goldilocks camera – not too big and not too small

Posted on November 5, 2019 by Robert

B&H Filmo Auto Load Speedster

Toronto. Bell and Howell came out with this lovely Filmo Auto Load Speedster 16mm movie camera (this example is equipped with a Japanese telephoto lens). The camera uses a standard magazine invented by Kodak who also made 16mm cameras.

16mm sits between the size up (35mm cameras) and size down (8mm and super 8mm cameras). Perhaps the best known 16mm cameras are Bolex once made is Switzerland.

This one is in a lot at our estate auction on the 17th. It comes with a carrying case, film cassettes, and instruction books for it and a prewar Filmo 70 16mm camera. Come out and join in the fun even if you don’t collect or use 16mm cine gear.

 

 

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I spy with my little eye …

Posted on November 4, 2019 by Robert

Minox B with case and instruction book

Toronto. … a cluster of Minox cameras and Minox things at our estate auction on the 17th of this month. The tiny Minox was famous as an early subminiature spy camera in and after WW2. The instrument was precision crafted and originally made in Riga, Latvia.

If you don’t own one yet, come along to our auction this month and bid for one of the models offered. I bought my two late in the 1950s. One was lost or stolen in the mail when I sent it in for repairs – I dropped it about ten feet to the floor. The other and all the Minox darkroom gear I traded in years later for a screw mount Leica with an Elmar lens.

If I forgot to mention it in an earlier post, the snake chain that attaches to the camera has bumps matching the closer distances on the focussing scale so the user can measure the distance quickly, set the lens for that distance, frame, and snap a photo – just like a 1940s/50s spy might do!

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boxed in for Guinness

Posted on November 3, 2019 by Robert

Ryerson students and a telephone booth in 1959

Toronto. 1959 was a simpler time. No personal computers or smartphones. The head of IBM famously said a few years earlier that there was room for about 100 computers in the world since the massively slow and puny brutes were so expensive only very wealthy governments and businesses could afford them.

None the less, university students (mostly male) world-wide found ways to be entertained and entertaining. A then current fad was cramming an excessive number of students in a phone booth. The lead essay in the March 30th, 1959 issues of LIFE magazine was titled “Riots, Girls, Fads – Spring’s Ode on Campuses” and on page 15 it featured a photo of Ryerson Tech students crammed in a downtown phone booth. The students managed to tie the official Guinness winner of record at 19 students (briefly), to be later surpassed by St,  Mary’s in California with 22 students. The telephone booth cramming fad only lasted through 1959.

Like most essays in LIFE magazine, this one relied heavily on photographs to tell the story. Thanks to George Dunbar who spotted this photo of Ryerson students while investigating photography in magazines of the era.

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cheap and practical

Posted on November 2, 2019 by Robert

Konica C35

Toronto. Not all lots are high end gear at our estate auction coming on the 17th of this month. When my kids were young, I bought them Konica C35 cameras. My youngest daughter even took her blue camera to Europe. She lost the case in Spain to a snatch and run kid – her Konica wasn’t in its case so it survived to return back home.

Konica later merged with Minolta and in turn, Minolta was bought out by Sony when that company decided to forgo massive viewfinder cameras like the F828 and enter the DSLR market then owned by Canon and Nikon.

Join us on the 17th for the thrill of getting another item to use or collect. Some, like this C35 were well build and inexpensive too.

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easy peasy

Posted on November 1, 2019 by Robert

making a mask for Halloween

Toronto. The other day my grand daughter sent me this photo of her brother having a halloween mask made at home. She is eight years old and took this image with her iPad camera, which has a 3.3mm f/2.4 lens and auto corrects everything.

Currently she is saving up for a “good” digital camera, such as those likely to be auctioned off on the 17th at our estate auction or offered at our spring fair next year. I included her photo to show just how far we have come since 1839. Today, even a child can take a technically sound image. But it takes a trained and experienced photographer to choose the correct location, subject, lighting and framing to separate the snap-shots and family mementos from serious photographs.

With her studious and detailed approach to things around her today, I can see her becoming that kind of trained and experienced photographer in future.

Note the original was saved as an HEIC file – Apple’s latest chosen standard for smartphone photos. I converted to JPEG so it is viewable on more computers (the latest release of Windows 10 reads HEIC but earlier versions do not, nor does my old iPod Touch on iOS 9.3.5). HEIC saves stills like JPEG and short animations like GIFs which is how Apple smartphones save stills and very short videos combined.

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a Brawny super 8 …

Posted on October 31, 2019 by Robert

Braun Nizo Integral 7 sound super 8 home movie camera

Toronto. The German company Braun won many design awards. Decades ago I bought a Braun KM32 mixer in Montreal. I used a Braun coffee machine for years. And the Braun Hobby electronic flash was very popular in its time.

At our Estate Auction November 17th, one lot has a Braun Nizo Integral 7 sound super 8 camera. This model was made and marketed only for a brief time (about 1079-85). If you fancy home movie gear here is a chance to augment your collection.

The Nizo and many other cameras and photographic items go under the hammer at our estate auction. Come on down on the 17th of November and join in on the fun!

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Cindy exhibits at the VAG

Posted on October 30, 2019 by Robert

Cindy Sherman – untitled #92 (at MOMA in NYC)

Toronto. last Saturday’s Mop and Pail (Globe and Mail) has a detailed article on the most recent exhibition of Cindy Sherman’s work at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The exhibition opened last Saturday (October 26th) and runs until next March.

Cindy is often connected with the origin of the selfie before smartphones since she takes portraits of herself in various costumes (she denies her work is selfies). I heard about the American photographer Cindy Sherman some years earlier perhaps at a PHSC speaker program. This was back when she created famous movie scenes with herself as the actor and photographed the scene,

At our January 2008 meeting we heard from Rafael Goldchain who at the time had shifted photographic education at Sheridan College into the digital era. He too took “selfies” while in costume.

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fold it up and tuck it in your pocket

Posted on October 29, 2019 by Robert

Zeiss Ikon Folder with fast Compur shutter and Tessar lens

Toronto. I often think “Kodak” when I see a folder (a pocket-sized camera that unfolds a bellows to keep film and lens separated the correct distance) since I was used to my Dad’s Kodak Brownie Six-20 folder which he used for decades.

At the coming estate auction on November 17th, one lot has a Zeiss-Ikon folder of a rather high end construction. The shutter is a Compur running from a second to a speedy 1/500th of a second plus a B (bulb) setting. The lens is a famous f/3.5 75mm Tessar design. This camera may use the still offered 120 roll film (suggested by the lens focal length).

Come on down on the 17th and add this piece of history to your collection!

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what a colourful fair

Posted on October 28, 2019 by Robert

TDPC exhibit at our fall fair. Click image to see the panorama taken by TDPC’s Bob Rutkay with his iPhone

Toronto. Yesterday we held our PHSC Fall Fair – The Big One – down at the Trident Hall. A special event was the print display of the Toronto Digital Photography Club. PHSC journal editor Bob Lansdale arrived early to help out with the assembly of the main panels,

In spite of the nasty overnight and early morning rain, the fair was well attended. When I dropped by, the parking lot was full and I parked on a nearby street. George Dunbar came by as well – his first visit to our Trident Hall location. When Bob Lansdale and I left just after 1 pm, the hall was still choc-a-block with visitors. Mark and Clint organized the table setup Saturday evening ready for the exhibitors to bring in their wares early Sunday.

Great show, great attendance. Up next is our fall estate auction at the legion hall in Long Branch (far southwest area of Toronto).

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… and the winner is …

Posted on October 27, 2019 by Robert

Sylvania and Ford Motor Company photo contest

Toronto. Those of you who have been following the posts on this site know that my friend George Dunbar has been busy researching photographic history through the ads in American magazines such as LIFE from the middle of the last century when magazines,  advertisements, and photography blossomed to dizzying heights post war.

The photographic take-a-way so far has been the push to amateur colour (transparencies and prints), indoor photography (faster films, and flash bulbs) and American cameras (plus other photographic items). In January 1959, Sylvania promoted its photographic products (flash bulbs and Argus cameras) by joining the Ford Motor Company and Tennessee Ernie Ford (first discovered on the “I Love Lucy” show) along with Walter Brennan (movie actor and another TV personality) in a special contest.

1959 was a memorable year in America. Two States were added that year.  Alaska (January 1959) and Hawaii (August 1959) both became States. This contest was only open to residents of the United States and Hawaii (possibly promoted as a State but still a territory that January) in spite of the magazine distribution for many magazines exceeding the boundaries of the USA.

 

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