nearer your destination

Posted on August 30, 2018 by Robert

Leitz NOOKY-HESUM
c late 1930s

Toronto. When Oskar Barnack created the Leica he used lenses focussing from 1 metre to infinity. Many users wanted to use the tiny marvels closer than 1 metre. This was solved for copying by various devices and stands. To use the camera in hand, Barnack came up with a special extension tube which allowed focussing from 1 metre to about 16 inches using special devices to correct the rangefinder and the viewfinder as the lens was focussed to closer distances. USPTO number 2,041,633 was filed by Barnack on February 4th, 1935 and issued the following year on May 19, 1936.

Dr Alex Wright (The Collector’s Checklist of Leica Cameras) thought the design might have been the last creation by Oskar Barnack, since he died January 16, 1936, after filing the American patent but before it was issued. The devise was patented earlier in Germany.

Based on the marking and use of chrome, my NOOKY-HESUM shown above was likely made post war in the late 1930s. It is new in the original red cardboard box. Note. Paul Simon used the title line as part of his song Slip Slidin’ Away! which was a singles hit in 1977 and is included on his CD Negotiations and Love Songs 1971 – 1986 (which includes his hit Kodachrome)

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… getting to the end of the day.

Posted on August 29, 2018 by Robert

A screw-mount Leica with a 9cm Thambar lens

Toronto.  Dennis Waterman sang these words as part of the New Tricks theme song. They are very appropriate as a tag line for 35mm film. The late Jack Naylor noted in his brochure that many cameras before the Leica used 35mm film, but the 1925 marketing of the tiny Leica revolutionized photography. In fact, early Leica manuals emphasized that you could enlarge the tiny inch by inch and a half Leica negative to a decent 8×10 print or even larger.

My friend and editor of Photographic Canadiana, Bob Lansdale, emailed me the other day that the Leica M7 was discontinued in May of this year, leaving only the Leica MP and the Leica M-A as the remaining film versions of the famous marque.

The Leica film SLRs and lenses in that mount disappeared years ago, victims of cost and a lack of interest. Canon film cameras have also disappeared this year according to PetaPixel. Nikon makes a couple of film cameras at the moment too. But as the song says, we are “… getting to the end of the day“.

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some thoughts on rangefinders

Posted on August 28, 2018 by Robert

Post war FOKOS (1949-66) for non-rangefinder equipped cameras

Toronto. Did you know Leitz made telemeters, or rangefinders before making their famous Leicas? The Leitz telemeters had a 1 metre or half metre spacing and were used to measure distances. In the days of view cameras, rangefinders were unnecessary since the image projected by the lens on the ground glass could be used to focus the camera.

When non-ground glass cameras became common, they simply used a small aperture and “fixed focus” or you could simply estimate or measure the subject distance and adjust the camera distance setting. The first known coupled rangefinder on a camera was sold in 1916/7 by Kodak of all people.

In 1924, the year before Leitz came out with the Leica, they made a smaller rangefinder that could be attached to a camera using  its accessory (flash) shoe. The rangefinder was  slid into the shoe vertically and a dial was rotated to make the two images of the subject merge. The reading (in metres or feet) was transferred by hand to the camera or lens setting for distance. Continue reading →

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an automatic camera in 1932

Posted on August 27, 2018 by Robert

Leica II 1932 courtesy of Rama (France) Creative Commons Share (see Wikimedia Commons)

Toronto. Today we don’t even think about focussing. On our digital camera or phone we just move the little green or yellow outline to the desired spot to focus, set white balance, set ISO, etc.

The example below is from my Apple iPod Touch and uses a yellow outline (not yet focussed when I captured this screen shot for an email). And using any  digital camera? Piece of cake these days.

Not nearly as easy  some 88 years ago! You had to set the aperture based on the light, gauge the distance, and shoot – on B&W film. No colour yet for the minicams.


Continue reading →

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what the heck is a WINTU?

Posted on August 26, 2018 by Robert

My WINTU in its original box

Toronto. A popular means of disguising a camera is to take a photo at right angles to your position. This was often done with still camera viewers in the late 1800s and early 1900s. One such right angle viewfinder was created in 1930 for the recently introduced (1925) Leica 35mm camera.

When a rangefinder was added in early 1932, a means was needed to allow both view finding at right angles and the use of the newly offered rangefinder. Enter the WINTU. This neat little Leitz gadget was sold from 1933 to about 1939, although some were apparently made through and after the war. The drop down prism allowed viewing of the rangefinder with a slight movement of the eye. The WINTU could also be attached to a special lens cap sold in the early-mid 1930s to aid in framing when using an enlarger-like column for copy work before Willard Morgan’s popular focoslide (focaslide) came to market.

The WINTU was sold in either black or chrome to match the Leicas of the day. In Europe the chrome WINTU was also code worded WINTUCHROM. See these books: Leica Accessory Guide (1984) by Hove Photo Books; The Collectors Checklist 4th edn (1980) by Dr Neil Wright and Colin Glanfield; and Leica – An Illustrated History – Volume III – Accessories (1998) by James L Lager.

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two female Canadian war photographers

Posted on August 25, 2018 by Robert

Whitehead and Lockwood at Buckingham Palace in 1945

Toronto. George Dunbar sent me a note the other day celebrating two Canadians who photographed part of the second world war in Europe. Jenny Whitehead was a  leading WREN in the Canadian Navy while Irene Lockwood was a corporal in the RCAF. The image at top left is courtesy of the Science Museum Group in the UK who hold the rights for commercial use.

The photograph was taken by Esten of the Daily Herald. Lockwood went on to marry Keith Ogilvie. Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, she died in Ottawa, Ontario in 2014.

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Auto-Quinon f/1.9 55mm

Posted on August 24, 2018 by Robert

f/1.9, 55mm Auto-Quinon
in an Exakta mount

Toronto.  I chose this lens over a Zeiss Biotar for the standard lens of my late 1950s Exakta-VX IIa. The lens was a fast f/1.9, 55mm lens with full stop click-stops and an automatic stop down to the chosen f/stop and back to f/1.9 after each exposure, ready to view the scene again.

The Zeiss Biotar was a 1928 f/2, 58mm design soon to be replaced by the Zeiss Pancolar lens that was said to be optically better, flatter physically, and had an auto stop down and restoration to f/2 tower much like the one Steinheil used.

I didn’t realize at the time that even “standard” lenses on an SLR may be a slightly longer focal length or slightly retrofocus in design to clear the camera’s mirror. The site shown here covers film plane to lens mount distances for many camera mounts.

The 58mm Biotar and the 55mm Auto-Qninon may be able to focus to infinity using the original none-SLR designs.  The lens mount to film plane distance has to be adjusted for the added distance from the mount to the diaphragm  which is usually placed at the nodal point of the lens. The rear most element may be inside to camera body (like the Auto-Quinon) but must make room to clear the mirror in the SLR at the infinity setting.

The Auto-Quinon started out as a double Gauss design like the Biotar but had its three front elements increased in size. Looking at the lens, the rear element is about right (around an inch diameter) while the front element is visibly a larger diameter. The lens diagram shows a six element design about a central (unmarked) diaphragm. This is the design, chart, and advertising for the year earlier (1957) version of my lens. The price as shown in US dollars as $169 in 1957 and $140 a year later.

Like all lenses of the 1950s, the lens elements were coated with a thin purplish layer that passes more light. A marketing initiative of the time was to boast a lens was great for colour and had special markings to simplify flash calculations. Have a look here to read about the optical house of Steinheil in a post I made in May of last year.

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fans in a flashbulb

Posted on August 23, 2018 by Robert

Gerda Taro courtesy
Fans in a Flashbulb

Toronto. Fans of the late war photographer Robert Capa remember this great man, but what about his companion, a woman war photographer called Gerda Taro?

Like Capa, Gerda Taro changed her name back in 1936. Sadly Taro died the following year, 1937. The web site “Fans in a Flashbulb” offered this Christopher George article on August 1, 2018 (98  years after her birth) as her bio, “Gerta Pohorylle, aka Gerda Taro, was born in Stuttgart, Germany, on August 1, 1910. After attending the Königin-Charlotte Realschule in Stuttgart, the Internat Villa Florissant in Lausanne, Switzerland, the Höhere Handelsschule (Business College) in Stuttgart, and the Gaudig Schul in Leipzig, she had to flee to Paris in 1933, where she was first employed as a secretary to the psychoanalyst René Spitz.

“She soon met André Friedmann and started photographing; in the spring of 1936, they reinvented themselves as Robert Capa and Gerda Taro. From August 1936 on, Taro became a pioneering photojournalist whose brief career consisted almost exclusively of dramatic photographs from the front lines of the Spanish Civil War. Her photographs were widely reproduced in the French and international press.

“Taro worked alongside Capa, and the two collaborated closely. While covering the crucial Battle of Brunete on July 25, 1937, Taro was struck by a tank and died the next day. She was the first female photographer to be killed while reporting on war.”

My thanks to member George Dunbar for suggesting this wonderful website! The site uses WordPress to create the various posts, many on famous photographers – take a browse.

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Leica M10-P

Posted on August 22, 2018 by Robert

Leica M10-P from
Leica Camera USA

Toronto. Nearly 50 years ago I bought my first Leica. It was an M4 with a 50mm Summicron (f/2) lens. After the 40th anniversary of the original M-series (M3 prototype in 1952, marketed in 1954) in late 1994, I did a presentation on the famous marque and in the ensuing Q&A, I casually said the Leica name would probably disappear since at the time the company was in a huge upheaval.

Yet here we are in 2018 and Leica Camera USA has just announced the release  of the Leica M10-P with a special 24 MPX sensor – even quieter than any previous model – film or digital. The body-only is a jaw dropping $8,000US.

While most M-series bayonet mount lens can be used, most current lenses (using familiar names like Summicron) are prefaced with the term Apo – for apochromatic. Far better than lenses of a half century ago, they are astoundingly more expensive (although if you factor in inflation and exchange, the price today for camera and lens is actually comparable to 50 years ago; it’s just that good alternatives are far cheaper today).

The M10-P press release states, “”The Leica M10-P has emerged as the embodiment of all of the stealth technology Leica has gathered over many years of producing inconspicuous, unobtrusive cameras.

“It’s quiet, that’s for sure, and it’s easier to use than traditional rangefinder Leicas because of the focus assist functions. Photojournalists, street photographers and others who are currently using Leica M cameras—digital or film—will find the new M10-P the perfect partner for their M-series lenses.”

Check out the website for the American Leica organization at Leica Camera USA. My thanks to editor Bob Lansdale (another Leica user) who emailed me the reminder yesterday.

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B&L BALTAR f/2.3 50mm

Posted on August 21, 2018 by Robert

Toronto. The Leica was marketed in 1925, catching Zeiss off guard. It responded in 1932 with the Zeiss-Ikon Contax. It had to better the Leica in every way possible: faster lenses, vertical shutter (faster curtains), metal shutter, longer rangefinder base, wider range of lenses (Leica had interchangeable lenses and a rangefinder by then), and so on. Unfortunately it was more expensive to make and the metal shutter while seemingly better, was its achilles heel over time. The brass in the shutter strips crystallized while the enclosed silk ribbon wore out causing the shutter to drag, Details of Zeiss are shown in the Zeiss and Photography book by Larry Gubas, and in the publications of Zeiss Historica Society.

In the 1920s, the head of Zeiss optics, Willy Merté, designed the world famous f/2, 50mm  Biotar. I saw one in the late 1950s on an Exakta. For that camera, it was an f/2, 58mm design that unlike the kine and rangefinder versions may have needed the longer focal length or even a slightly modified retrofocus design to accommodate the SLR’s mirror. The non mirror cameras focussed infinity closer (distance from the diaphragm  to film-plane) and had no need to clear the mirror so the original double Gauss design worked without difficulty.

On September 7th, 1928, the original design (100mm focal length in two versions, a 7 element and a 6 element) was submitted to the USPO and patent 1786916 was approved and issued on December 30, 1930. Under the Zeiss licensing process, the Bausch and Lomb BALTAR was manufactured in Rochester using that patent. The lenses came in various focal lengths for 35mm cine cameras used by Hollywood for major motion pictures. My version of the BALTAR has coated lens elements indicating it was made post -war (coatings were not readily available until after 1945). LED reflections suggest that it is the seven element version.

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