution, and growing in popularity, the professional focus rapidly diversified. An example is this 1913 article … Continue reading →

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the gang’s all here

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. When Kodak invented their first camera and began marketing it in 1888, for the first time amateurs could take snaps on a roll film and send them elsewhere for processing. In this case sending the exposed film still in … Continue reading →

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All About Enlargers – Part A

Posted on December 5, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. What do you do when a photograph negative is too small? Enlarge it! You may be surprised to learn that enlarging apparatus came along well before the minicam revolution of the 1930s. In this special members-only supplement (vol 1-6) … Continue reading →

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THINK … small

Posted on December 4, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Decades ago, people said that to get ahead, one had to think big! IBM even had a catch phrase – THINK. Years later when I worked in  a data centre,  IBM folk could get these IBM signs in capital … Continue reading →

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and who might you be?

Posted on December 2, 2020 by Robert

Toronto, … asked my wife’s 90+ year old aunt many years ago.  The image at left was recently developed. It was from an exposed roll of film (from a bulk roll) exposed in the 1930s Leica IIIa. The film was … Continue reading →

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amping it up

Posted on December 1, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. When I was a school kid in grades 7 and 8 a few years after WW2, I was also an occasional  projectionist for junior classes. We showed 16mm educational movies on (to me) a massive Ampro 20 sound projector. … Continue reading →

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quite a mouthful

Posted on November 30, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. In the 1950s, the German company Stubner (or Stuber – did he work for Leitz?) made these cable releases. When sold by Leitz for the Leica, they were signed Leitz on the raised button and a 10 inch cable release … Continue reading →

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silver and glass

Posted on November 29, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. George Dunbar came across this article on Kodak’s work on films and lenses. It appeared as the article “Brains of Sliver — Eyes of Glass” in the April 1930 edition of Science and Invention magazine. The article covers Kodak’s … Continue reading →

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