a hot time in the old town tonight

Posted on January 26, 2023 by Robert

A March 1950 ad by Kodak touting the use of Lanthanum glass in its lenses

Toronto. When I first saw this March 1950 ad for a Kodak lens that used Lanthanum, I immediately thought about the radio-active Leitz lenses I remembered reading about.

To create unique glass characteristics, many glasses were melted with pinches of stuff like rare earths such as Lanthanum added. I looked up Lanthanum and learned that most Lanthanum is inert – except that there is a very small percentage of a Lanthanum isotope that is radio-active.

Looking further the next day, it turned out that certain high end lenses from the 1950s were indeed slightly radio-active due to using elements made from glass with slight amounts of Thorium  Oxide which is radio-active with a very long half life.

So indeed some 1950 era lenses were slightly radio-active – but not from using glass made with a touch of Lanthanum rare-earth added!

Thanks to my good friend, George Dunbar for discovering and sharing the March, 1950 ad from Popular Mechanics.

 

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flattop

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Robert

Think enlarger, think Kodak, think Hobbyist!

Toronto.  Post WW2, Kodak made goods to be all things photographic ensuring any new comer to the hobby would automatically think ‘Kodak’ when outfitting his/her camera, darkroom, studio, etc.

Enlargers were no exception. In the early 1950 ad shown, Kodak advertised its ‘Kodak Hobbyist’ enlarger and accessories. Popular at the time were fluorescent lights and the so-called ‘cold light’ enlarger using a circular tube and a specially shaped and painted enlarger head to produce an overall even illumination.

The touted benefit of cold lighting was the elimination of dust spots on the negative – those missed by any careful cleaning process. Traditional lighting used a condenser and a bright point source light that boosted contrast, print resolution, and any pesky bits of dust on the tiny negative.

A tip of the hat goes to that energetic researcher and very good friend, George Dunbar, for discovering and sharing this ad with us.

NB. The post title is the name of one of Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy comic villains (and the look of Kodak’s enlarger head)!

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a mystery stereo viewer made in Vancouver

Posted on January 24, 2023 by Robert

a Stereo-Phot stereo viewer from mid last century.

Toronto. A PHSC Member from Edmonton came across an unusual stereo viewer made by Stereo-Phot in Vancouver around the end of WW2(?).

Brian writes, “I have a couple of binocular viewers made by the Stereo-Phot Company, Vancouver, B.C. and I’m curious what photographic purpose they served.

“The viewers have a pressed metal body with a crinkle finish, a set of viewing lenses on one end and an opaque glass screen opposite. The viewing glass is approximately 5 1/2 inches (14 cm) across and is 3 inches (7 1/2 cm) vertical. There is a slot (approximately 5 1/4 inches long) on top of the viewer that a slide could go into, but it’s narrower than a classic Victorian stereo view.

“An internet search of the Stereo-Phot Company gave no results. Is there anyone there who has some insight?”

NOTE: The standard for stereo transparencies was set by the Stereo Realist at 1-5/8 inch x 4 inches – smaller than the Stereo-Phot. If any viewer can help out, drop me a line at info@phsc.ca and I will contact Brian.

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blues in the night

Posted on January 23, 2023 by Robert

Herschel 1842 – Lady with a Harp – Cyanotype

Toronto. In the days of back and white films, prints were toned for artistic purposes and sometimes for protection. Gold toning helped protect the print and extend its life. We all remember sepia toned prints, The brownish colour was a popular alternative to the basic B&W print.

Occasionally iron was used to give a blue cast to the print, or create cyanotypes or blue prints. Blue prints were typically used by engineering firms and manufacturers rather than photographers.

Note. The title of this post is the name of the 1941 song, “Blues in the Night” sung here by Cab Calloway.

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a light purple cast

Posted on January 22, 2023 by Robert

using colour cast for an artistic purpose

Toronto. In the days of colour films we used the correct transparency film or adjusted filters while making colour prints from colour negatives to attempt to get the correct (neutral) white balance.

When digital images and tools like Photoshop came along, we spent hours fussing with colour balance to eliminate any colour cast in the shadows or highlights.

Modern day cameras and smart phones make this simple with an auto white balance setting in the camera, smart phone or computer software.

Lomography, long  a proponent of colourful cameras and special films, recently announced a revival of the easy to use (and reuse with any 35mm film) ‘one-shot’ camera with built-in film and flash. Their novel twist is to make the camera’s colour film ‘artistic’ by offering built-in colour casts!

Lomography explains, “Discover crazy color shifts at every click of the shutter with this creative camera – skin tones pop in bright blues, skies glow orange and golden gradients grace the frame. Portable and ready for anything – this pocket-sized Simple Use Reloadable camera shoots undeniably analogue snaps and is reloadable with any 35 mm film on the market! Made for street, action and creative photography this new addition to our much-loved family of Simple Use cameras is keen for experimentation!

NB. The post title is a riff on a line from the 1939 song, “Deep Purple” sung here by April Stevens and Nino Tempo.

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tip toe

Posted on January 21, 2023 by Robert

… through the tulips

Toronto. Our favourite editor, Rita Godlevskis sent us the latest info from PhotoEd magazine including her latest digital issue featuring “Botanical Inspiration”. The linked page also covers many events of interest to photographers, and collectors, plus software, and a call for submissions for Food photos.

Join Rita and the gang  in the above link to the digital notice for more information.

You may remember the song that gave this post its name – most recently sang in falsetto with a ukulele accompaniment by an actor called Tiny Tim …

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the way we were

Posted on January 20, 2023 by Robert

A quiet-looking King Street, Saint John, NB, circa 1870, Canada from the LAC in Ottawa courtesy Daily Mail article ERRATA: Shown as Toronto initially, not Saint John. 

Toronto. Back on July 1st, 2017 Alice Evans wrote an article featuring photographs from 1867 and a few years later to show how we looked around confederation.

The photos and article appeared in the Daily Mail. The title of the article is a bit long winded: “Birth of a nation: On Canada Day fascinating photographs show how the wild untamed country looked when it first came into being in 1867“.

In those pre-COVID days of 2017, we had a program celebrating the 150th anniversary of the founding of our country.

In any case, connect to this link at the Daily Mail website and see, “the way we were”. My thanks go to George Dunbar for sourcing and sharing this article from a few years ago.

ERRATA: Trish J writes, ” I went to the Library Archives of Canada’s website and did a search for King Street, Saint John, NB”.

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Archives of Ontario puts images online

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Robert

A church in the village of Willerval, which was captured by the Canadians during World War I (I0004799)

Toronto. Photography Historians take note! The Archives of Ontario has taken to the internet offering numerous free images from selected fonds in its holdings.

Sean Smith of the archives writes, “Good Morning,
“I hope that this e-mail finds you well and that you are enjoying 2023 thus far.

“I am not sure if you are aware, but thought that I would share that the Archives of Ontario has been uploading high resolution images from its collection to the Wikimedia Commons as part of its GLAM Wiki initiative. To date, we have added nearly 4,500 images from roughly 13 collections as part of this work. Your members might be interested to spend some time in this space and to learn that all of the images are free to download and use.

“Please feel free to share this information. I am happy to answer any question you might have. Otherwise, you can find everything by going to: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:GLAM/ArchivesofOntario.

“All the best,

“Sean

Sean Smith
Senior Archivist
Archives of Ontario”

If you wish to contact Sean, please email info@phsc.ca and I will contact him.

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brass monkey time

Posted on January 18, 2023 by Robert

frozen falls in late 1800s

Toronto. On January 8th, the Insauga website had an interesting article by Don Redmond titled, “Can Niagara Falls ever fully freeze over?“. Ignore the many, many ads and instead read the words and see the photos.

We had a speaker at one point who also discussed the falls freezing over. And we learn from Mr Redmond that at a few times in past years, it did look like the falls froze, but underneath the ice, the water still flowed on its way to Lake Erie.

A thank you is due to my good friend and fellow photo enthusiast, George Dunbar, for discovering and sharing these photos.

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a colourful projection 

Posted on January 17, 2023 by Robert

A Kodak 2A projector shown in an October, 1949 ad for Kodak projectors, etc.

Toronto. Most of you don’t remember seeing colour slides let alone colour projectors. I used to buy the Kodak frames to hold self-developed 35mm transparencies by Agfa (colour slides) in those pre-carousel days.

A household  iron sealed the each Kodak frame (folded in half over the single colour transparency). If you avoided touching the delicate transparency with the iron, a projectable and viewable slide resulted.

A few years after WW2, Kodak promoted some new ideas like colour movies, Kodachrome slides, and the then ubiquitous slide projectors. Once the innovative Carousel series from Kodak hit the market, slide projector design changed forever.

A few decades later, when smart phones and the digital wave hit, even the Carousel design and its competitors disappeared into history.

In this post, we have an interesting advertisement from 1949 courtesy of George Dunbar and his investigation of ads and articles that reflect North American photographic history in the last century.

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