soupe du jour

Posted on January 7, 2019 by Robert

post-war DeJur 8mm
movie camera ad from LIFE

Toronto. Post war everyone had catching up to do. Wages, telephones, cars, home appliances, televisions and cameras.  In the 1950s the next big thing was home movies. Kodak and its competitors sold 8mm film in both black and white and in colour to those souls lucky enough to buy or own a movie camera.

My father-in-law religiously took movies each summer holiday and carefully joined the developed spools to make a fuller reel.

Many companies manufactured and sold other things besides movie gear to make a buck, DeJUR was one such outfit. Founded in the 1920s to capture the nascent radio market’s enthusiasm for components (a variable capacitor anyone?), DeJur transitioned into photographic gear for movies, later trying its hand in making or rebranding various still image cameras and light meters. Near the end it tried marketing radios and sound recorders. DeJur quietly faded from view and was gone by the mid 1970s – but its cameras are still alive today on Ebay …

Thanks to George Dunbar for sourcing the May 24, 1954 LIFE magazine ad on page 95 of that issue.

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Myseum

Posted on January 6, 2019 by Robert

Myseum Logo

Toronto. Most of us who live here know the ROM – Royal Ontario Museum on the corner of Avenue Road and Bloor, in easy reach of U of T students (and the rest of us by subway). But I wonder how many of us know about the Myseum?

This innovative institution has an office on Richmond Street but is spread across the city. Check out their  website and consider making a contribution or writing a story for them (like the story of Boris Spremo in yesterday’s post).

Click the logo at left to see an example photograph from the Discounted Histories exhibition being held at Myseum.

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another Boris Spremo story

Posted on January 5, 2019 by Robert

The late PM Diefenbaker
by Boris Spremo

Toronto. The late Boris Spremo, PHSC member, speaker, Toronto Star photographer,  and an illustrious photographer as well has another story about his work here on a local Museum website.

This iconic silhouette of PM Diefenbaker will strike a chord with those of you who followed politics 1950s and 1960s. “Dief the Chief” was a strong willed lawyer from small town Canada who was a driving force in the final design of our flag and a constant thorn in the side of LBJ when John Diefenbaker was in the opposition.

Who can forget his stirring speeches as PM peppered with his signature phrase my fellow Canadians? Or his disastrous decision to cancel the Avro Arrow, an advanced fighter jet created here in Toronto, in favour of American jets.

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through the glass darkly

Posted on January 4, 2019 by Robert

Kalart Press camera 1948-53

Toronto. As a kid I often saw ads for a Kalart after market rangefinder. This little gadget was bolted on the side of a Speed Graphic.  I never thought of Kalart as a camera maker.

At our Show and Tell 2018 this past December, one of our new members, a news photographer, showed his unusual alternative to a Speed Graphic.

The Kalart press camera is a beautiful looking camera with a 127mm Wollensak lens (like the one used in a Leica mount and marked Leitz NY). The camera was designed to correct all the known issues with the Speed Graphic. There were two viewers so either eye could be used, and two flash gun sockets. You can use a ground glass or a rangefinder (and a tiny spotlight in poor light). The lens can be removed but no alternatives were ever made by Kalart. They would however, customize a camera for a given lens if you sent camera and lens to them in NYC. The lens focal length appears in the bright frame as a reminder. Numerous clever circuits and mechanical gadgets stop you from making common errors with the camera. These protective devices make the camera more delicate to the uneducated user.

But it had some other problems of its own. The hand hold was too small for a large male hand; no optional lenses were offered; and the cut film size of 3-1/4 by 4-1/4 inches didn’t meet with standards of the newspapers of the day which expected 4×5 inches cut film or plates from older Speed Graphics. While gorgeous and well made, the Kalart was double the price of a Speed Graphic – about a third the cost of a new car at the time! The camera first came on the market in 1948 and lasted until 1953 when it disappeared into the mists of time.

Thanks to PHSC member Davis Strong for this item. Oh, and the biblical title I used? Each viewfinder is totally dark with a bright line frame and rangefinder triangle. You have to use BOTH eyes to see the field of view and the frame – another problem with the Kalart.

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phoenix rising

Posted on January 3, 2019 by Robert

famous Leica M3
from LIFE ad

Toronto. Just over two weeks after touting its IIIf model, in the May 31, 1954 LIFE (p60). Leitz announced its most radical and eventually best selling Leica M3. The camera design began before the war and the prototype was field tested in 1952, 1953.

Beginning at serial number 700,000,  the camera was sold starting in June 1954. The body design and bayonet lens mount remains in production even today, over six decades later (including many tumultuous years of ownership). The M3 was truly the innovative Leica of its time. better viewfinder, multi focal length bright frames, fast change bayonet lens mount, and backwards compatible to screw mount lenses (while the body was thicker than a IIIf, the lens mount to film distance was 1mm closer allowing a thin 1mm adaptor to be used in between lens and mount).  Over time, many accessories were modified to use either the bayonet mount or with clever design both bayonet and screw mount bodies.

NB. All the LIFE advertisement finds are courtesy of friend and fellow PHSC member George Dunbar who posts directly to another fine website, Urban Toronto using the name Goldie.

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the power of persuasion

Posted on January 2, 2019 by Robert

IIIf from LIFE ad 1954

Toronto. In its May 17, 1954 LIFE (p64) ad, Leica rested on its laurels as the driving force in kick starting the  minicam era.  The ad featured its newest camera, the IIIf with the f/2 collapsible Summitar lens that replaced the equally fast Summar and was shortly replaced by the f/2 collapsible Summicron.

While the marketing mavins touted the little camera as “the world’s most famous camera“, it was neither the first of the Leicas or the last of the screw mount models (it did sell the best of all screw mounts, perhaps helped by pent up demand caused by the long depression and war that followed). It did have the sturdy construction and utilitarian ergonomics of its predecessors, but its main claim to fame was the built-in flash synchronization – a feature already found on its many competitors. A few weeks later, a truly innovative Leica was marketed, one that changed photography dramatically.

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Happy New Year 2019!

Posted on January 1, 2019 by Robert

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some year!

Posted on December 31, 2018 by Robert

 

Iphone XS portrait
courtesy of Apple

Toronto. As I sup upon the dredges of 2018, I think back on the progress of photography. The cell phone has become the universal camera. Nearing saturation, few of us leave home without our phone (and camera).

While the tiny sensor limits the image results, the smartphone takes an equivalent of a 35mm lens angle of view. The focal length can be digitally increased with a simple two finger spread on the screen. Modern technology has improved the ISO of the tiny sensor and a built-in flash automatically operates in low light conditions.

Newer high end smartphones now have a dual glass lens system (usually 35mm and 70mm equivalent). The longer focal length lens improves the look of head and shoulder portraits just like the 90mm lens of the 35mm film era. Continue reading →

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for the birds

Posted on December 30, 2018 by Robert

Some Toronto Stork Derby
winners (Nagle family) by Roy Tash (thanks to the TPL)

Toronto. 1926 was an exciting year in our city. Amongst other things, Charlie Millar, a wealthy Torontonian died and left a very unusual will. Charlie was well known as a practical joker, and his will contained a few of his jokes, one of which was the infamous Stork Derby. An award was to be granted to the Toronto family that had the most children in the decade 1926-1936.

The well known cinematographer Roy Tash captured on film one of the winners, the Nagle family (another Nagle was a European inventor and manufacturer of well made cameras – bought out by Kodak Europe). Tash was born in New Jersey and moved to Toronto via Chicago. Roy became well known here for his work with the Associated Screen News. He was the subject of an article in our journal (14-5) in 1989 by the late Bill Belier. A photograph he took of the Pearson Cabinet was featured on our website this year.

Thanks to my friend Goldie for alerting me to Roy Tash’s filming of one of the famous Derby winners – the Nagle family, and the Toronto Public Library (TPL) who conserve much of history in their archive..

 

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a Diana for squares

Posted on December 29, 2018 by Robert

A Diana camera

Toronto. Lomography USA is keeping alive film by offering inexpensive cameras plus other optional lenses, some that work on digital cameras too.

Their latest Diana Instant Square model uses Fuji Instax film to create square “polaroid” style photos.

Birgit Buchart in the big apple sent me a press release (click the Diana Camera icon at the top left). Here is your chance to use a modern version of a c1960 simple camera and see the results right away.

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