Al Who’s little Italian Buddy

Posted on July 4, 2019 by Robert

San Giorgio magnifier for focussing slide c1950

Toronto. The company “San Giorgio” (St George in English) was founded in Genova, Italy in 1905 to manufacture automobiles. Like many companies, products changed to those with more potential for profit. San Giorgio S.I.p.A. dropped automobiles and moved on to optical instruments including cameras.

After the second world war, it briefly made cameras based on screw mount Leicas (the Janua series) and many accessories including a focussing stage and a ground glass magnifier.

Unlike Leitz, they made a shell with inserts for various magnifications. I have a shell plus the 20x and 40x magnification inserts purchased from Robert Pins in the States back in 1988.

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have you seen Al Who?

Posted on July 3, 2019 by Robert

LWHOO 30x aerial image viewer     c mid 1930s or later

Toronto. Leitz was determined to see the tiny Leica camera succeed as a “do anything bigger cameras can do” camera. For copy work, a focussing stage was offered. The stage swapped the Leica with a ground glass viewer for focussing. The most common viewer for the ground glass was the 5x LVFOO.

In the very centre of the ground glass is a clear glass circle. The LOOWH and LWHOO were 30x magnifiers that allowed an aerial image to be viewed for extra precise focussing.

The LOOWH came to market in 1936 with a slide-in ground glass mount. Two years later the LWHOO was marketed, this time with a bayonet mount that would also fit the slide-in ground glass mount. Some books suggest the transition to the new telegraph code word of LWHOO was earlier, around 1936. There seems to be no record of when the manufacture of either 30x magnifier stopped.

I picked up my LWHOO back in November of 1980 from PHSC member Pim Schryer. The signature (Ernst Leitz Wetzlar)  suggests post war manufacture.

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New York in 1914 with the prototype Leica camera

Posted on July 2, 2019 by Robert

Ernst Leitz II: New York City, 1914 © Leica Camera AG.

Toronto. On the eve of the Great War, the son and namesake of Ernst Leitz, Ernst Leitz II, arrived  in the Big Apple with the novel tiny ur-Leica created by Oskar Barnack. Leitz took a number of street scenes with the tiny camera to the indifference of New Yorkers since cameras of the day tended to be much larger, tripod mounted, or box shaped.

One photograph has survived and is frequently reproduced, showing that work on the tiny camera began over a decade before it was marketed. The Great war intervened delaying its release until a market turn-down for microscopes prompted its manufacture and sale in 1924.

Information abounds on the Leica and its place in history such as wikipedia’s “Leica_Camera“, the brief history on the site “Not Quite in Focus“, and Wild-Heerbrugg’s excellent “history and milestones of Leica” (Wild-Heerbrugg also made microscopes and once collaborated and merged with Leitz. The Canadian branch was called Wild-Leitz when I first visited in the late 1970s/early80s ). Many more sites show up on a Google browse.

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you’ve come a long way!

Posted on July 1, 2019 by Robert

iPhone Xs camera – 12 mpx

Toronto. Most of the title was the motto of Benson and Hedges’ new (1960s) brand of cigarettes “Virginia Slims“. By the 1960s cigarettes were at their height of fashion and popularity but clouds were on the horizon. A key demographic not yet reached by the mainly male oriented tobacco industry was the young female newly empowered to vote, work, and dream.

Virginia Slims by design were thinner diameter and longer than other brands subconsciously suggesting a slim figure for their target female customers.

Like cigarettes in the 1960s, photography today has come a long way too. When first announced, the process was slow, monochromatic, and highly technical limiting its use to a select minority of practitioners. Nevertheless, the new art took the world by storm and photographic studios began popping up everywhere. Some were operated by very competent people, others by outright charlatans out to make a buck from the newest trend. Over the decades the proportion of photographers grew and the new art sprouted a variety of specialized skills – studio, war, news, street, scientific, medical, amateur, etc. By the turn of the last century some colour processes appeared. But to the very end film was slow, fussy, and generally low resolution. Continue reading →

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a great smoke

Posted on June 30, 2019 by Robert

Cigar left by U. S. Grant in Houseworth’s  photo studio San Francisco, CA c 1860

Toronto. Many of us are unaware that the U.S. civil war prompted Britain to establish our country in 1867. Ulysses  S Grant led the North in the fierce battle over slavery.

This CdV is stored in the archive of the NYPL, an institutional member of the PHSC for decades. It is shown here courtesy of that institute’s Digital  Collections. You can also view their online guide here. The site lists this CdV as an albumen silver  print mounted on 2.5 by 4 inch card stock.

Thanks to George Dunbar for finding this CdV gem!

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home movies over 60 years ago

Posted on June 29, 2019 by Robert

DeJur in LIFE June 4, 1956

Toronto. Back in January of this year I did a post on DeJur and their 1954 ad in LIFE Two years later they are still banging away at home movies via an ad in LIFE.  As mentioned in my January post, the company did many things to try and make a profit including home movies.

The low end home movie scene was ably covered by the Kodak Brownie line but many others like DeJur struggled to compete with the great yellow father.

The high end was covered by many companies like Zeiss. Best remembered is the Swiss company Paillard. Their Bolex 16mm and 8mm movie cameras are those considered best as high end, high quality equipment.

Thanks to George Dunbar for sourcing this advertisement on page 70 in the June 4, 1956 issue of LIFE magazine.

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papering things over

Posted on June 28, 2019 by Robert

Solio Printing Out Paper

Toronto. The Toronto Public Library Archive is another source we have for photographic history. Eastman Kodak Solio paper was a Printing Out Paper or P.O.P. 

This paper was primarily used to proof studio shots. When my eldest was born, a Montreal photographer provided  us with P.O.P. proofs to see the various photos he took so we could make our selection.

Keeping the prints was of no consequence since the contrast was soft and the print would eventually fade as it was exposed to daylight especially if it was not thoroughly fixed, washed  and toned. In any case a large stamp marked PROOF meant the photographs were unusable.

Thanks once again to George Dunbar for reminding me of the rich history we have in the TPL archive and the process of using studio proofs many years ago.

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fresh eggs

Posted on June 27, 2019 by Robert

a collection of folders

Toronto. A few decades ago at Bell I had a boss who suggested I run with my suggestion. “After all”, he said, “it’s your fresh egg”.

Have you ever noticed that be it cars, cameras, microscopes, sewing machines, radios, televisions, or cell phones, etc that at any point in time there is a similarity amongst products by different makers?

Take for example the lowly folder. A great many were marketed varying in shutter speed, lens speed and quality, film size, etc but all used a bellows and a means to close the camera with the bellows, lens, viewer, and shutter inside making a very compact package. The original folder design was indeed a “fresh egg”, but I wonder what we should call the others – the improvements, the copies, etc.?

The similarity comes down to how cheaply can a product be made and still cater to those who lust after the basic design. Many models seem to operate the same, but still have idiosyncrasies that make a change from one make to another a bit awkward.

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keep on truckin’

Posted on June 26, 2019 by Robert

Delivery Truck c 1930

Toronto. Items from the website Fans in a Flashbulb have appeared here before. The site is a blog and like our site, uses WordPress to format the site and add posts.

In the about menu item, the site defines itself as, “Fans in a Flashbulb presents selected works from collections of the International Center of Photography. The blog’s name is taken from the title of the Weegee photograph from around 1952 reproduced to the left. The entries are written by ICP’s curators, staff, interns, and students. Enjoy!”

The particular post shown here is a 1930s delivery truck. The print was added to Fans in December 4, 2009 – nearly a decade ago. The truck shows an innovative way to advertise. The giant folder camera touts a Zeiss Tessar lens.

Once again, I must give my friend George Dunbar a ‘tip of the hat’ for discovering this nifty photograph and its source site.

.

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16×20 and all that stuff

Posted on June 25, 2019 by Robert

Horses CNE Coliseum summer of 1980 with my Leica

Toronto. When was the last time you made a big print? Never is the most likely answer when everything today is digital – unless you are an old coot like me. Around 1985, I decided to decorate my office with some of my photographs printed 16 x 20 inches and mounted in slim gold toned aluminum frames.

At the time, my largest trays would only print 11×14 paper so my first step was to get bigger trays. To this end I bought some plywood and some 1×4 inch pine boards. I made three wooden trays big enough to handle 16×20 paper. A double thickness of 2 mil plastic painter’s sheets lined the trays to make them moisture proof.

Developer, stop, and fixer followed. I made just enough to fill the trays about a quarter to a half inch (no drums big enough were on hand). A sink would do for washing. I looked through my Leica negatives and selected a handful of negatives to print with my Durst enlarger which has a great Schneider enlarging lens. And off to the photo store for 16×20 Ilford enlarging paper.

Once done, the prints were framed and mounted in my office. This was some 34 years ago – the first and last time I made such big prints.

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