Category Archives: history

better than a clockwork camera

Posted on August 9, 2022 by Robert

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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liquid silver

Posted on August 7, 2022 by Robert

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

Posted on August 6, 2022 by Robert

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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before we had Xerox …

Posted on August 4, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. Before we had the modern Xerox copiers,  photography helped businesses make decent copies, A brief article in the August, 1939 issue of Popular Mechanics describes a special camera that was considered ‘portable’ and printed directly to special paper. A … Continue reading →

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rolling with the punches

Posted on August 3, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. This ad appeared in the September, 1939 issue of Popular Mechanics. At the time, Burleigh Brooks was the American importer of various German cameras including the Rollei. This ad was likely submitted about 3 months earlier in June of … Continue reading →

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lens board connects to the lens mount

Posted on August 1, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. For most of the 1800s and early 1900s, cameras had a focussing means situated between the lens board and the media making the media-to-lens distance relatively unimportant. However; when camera bodies became rigid and the focussing means moved to … Continue reading →

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a wonderful view

Posted on July 31, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. Throughout the 1800s and into the early 1900s, the view camera was a popular camera design. Everyone knew a wooden box and bellows on a tripod meant a photographer was at work! The view camera was rather simple in … Continue reading →

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see anyone you know?

Posted on July 30, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. In the late 1960s and early 1970s when camera collecting took off, a subset of collectors included photos in their collection. I think it was a bit random at the beginning, then collectors realized cased images like daguerreotypes and … Continue reading →

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puppy love

Posted on July 28, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. In the 1930s when this ad was displayed (May, 1939 issue of Popular Mechanics) Graflex was a stand alone company once again and worked hard to gain access to the amateur photographers in America. The company ran photo contests … Continue reading →

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not all bad

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. The great depression was a nightmare for most folks, culminating in the second world war. A sliver of silver lining in the gloomy clouds of depression was the fall in most retail prices. By June of 1939, even the … Continue reading →

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