hello darkness, my old friend

Posted on February 7, 2020 by Robert

scene setting HDR B&W at ISO 400.

Toronto. Art and Paul may well have sung about night photography sixty years ago with their Sounds of Silence song in 1964. Mid last century film ASA was very slow – in fact a rating of 200 or so was considered a fast film!

Photos like this night shot, post-snow storm a few years ago (February, 2013) were impossible to take a century or so ago. Films and lenses were too slow; optical stability technology didn’t exist; HDR was for darkrooms and tripods only.

I took this shot with a Sony NEX-6 using a B&W setting, built-in HDR, and ISO 400. Taken at f/4, 1/2 second shutter speed (and I used a tripod – getting too unsteady as I age).

 

 

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Swiss knives and cameras

Posted on February 6, 2020 by Robert

small Swiss Army Knife

Toronto. When the minicam bug took off in the mid 1930s, people traded size for resolution. Companies like Leitz touted the use of enlargers to make large images from the small negatives. And minicams proliferated. The cameras ranged from complex mechanisms with many built-in features like the Compass camera to very utilitarian cameras like the Leica.

Both concepts had many added features. One built-in, and the other with a wide variety of accessories. The Exakta was more middle of the road – not as feature rich as a big Swiss Army Knife but far more features than a utilitarian design like the early Leicas. Being an SLR, an Exakta viewer worked just fine with any lens focal length. Long exposure times were built-in as was a film knife – just think of a smaller version of a Swiss Knife as shown – scissors, nail file, small screw driver flat blade, tooth pick and tweezers, but no saw, separate screw drivers, etc.

I have carried the small Swiss Army Knife shown for over 30 years now.

 

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I love Paris in the springtime …

Posted on February 5, 2020 by Robert

Paris 19th c street scene by Eugene Atget courtesy of the Paris museums

Toronto. One of the 19th century photographers I admire is Eugene Atget. My friend and fellow PHSC member Russ Forfar sent me a note on Atget et al recently.

Russ said that the Paris, France museums (some 14) have collectively decided to put some 60,000 plus famous photographs online and free to be used by all.

Russ sent me a link to the story in this petapixel article by Michael Zhang. Michael included the links to the photographs.

Note that the title of this post was borrowed from the song “I Love Paris“, sung here by Ella Fitzgerald.

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double trouble

Posted on February 4, 2020 by Robert

Home Made Ukrainian stereo camera

Toronto. There is a growing debate these days about Russian (and American) interference in the affairs of other countries. Certainly the situation is not helped by our neighbour’s president, the Donald. For a change here’s some good news. My friend and fellow PHSC member, Celio Barreto,  sent me this interesting story from Kosmo Foto.

The story was released on the 30th of last month and told of a Ukrainian half frame home made stereo camera. While the execution is a bit primitive according to the story and photos, the camera appears to take good stereo pictures.

Have a read and think about subscribing to the site, especially if you favour the old school cameras and films.

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Toronto’s Past: A Look Back

Posted on February 3, 2020 by Robert

Victor Caratun

Toronto. Meeting, Wed, Feb 19, 2020 at 7:45 pm
BURGUNDY ROOM, Memorial Hall

Toronto’s Past: A Look Back at Social History and Significant Events through Original Period Imagery – Victor D. Caratun, of the Toronto Past Archive

“Victor was born and raised in Toronto. He has been a Toronto history enthusiast and an advocate for architectural conservation for many years. Victor is an active member of  the historical and architectural preservation communities. He is a collector of images and ephemera depicting Toronto’s social history and has been interviewed about  collecting by the Toronto Star and Space TV.

“Over the years his interest has specialized  in discovering and retelling Toronto’s social history.  He has presented about Toronto’s social history to collector and historical groups. He is also a historic guide with the Royal Ontario Museum. By profession, Victor is a designated Real Estate Appraiser and a Negotiator for the Ontario Provincial Government acquiring land for capital  improvements. Current Project: Development of his Torontopast.com website and a  book about Toronto Social History.

“Toronto Past Archive is engaged in numerous activities collecting, preserving, curating and showcasing original antique images and ephemera. The Toronto Past Archive retells Toronto’s Social History through site-specific exhibitions and through social media. The Archive encourages everyone to share their own stories of Toronto’s past.”

Come out and join in as we host Victor. Toronto has a very interesting history as we saw at the  recent presentation (September 2019) by author and photographer John McQuarrie and earlier talks by Mile Filey. NB.George Dunbar has also experimented with Toronto then and now photos.

The public is always welcome. Go to our Programs page for times and directions.

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Mack the Knife

Posted on February 2, 2020 by Robert

Exakta VX IIa built-in knife

Toronto. In the days of film, there was colour, colour negative, or black and white films of various speeds and contrast curves. You could buy rolls of 20 (later 24 and 27) or 36 exposure. The more frames, the cheaper the cost per frame, but you had to use all frames before changing a roll unless your camera had a knife feature.

For this feature, the Kine Exakta had a built-in knife – unscrew it and pull. Voila! you had a piece of film to process and you could save and replace the remaining unused portion. Some cameras, like the screw mount Leicas, had a separate knife (ABCOO) to cut the film in camera (great for the 75 and 250 frame Reporter models).

The idea of a knife faded in time and for at least the last three or four decades of its popularity, film cameras had no feature to cut the film for processing and replacement. Perhaps film became relatively inexpensive, or home processing disappeared, or commercial cheap processing blossomed and used only full rolls. Who knows?

The title comes from “Mack theKnife“, a 1928 song in the three penny opera, made popular in 1958 by Bobby Darin. and sang a couple of years earlier by Louis Armstrong. The lyrics were originally German. Translation into English occurred before Armstrong and Darin popularized the tune.

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slow down

Posted on February 1, 2020 by Robert

My Exakta VX IIa c 1960 slow speed dial

Toronto. by the early 1930s, the camera industry had settled on a slow shutter speed of 1 second. Anything slower could be taken using “bulb” or “time” settings.

Leitz even offered an accessory called a HEBOO so those who bought a less expensive Leica without the slow speeds could upgrade immediately on purchase of the HEBOO.

An exception to cameras with the 1 second maximum shutter setting was the Kine Exakta which offered both an SLR viewer when rangefinders ruled the minicam world and a slow speed mechanism that offered not one but two choices. The Red numbers gave 1/5 second and 1 to 6 seconds while the Black numbers offered 1/5, 1/2, and 1 to 12 seconds! Like a Leica, these slow speeds relied on a clockwork mechanism. Continue reading →

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another 1,000 words

Posted on January 31, 2020 by Robert

a picture is worth a 1,000 words

Toronto. There is an old saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words“. If that is true, any photographer worth his salt would have prints with volumes to say! And as old photos quietly fade, they constantly “shed words”.

In our January 2017 meeting, member  Lincoln Ross, showed us how we could restore those lost words in a session we had on repair and restoration.

Years ago, Pete Seeger sang a song reminiscent of fading images called “Who Killed Norma Jean” which said in part:

Who will soon forget”?
“I, said the page, beginning to fade”,
“I will be the first to forget…”

 

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film rescue international

Posted on January 30, 2020 by Robert

CBC News feature on Film Recovery International in Sask

Toronto. PHSC member Jim Hall, over in Guelph. Sent Bob Lansdale this note which Bob passed on to me.

Jim writes, “PHSC Guelph member Jim Hall here. Thanks for your email, I came across this CBC article on a guy doing old film developing, thought it may be of interest to your readers.”

It is indeed of interest to anyone who uses the old film cameras these days. Bryan Eneas writes in his CBC News column about Saskatchewan film processor Greg Miller who processes old films in Indian Head, SK under the banner of Film Rescue International  (FRI).

If you like the mood of the analogue technology as it is called today, have a read. Greg just may be the help you need! I did a couple of earlier posts on film rescue but this is the first post on Greg Miller and the Indian Head, SK operation. (NB. George Dunbar mentioned that Maclean’s for Feb 2020 has more information on FRI in Saskatchewan.)

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Help! I Need Somebody

Posted on January 29, 2020 by Robert

Chromotype by George Brown, Wyoming, Ontario

Toronto. As the Beatles so eloquently sang last century, our journal editor, Bob Lansdale needs your help with the history related to the photographer who took this Chromotype. For those of you unfamiliar with the process, a Chromotype uses an expensive patented process. Chromotypes retain their dynamic range even today, long after contemporary processes have faded badly.

Bob writes, “[I need] help in research for photographer George Brown in Wyoming, Ontario, ca1877-79. Brown is not listed in any of the two main photographer indexes and is shy when he came to leaving traces of his business in south-western Ontario.

“This is a Chromotype print with a hint in the image of the Western Globe newspaper that ended publication in 1879 but has gaps in its traceable issues. The license for the Chromotype process was quite costly so I would imagine that Brown would advertise and quickly offset that cost… but so far nothing.  We have Brown’s later history but lack anything in the Wyoming area.”

Please write me at info@phsc.ca and I will pass your note to Bob promptly.

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