the jig’s up

Posted on January 24, 2022 by Robert

a ‘fake’ jig in 1940 to discredit the infamous

Toronto. My good friend, George Dunbar, spotted this 1947 ad by Kodak portraying Mr Hitler dancing an inappropriate jig in 1940 during the fall of France. George high-lighted one line in the advertisement which proclaimed, “with unique reality and objectivity”.

Perhaps unbeknownst to the ad editor, the picture selected and the story about the dance was based on a fake bit of artistic looping of movie film by Scottish-Canadian John Grierson in England. The story of the loop was uncovered again recently by Dr. Joseph Coohill, AKA, “Professor Buzzkill”  in a British podcast and text message called, “The Hitler Jig“.

Summing up this story, George writes,”I thought this 1947 Kodak ad in [the May] American Cinematographer was unique. Particularly in view of the propaganda manipulation that Grierson accomplished in 1940. The ad’s text is ironic … I doubt that Kodak was aware in 1947.”

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Don Douglas 1931-2022

Posted on January 23, 2022 by Robert

A young Don Douglas at the 1980 PHSC Fair

Toronto. I was sorry to hear that Don Douglas passed away this month. His daughter Janet sent an email notifying me of the loss. Don celebrated his 90th birthday just last month. He was a continuous member of our society since first joining in the 1975/6 membership year.

Don was also very active in the PHSC for many years both as a participant in the annual fairs and on the executive. He took  over as president for the 1987-1989 membership period and chose Ev Roseborough as journal editor (Ev was one our most successful editors). Don spend some 40 years in the insurance industry. He was also an accomplished amateur photographer and an ardent collector of Ansco cameras. Prior to taking on the duties of president, Don held the positions of Program Director and then Vice-President.

His humour was low key and caught your attention. At one point, I added ‘occupation’ to the membership form thinking it would help us fill executive spots. In reaction, Don wrote “curmudgeon” on his renewal. A few years later, he described himself as “retired curmudgeon”.

We wish Don’s family and relatives all the best in this most trying of times.

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gold in them thar hills …

Posted on January 22, 2022 by Robert

July 4th, 1899 in Dawson City (Gold Rush days)

Toronto. Ahhh! The excitement of the  gold rush! When it hit the Yukon,  it became famous the world over. Movies were made; books were written (even poems); the centennial of the celebrated trail (Chilkoot) was recorded. Over six years ago, then PHSC member and photographer Scott Rickard, shared his slides with us. Before Scott and his wife returned to Southern Ontario, he had a studio in Dawson and captured the centennial of the famous trail on film.

Canada’s History magazine has written many articles on Dawson City and the gold rush. This is one of the images recently discovered by George Dunbar and shared with us. George writes, “I love old images of Dawson City during the ‘Gold Rush.’ These were posted recently by Canada’s History Magazine in its web site. ”

The image I chose to show is Front Street in Dawson on July 4th, 1899. The date is American Independence day, of course and reflects that the majority of the men who rushed to the north were out of work Americans. What a time! What a town!

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fuzzy focus

Posted on January 21, 2022 by Robert

fuzzy focus simulation

Toronto. Modern smart phone and digital camera buffs only see fuzzy focus when they move or try using dim lighting or are just too close to the subject. No need to understand photography these days to get correct lighting. Focus and framing and white balance need more skills.

When photography began, a lot of skill was needed. The portrait artist also had to select the equipment, the location, advertise, take the images, develop them, and present them to the sitter for payment. Considerable skill and learning was necessary for success! In those early days, light sensitive media was only blue and violet sensitive as these were the stronger wave lengths. Worse, early lenses were not always colour corrected so the more visible red and green colours focussed at a different plane than the blues and violets.

A practitioner, focussing carefully on his ground glass, would cause the blue light sensitive coating to be out of focus giving a blurry image (fuzzy focus) unless he corrected his focus for the effect. As sensitive media was improved, first to orthochromatic and later panchromatic, and lenses became colour corrected, visual and actinic or chemical focus merged.

This effect is nicely described in the Large Format Forum on actinic focus. Continue reading →

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elementary, my dear Watson …

Posted on January 20, 2022 by Robert

lens element with one flat surface, one convex surface

Toronto. … as Sherlock Holmes was supposed to have said (but never did say in Conan Doyle’s stories). However; Holmes often said ‘elementary’ to his side kick, in his usually superior and snobbish way. And of course our photographic lenses all use elements – from a single element meniscus lens to multi-element zooms.

Basically an element is made of selected glass and each surface is ground as a part of a sphere. Some times one surface is left flat. By using different curves and glasses, a number of elements could be stacked to correct lens aberrations and help flatten the image field at the film. If two colour bands were focussed at the same film plane, the lens design was achromatic. If all three bands focussed at the same film plane, the lens was called apochromatic and likely far more expensive.

The larger the lens aperture, the harder it was to correct all aberrations. The greater the number of elements in an uncoated lens, the lower the contrast on the film and the greater the amount of internal reflections. Around mid last century some elements were made with aspheric surfaces making for an even greater cost but  higher correction, higher resolution and larger aperture. The Leitz Noctilux was one such lens.

Today, many lenses employ both coatings and aspheric lens element surfaces to allow for a larger aperture with fewer elements , yet with higher correction of aberrations, higher resolution, and higher contrast (and price). Elementary, my dear Watson!

 

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reflections

Posted on January 19, 2022 by Robert

Elmar lenses post and pre WW2.

Toronto. No, not the introspective kind you dream about on a cold winter’s day. I mean the kind that reduce image contrast and limit the number of lens elements used. At left I show two lenses for a film camera. The one at right was made before WW2 and uncoated; the one at left after WW2 and coated.

Generally, pre war lenses were uncoated resulting in a limit to the number of elements in the lens and a reduced contrast range in the resulting negative. After the war, we began to see coated lenses where a transparent coating was deposited on each lens element before assembly into a photographic lens. These coatings cancelled out internal reflections. For a time, makers touted their specific coating, but soon all lenses were coated so the branding of coating technique just disappeared.

It is hard to see into an uncoated lens while coated lenses seem crisp and clear.  Of course the smart phone bunch never saw uncoated lenses. Modern larger lenses reflect what looks like a colour band from an oil slick (if held in a certain way). The use of added elements led to sharper resolution designs and zoom lenses (taken for granted now, but a big deal when they first came to market).

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will that be 8 or 16?

Posted on January 18, 2022 by Robert

Early 1940 ad for a 16mm B&H Filmo camera

Toronto. Bell & Howell was a respected name in Hollywood movie equipment. For home movies, they used the “Filmo” brand. In the March 1940 issue of Popular Mechanics, B&H advertised both the 8mm and the 16mm versions of their Filmo line.  For 16mm, the camera film could be changed mid reel in daylight for B&W or colour (16mm Kodachrome had been released just a few years earlier).

That year, much of the world had been drawn into war for over six months. At the time of this advertisement, the USA was neutral while their politicians hotly debated whether or not to join the war effort.

In December of 1940, the attack on Pearl Harbor resolved the debate and America with its might, industry, and money, came to the aid of a struggling Britain, tackling Hitler and Germany on one hand and Tojo and Japan on the other.

This ad is courtesy of my good friend, George Dunbar. George likes photographic history and found the small ad while browsing back issues of Popular Mechanics.

 

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jumping in with both feet

Posted on January 17, 2022 by Robert

Kodak at War – January 1945 advertisement

Toronto. America was a bit late to the WW2, but made up for it in spades after Pearl Harbor was attacked by an ally of Germany. All industries quickly turned to the war effort. Hollywood cranked out propaganda movies galore encouraging young men to sign up for the war effort.

The movies were always upbeat and showed American men and women in the best light. Advertisements like this Kodak ad from late in the war (January 1945 issue of American Cinematographer) supported the war effort.

My thanks to my good friend and fellow PHSC member, George Dunbar, for sharing this find with us. Well Done!

NB. This post title is a riff on a common expression for fast action without stopping to consider the consequences. Churchill had begged the USA to help earlier but the US President was helpless while the house and congress debated whether to join in or stay neutral. That is, until the Pearl Harbor disaster.

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January 19, 2022 Presentation via ZOOM

Posted on January 16, 2022 by Robert

Join us at 8pm on the 19th of January via ZOOM to see and hear Brandon Leung on “Asian Canadian Activism in the 1970s” The poster below designed for our January PHSC News, or the EventBrite link gives more details.

Register on EventBrite here. Problems or questions, email our programme coordinator at program@phsc.ca.

 

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PHSC News newsletter for January 2022

Posted on January 15, 2022 by Robert

Voigtlander Bergheil c1930

Toronto. The Voigtlander Bergheil shown here is from the right top of page 1 in this month’s PHSC News newsletter. A Bergheil model was a favourite camera of Brassai when he haunted French street life.

Well, most of us made it to January, 2022. The local TV news reports the so called fifth wave of COVID has nearly crested here in Canada. World-wide, the Omicron variant is even more transmissible than the Delta. While Canada is just seeing the sharp rise of COVID cases, the changes have been somewhat eased by our vaccination levels (the third – a booster shot – is well underway with some elderly folk getting a fourth jab!). And helping the high levels of vaccinations is a close adherence to common sense guidelines.

In spite of COVID, our editor, Sonja, and her team were able to produce another tasty issue of PHSC News for you.  PHSC News (21-07) has the usual bunch of thought provoking articles  – short, crisp, and ripe for argument. Take a few moments and read them to ease your  symptoms of virus lethargy 🙂

On page 1 under “A Decisive Time for Montreal” our editor compares that city’s issues and photos to those of M. Cartier-Bresson. Page 2 in “PHSC PRESENTS (virtually)” captures what might be the oldest known computer (analogue, not digital). Page 3, under NEO PHOTOGRAPHY ruminates on a post-modernist, pre-Raphaelite synthesis (say that fast …). This month, Streamables on page 4, has an article on, “Hollywood Cliches” which you may relate to, especially if you watch a bunch of TMC presentations; while page 5 looks at how we are coping with the healthcare competition here in Ontario.

Page 6 discusses, “Otoscopography: You Won’t Need a Gondola for This Canal“ in David’s EQUIPMENT REVIEW (always written in a provocative and interesting way).   John Morden’s  thoughtful selection of WEB LINKS. on page 7 will take you to some nifty web sites (the links are live, saving you the toil of a ‘cut and paste’ operation).

Page 8 as usual features the poster for our January speaker event via ZOOM where  Brandon Leung will be speaking about Asian Canadian Activism in the 1970s – as shown by Jim Wong-Chu’s poetic photographic album, “Pender East“. And we see those friends Ivy & Izzy, on page 9, chatting on the topic “Nancy Evans and the Good Side of the McMoon“. This issue’s wrapper, page 10, is John’s compilation of shows, events, and exhibitions of interest to collectors/photographers everywhere.

P.S. As usual, every link shown in the newsletter is a hot link just waiting for your click!

P.P.S. You can visit this issue by clicking here, or by g0ing to the menu item NEWSLETTER at the top of the page. There is a drop down menu that takes you to older issues dating back a couple of decades to the very beginning.

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