boys will be boys

Posted on January 4, 2022 by Robert

Ad for Leica G (or Leica IIIa as it is known by outside the USA)

Toronto. Most of us have heard of the rivalry between Leica (Leitz, Wetzlar) and Contax (Zeiss, Jena) last century. On page 455 of the October 1935 issue of American Cinematographer,  Leitz, New York placed this ad to extol the virtues of its 1935 model Leica – model G (or IIIa) with its f/2 lens rather than the slower f/3.5 Elmar.

Also noted was the camera’s ‘modern chrome finish’ option which wore better than the traditional black enamel that was prone to faster ‘brassing’ when in heavy use. Leica was made by the family-owned optical house of Ernst Leitz while Contax was the brain child of the mighty Zeiss organization commissioned to rationalize the German camera industry and run Zeiss-Ikon for the German government.

A big thanks to good friend and retired industrial cinematographer, George Dunbar, for sharing this interesting bit of history.

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the good, the bad, and the ugly – again

Posted on January 3, 2022 by Robert

Leica Screw Mount design

Toronto. The last time I used this title. it was for a Leica accessory . This time it is camera design at and after the mid 1930s and the minicam revolution. Good camera design encompasses many considerations. Ergonomically designed, utilitarian, light, fast, reliable, simple to make, repair and adjust come to mind. The screw mount Leica is a case of good design as is its later brother, the famous M-series Leicas. When Oskar Barnack set out to design the Leica, he made a simple, utilitarian camera that was easily held with all the main controls right at the photographer’s finger tips. Improvements were modest and prompted by user feedback.

The Contax, and later its companion the Contarex, suggest both good and bad design decisions. The longer rangefinder base and vertical focal plan shutter seemed better (Leitz New York disagreed per January 1933 ad), but was the longer base really needed? The shutter running vertically gave a faster shutter speed and later on, a faster flash synchronization. The use of metal slats for the shutter seemed stronger than the cloth shutters of the day (no risk of pin holes), but using silk ribbons within the slats led to future issues (slats were supposed to last for at least 400,000 shots) when it was time to replace the ribbons – the slats broke when the ends were bent out for access. The first models of the contax had a knob on the front of the camera making expensive bevel gears necessary and placing the knob in an awkward position.

In later years, the Contarex SLR was designed and sold. It seemed far more robust than the M-series, but not so. The camera was very large and heavy for the tiny 35mm film it used. It had so many parts technicians needed special training to even disassemble the camera for routine  adjustments and cleaning. Worse, if the user deviated from the shooting procedure there was a real likelihood the shutter mechanism would be seriously damaged.

Legions of other cameras were designed seemingly with no regard at all for the user. The designs were unique but often awkward in use and repair. Market share and earnings seemed to be placed ahead of ergonomic design and ease of repair and adjustment. Cameras like the Mercury with its semi circle ‘hump’ and the Argus C3 come to mind (the C3 was actually very popular).

Note: The title is  from a 1966 ‘spaghetti western‘ that featured a young Clint Eastwood.

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riding the rails

Posted on January 2, 2022 by Robert

1940s riding rails to hunting camp in Northern Ontario

Toronto. View or Field cameras and Kodak folders, etc used a rail or two rails in parallel to move the lens, lens board (and shutter, if part of the lens) away from or closer to the sensitive media to capture the desired subject in focus.

A ‘box in a box’ design in the 1800s allowed the photographer to pull the boxes apart to focus his scene on the ground glass back. And of course any simple box camera was just a rigid box holding the ‘film’ and lens the correct distance apart for subjects (perhaps at the hyperfocal distance or at infinity depending on the camera design).

Cameras without a rangefinder or a ground glass back, like the folders, etc, usually used a simple scale to measure the distance from camera to subject.  The depth of field determined by the aperture setting would compensate for most minor errors in adjustment.

As shown in this snap shot, taken with a Kodak Six-20, the only way in to many hunting camps mid last century was by rail (or by boat). Cars were adapted to run on the rails but one had to be aware of train schedules to avoid a catastrophe!

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Happy New Year’s 2022

Posted on January 1, 2022 by Robert

Well, here we are at the top of the calendar, looking down a fresh new year, full of hope and anticipation. With any luck, we will see the end of COVID which has over-stayed its welcome by a couple of years!

I made this image with a Sony F828 camera and a Zeiss zoom lens almost two decades ago. The little bird houses were kits from Canadian Tire that year. They sit on some poles I had kicking around (and painted black) If you look carefully at the middle bird house, you can see the lens of a video camera I was testing out at the time.

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how to introduce a new revolutionary product

Posted on December 31, 2021 by Robert

1935 ad for the new 16mm size Kodachrome

Toronto. Leitz, a few years earlier, taught photographers the virtues of an enlarged small negative to introduce their novel little camera with small negatives. Traditionally, much larger cameras were used. The camera size determined the size of the final print since most were contact prints.

The firm realized this was the critical thing to teach experienced photographers –  not what the little camera could do, but how a tiny negative could be enlarged to make a great print.

In a similar fashion, when Kodak released Kodachrome in 1935, it made colour movies far better and with much less fuss than its competitors. Potential customers had to be assured that existing equipment WITHOUT modification or accessories could take and show the new Kodachrome 16mm movies.

Kodak even went further to explain why films had to be returned to Rochester for  processing and why 35mm still film was not yet available. We owe a big thanks once more to that historian and retired cinematographer, George Dunbar, for sharing his findings with us (from an advertisement by Kodak in the May, 1935 issue of American Cinematographer, introducing their new and ground breaking colour film).

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De Cry of a desert victory

Posted on December 30, 2021 by Robert

Summer 1943 ad by DeVry for the movie “Desert Victory”

Toronto. When America joined in against the Axis in WW2, the Hollywood studios and British studios made movies to support government involvement (and keep some actors at home).  The scene at left is a still promoting the movie “Desert Victory” that was released c1943.

The full ad encourages the reader to buy/use DeVry movie cameras (used to record the film, a British documentary) and movie projectors. My thanks goes out to that retired cinematographer and PHSC member, George Dunbar, for sharing this bit of history from the June, 1943 issue of American Cinematographer magazine.

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copy cats

Posted on December 29, 2021 by Robert

1934 ad for Kodak minicams, darkroom gear, and enlarger

Toronto. I wonder who came up with the “small negative, big print” idea? I always thought it was Leitz as part of the minicam revolution and demonstrating that a negative can be tiny and still be enlarged for a great print.

This ad from the May, 1934 issue of Popular Mechanics gives Kodak’s twist on the concept. Before minicams and the use of 35mm motion picture film in short bits for stills, contact prints seemed to be the norm with the occasional enlargement of smaller prints. For example choosing one or two pocket size contact prints to be enlarged and framed for the mantle.

My thanks once again goes to my good friend and fellow PHSC member, George Dunbar. I would have trouble doing these posts without his ideas and suggestions!

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keeping an eye out for Hirohito and Adolf

Posted on December 28, 2021 by Robert

ad for Bell & Howell Eyemo movie cameras not offered to civilians in wartime

Toronto. When I was a little kid, WW2 was still active. I remember one little toy made of wooden pieces. When the strings were pulled, Tojo (Japanese PM in WW2) and Hitler took swings at each other.

While America considered the attack on Hawaii, our focus was on Europe and England. Just before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Tojo was named PM by Japan’s Emperor Hirohito, himself a pacifist at heart.

On December 7, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and some other Asian sites. In reaction to war, American industry moved to military supply and advertised their role in the war (like Bell and Howell did in this ad from the July, 1943 issue of American Cinematography magazine).

My sincere thanks to good friend and retired cinematographer, George Dunbar, for sharing this ad with the PHSC.

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zoom before zoom

Posted on December 27, 2021 by Robert

Voigtlander ZOOMAR Zoom lens for 35mm still cameras c1959. Photograph by Rama, Wikimedia Commons, Cc-by-sa-2.0-fr

Toronto. Today, when we speak of ZOOM, we usually mean the app used to video conference by computer and internet. In this time of COVID-19, live meetings in person have been replaced by computer conferencing using special apps like ZOOM (which we use for both executive meetings and presentations last held in a facility in North York).

To snap photos, most of us use digital smartphones and their built-in camera(s). Some fancier ‘phones can even merge two of the lenses/cameras to create a hybrid zoom sense.

Before mid last century, photographers used a bag full of fixed focal length lenses and moved back and forth to frame a scene. By the late 1950s, the ZOOMAR lens became available – the first commercially successful Zoom lens for 35mm SLR cameras. Like many things photographic, new ideas and concepts came to the cinematographers first.

For the 35mm photographer, his trusty fixed focal length lenses were much preferred over any idea of a zoom lens. In any case, weight, higher cost, lower speed (aperture),  poorer resolution and a lack of SLR cameras at the time limited the adoption of zooms. Worse, at the extremes of their focal length, zooms suffered geometric distortion (pin-cushion and barrel) as well.

Purists such as Leitz insisted on fixed focal length lenses like their Summicron series for their lighter weight, smaller size, far better photo resolution, and potentially faster design. But as SLR designs succeeded rangefinders, practical photographers preferred the convenience of Zoom lenses and their iffy resolution over a bag full of the sharper prime lenses.

In time, SLRs became the camera design of choice. Zoom lenses improved with a greater range of focal lengths, faster speeds and better resolution. Companies like DxO offered a digital means to correct geometric distortion. Later on almost every photo editor automatically corrected geometric distortion for an ever increasing range of lenses.

With the inroads of smartphone cameras, only the higher-end DSLRs and mirrorless digital cameras remained on offer, All with built-in geometric distortion correction for their own zoom lenses so the scene was corrected before it is even viewed or recorded as an image.

 

 

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boxing it up

Posted on December 26, 2021 by Robert

1935 Winter. “Hockey  Team” is the label grandma put on this snap. my future uncle is front centre. It was snapped across from her house on Gowan Street.

Toronto. The first half of the last century, most families used the humble box camera, and my grandmother was no different. The photographer in her small family, she recorded family members, friends, and neighbours over the years, the majority snapped outdoors in good light.

She saved the best family shots in an album, taking the photos between the wars as her family grew in size and height. Of course all the saved photos were black and white. I had the privilege of having the album for a time before I passed it on to a cousin.

The rather spotty photo of my uncle’s hockey “team” in 1935 is typical of the photos she  took wth an inexpensive Kodak box camera. In later years, the photos lessened. In time,  they were taken by relatives with fancier cameras, often in colour. But my grandmother’s old black and white photos – all annotated – remained favourites of mine for their exposure, framing and family history.

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