a 10A century studio camera

Posted on December 21, 2021 by Robert

A 10A Century Studio Camera by Folmer Graflex from an Ottawa studio

Toronto. Graflex has had a long and storied history beginning in 1887 when it was established  in NYC as Folmer & Schwing, a maker of bicycles. The company expanded and began making Graflex cameras in 1898. Kodak bought the company in 1905.

It remained a Kodak division until the mid 1920s when the government stepped in to break up parts of Kodak. From 1926 through 1945 it was called Folmer Graflex (the period when this camera was made). This seems to be its golden age when almost every North American professional, especially news hawks, used a Graflex or Speed Graphic camera.

In 1945, the company became Graflex, Inc.. It struggled to compete in the amateur market using imported and rebranded cameras. In 1966 the company was sold to Singer and quietly disappeared in 1973.

Note that the dates for the names used by the company vary a bit depending on the source. The early to mid 1900s Graflex cameras even have their own journal and web site. The journal is currently created by Ken Metcalf in North Carolina and appears here on occasion.

This particular camera once graced the studio of Ottawa photographer, Joseph-Alexandre   Castonguay (1877-1972). Our thanks to Mike Toporowsky in Alberta for the photos and a bit of history.

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a star is born

Posted on December 20, 2021 by Robert

First colour photo in a newspaper – May 23, 1937 in NYC Sunday Mirror. Taken by George Sheedy on 35mm Kodachrome

Toronto. Today, with modern digital cameras and smartphones, we take colour for granted and convert the results to B&W only for a ‘special effect’. It wasn’t always the case. For many decades various colour processes were tried. Some had good or modest sales; others fizzled and disappeared. The earliest still camera colour processes (like autochrome) were on glass plates.

Two American musicians spent many years perfecting a tri-pack process (layers of material on a single base with three layers each sensitive to one different narrow colour band, plus other layers. Colour couplers were imbedded in each of the three sensitive layers; couplers that had to be factory developed to avoid migration to other layers.

The final stages of research were done at Kodak and a brand name – Kodachrome – previously used for a two colour process, was used for this creative new and complex three colour tri-pack. According to Douglas Collins in his massive coffee-table size book “The Story of Kodak (1990)” this Kodachrome was announced April, 15 1935 and initially sold in 16mm format for home movies but quickly expanded to 35mm still film, movie film and larger cut film sizes for professional use doing illustrations like magazine covers. The image shown here is from Collins’s book on page 213.

My first use of Kodachrome was in the 35mm format. It was a measly ASA (ISO) 10 at the time. I remember photographing peacocks at Springwater Park and getting the odd colourful tail feathers amongst inky black shadows while shooting in bright sunlight!

Sadly, like all films, Kodachrome fell victim to the digital era and even its processing in North America died on December 30, 2010, some 75 years after it was first marketed. Another round of “thank you” to my friend and fellow PHSC member, George Dunbar, for sharing these pages (1, 2 and 3) from the May 1935 issue of the International Photographer on the birth of Kodachrome. Note that this post name was also used for  movie title(s) too.

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night moves

Posted on December 19, 2021 by Robert

Eastman Kodak ad – February 1934

Toronto. Ahhh, 1934 (before I drew a breath) Kodak was advertising its newest film – Super Sensitive (SS)  Panchromatic – plus a couple of inexpensive cameras and special photoflood bulbs ready to screw into their special reflectors or into ordinary lamps.

The film and cameras where touted as ‘ideal’ for night photography. Sadly both film and camera lenses shown were SO slow that special photofloods had to be used to allow hand held indoor shots (a pdf of old Kodak catalogues is on this site)! (The f/2 lens on the Kodak Pupille camera was fast enough for Tri-X, but not for the SS film.)

A tip of the tuque and a big thanks to good friend and retired cinematographer, George Dunbar for sharing this delightful advertisement from the February, 1934 issue of Popular Mechanics, memorable to me as my dad married my mother that year and bought a  Kodak Six-20 a few years later.

Note, the title of this post is a riff on a song by Suzanne Vega called, “Knight Moves“. This song is on her first CD called “Suzanne Vega” released by A&M in 1985. I first heard her sing the songs on her second (1987) CD, “Solitude Standing”. Her a cappella version of “Tom’s Diner” is haunting.

 

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never heard of Hessercolor – have you?

Posted on December 18, 2021 by Robert

A colour portrait of Delores del Rio (1936) by Hesser in Hessercolor

Toronto. George Dunbar sent me a link from the January, 1934 issue of International Photographer. titled, “The Wonders of Hessercolor“.  There is an interesting article on Hesser at “Broadway Photographs“.

Hesser took on Kodak and failed to succeed. He was trained as an artist, moved to Hollywood and took up photography. He became a well known portrait photographer in Hollywood. His process was an effort to improve the colour stills used in theatres to advertise movies.

Hesser designed a camera that used three filters on B&W film negative material – red, yellow, and blue. Each filter was used in very short succession then each negative was enlarged and layered on a special material to create the colour positive. His personal life was messy and he tended to shoot nudes as well as more acceptable portraits.

His process had disappeared by the time I discovered photography and his idea of using three filters in rapid sequence on ONE negative strip never took off.  The photograph used for this post is courtesy of Hollywood Pinups who  sell modern reproductions at reasonable prices.

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black is beautiful

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Robert

an ad in 1935 showing a black Leica

Toronto. In the 1800s and early 1900s, black enamel was a choice for finishing metal. Sewing machines, microscope bases, lamps, and even the ubiquitous Model T Ford all came in the black enamel finish. When Leica cameras were first sold, black enamel was also the choice of finishes. In later years, Leitz perfected the rub-resistant satin chrome making their cameras satin chrome unless specially ordered in black trim.

This ad from the mid 1930s shows a black Leica and another marketing concept or two: 1. advertisements showing the camera in use by famous explorers or scientists like Jean Piccard and his wife; and 2. emphasis on S-L-O-W shutter speeds via a separate front dial that retarded the release of the second curtain. Any Leica returned to the factory could have the slow speed mechanism added eliminating the need to buy a HEBOO accessory (the ad’s emphasis on slow speeds countered complaints that other cameras had slow speeds earlier) .

My thanks to George Dunbar for sharing this advertisement from page 33 of the January, 1935 issue of the American Cinmatographer .

 

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sparking a revolution

Posted on December 16, 2021 by Robert

Inside a 1930s Leica

Toronto. While Leica wasn’t the first camera to use 35mm movie film, it was one of the first commercially successful 35mm cameras. The tiny marvel was the brain child of Oscar Barnack. The prototype (UR-Leica) was made by Barnack in 1913. WW1 arrived the following year and the camera was left as a laboratory curiosity, to be slowly improved over time. Post war, Ernst Leitz II struggled to find a product to keep his factory afloat so a decision was made to manufacture the tiny camera which became known as Leica for LEItz CAmera. Leitz himself took street shots with the camera in New York in 1919.

In 1924, commercial manufacture was begun and some cameras were sold. The following year, 1925, the camera was promoted to one and all at the Leipzig Fair. To counter the cameras of the day, Leica was promoted as making a “small negative, big picture”. By the time the great depression settled in, Leica was a system camera intended for professional, scientific and serious amateur photographs. By the mid 1930s the Leica and its competitors sparked the minicam revolution. Production nose-dived during WW2 and a few years after the war the revolutionary M3 arrived on the market world wide.

The ad shown above illustrates how Leitz NY promoted its camera to photographers in 1934. A big thanks is well deserved by my good friend and retired cinematographer, George Dunbar, for finding and sharing this ad from the January, 1934 issue of the International Photographer.

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taken with a grain of salt.

Posted on December 15, 2021 by Robert

A digital camera the size of a grain of salt

Toronto. Science seems to vacillate between analogue and digital concepts. The earliest radio receivers used digital – a “cat’s whisker” and a speck of solid state material.

Significant improvement occurred when technology shifted to analogue – vacuum tubes – then later last century back to digital again.

Similarly but on a much longer time scale, photography was initially analogue (films, glass plates, tintypes, daguerreotypes, salted paper) and then late last century and early this century, digital – with sensors getting smaller and denser raising both sensitivity and resolution.

The earliest photographic lenses too were analogue creating a very tight bundle of light. Multiple lens elements of different glass types and curves corrected distortion and created a flatness of field. Microscope objectives used tiny lenses – the diameter falling as the magnification increased and the NA – numeric aperture – decreased. But always with a great many elements – even more than in a photographic lens, especially as objective magnification and NA both increased.

Now (Monday, Nov 29, 2021) the Scientist Study web site reports results by researchers at Princeton University and the University of Washington that demonstrates a camera and lens the size of a grain of salt. The key to the design was creating a lens that reacted to light in a digital fashion! The result infers much higher resolution and smaller physical size than earlier devices offered.

The last colonoscopy I had, my surgeon offered a tiny camera in a pill capable of spotting a polyp about 5mm in size. Learning that the same pre-procedure cleansing process was used and any polyp discovered would need a colonoscopy anyway to remove it, I declined the pill since the cleansing was always the most onerous part of the procedure. Now a grain of salt size camera with higher resolution makes it time to reconsider ,,,,

My thanks to my friend Russ Forfar, deep in the wilds of southwestern Ontario, for suggesting this post and offering the above links.

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Wet Plate Social to be held here December 20th

Posted on December 14, 2021 by Robert

Come to this year’s Wet Plate Social at Horst Hergel’s studio

Toronto. You may recall our previous program co-ordinator, Yvette Bessels did wet plate photography. One of her contacts here in Toronto, Horst Herget, is holding a WET PLATE SOCIAL  this month in the east end of the city (Leaside).

Horst writes, “I wanted to reach out to you about an event I am planning for those interested in wet plate photography, details of which are below. If you have question, please do not hesitate to let me know.

“Best Regards,
Horst”

These are the details, courtesy of Horst –

“This month’s WET PLATE SOCIAL – WPS – is on Monday December 20th between 7-9pm at studio, @daylight_studio_toronto, in Leaside. For this get together we will be doing a Print Exchange. Please bring an 8×10” print of your work or cookies, chocolate, or something else altogether, totally up to you. Also, Horst will be photographing a few wet plate portraits. Tis the season for merriment so feel free to bring a beverage too.

“ABOUT: Wet Plate Social is a get together to talk, ask questions and share all things wet plate photography. From first timers to old timers, the event is open to all that are interested in the beautiful and humbling art. This event is hosted by Horst Herget @horst.herget, www.horsth.ca.

“WHEN: December 20th, from 7 to 9pm.

“LOCATION: Daylight Studio in Toronto: 28 Industrial Street off Laird, (off Laird, south of Eglinton), unit 222; @daylight_studio_toronto.

“TO ATTEND: please RSVP to @horst.herget or tintype@horstherget.com; DOUBLE vaccinated attendees only, please.

“CORRESPONDENCE AND UPDATES: please contact @horst.herget or tintype@horstherget.com

“FUTURE MEET-UPS: will continue to be held on the third Monday of the month forward into 2022.”

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celebrating 100 years of Bergenland as part of Austria

Posted on December 13, 2021 by Robert

Rust, farmer with harvested Burgundy beets, 1931 by Franz Swoboda

Toronto. Our friends in Westlicht, are mounting an exhibit originally planned for a November start but now beginning December 14, 2021 celebrating a century of Bergenland photographs, titled “BORDERLAND IN FOCUS. 100 YEARS BURGENLAND“. The exhibition was delayed by COVID. The famous auction house needs the help of us all to promote this event.

Westlicht explains, “As you know, we had to start the exhibition GRENZLAND IN FOKUS. 100 YEARS BURGENLAND postponed due to lockdown. 

“But now we want to be there again for our visitors. We are showing the remarkable exhibition from December 14th and would be delighted if you could support us with an announcement during this difficult time for all cultural establishments.

“The exhibition was created in cooperation with the Burgenland Cultural Companies and the Burgenland Provincial Archives and offers an exciting photographic journey through the history of the youngest Austrian federal state.”

Feel free to copy this material. Browse the exhibit news on line via Google or your favourite search engine (eg. use the search words: GRENZLAND IN FOKUS. 100 YEARS BURGENLAND) .

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smaller can be better

Posted on December 12, 2021 by Robert

A typical aluminum fan-style flash reflector – the Leitz B-C “Chico” flash gun designed for camera accessory shoes or hot shoes (1954 – 1959).

Toronto. For many years flash bulbs were used to illuminate scenes at night or indoors.  Early flash guns were somewhat big and required fresh batteries to reliably trigger a flash bulb via a cable connecting flash gun and shutter sync. The biggest and bulkiest portion of the flash was usually its sturdy, solid metal reflector. Some capable engineer came up with the idea that the reflector could be collapsed like a fan made of aluminum, making the flash gun both more compact and lighter.

To compensate for amateurs and absent-minded professionals trying to use exhausted batteries, so called B-C flash guns came into vogue. This flash gun used a higher voltage battery plus a capacitor to store the charge needed to trigger a bulb. The more exhausted the battery, the longer it took to charge the capacitor, warning the photographer it was time to change batteries. Since the bulb was triggered by the capacitor voltage and current, success no longer relied on battery condition alone.

As flash guns became smaller and lighter, the camera’s accessory shoe could be used to mount the flash gun on top of the camera. Inevitably, the accessory shoe became a hot shoe and was linked to the shutter sync. Flash guns enabled for hot shoes eliminated any need for a cable between flash and camera.

In time electronic flash took over and the single use bulbs became history. As the size of the electronic flash dropped, it soon became a built-in part of the camera eliminating any need for the hot shoe. Low powered flash became a popular means to fill in shadows. On more expensive cameras, a sync socket was included so an external electronic flash gun  could be used off camera to soften  shadows.

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