Fred Cray – Giveaway artist of NYC
Toronto. George Dunbar spotted this NYT article and suggested that he too was tempted to try it.
Fred Cray is a New York photographer. For over ten years he has “hidden” his unique photos around the city – over 30,000 so far.
Have a read and consider the concept. Cray leaves his info on each numbered print. The newspaper article notes that some people have taken the time to reply to his generosity.
DC Show next March 11th – Click above icon for details
Toronto. Do you have a great urge to drop by Washington DC this spring and have a chat with the Donald? No?
Well, anyway, drop by Arlington Virginia on Sunday, March 11, 2018 and visit the popular and well known Antique photo, postcard, and camera show organized by PHSC member Tom Rall.
While I received Tom’s notice via Constant Contact (a service like MailChimp which we use), you can visit his company (Diverse Markets Management) at their web site.
Smartphone Cardboard Projector by Luckies of London
Toronto. Back on September 27th my friend George Dunbar suggested those who own a smartphone (most people) can now buy and make a projector. George wondered if we had heard of such a gadget. Short answer, no!
Since we are well into the digital age and most photographs are now taken with a smartphone, this project seems appropriate as a future historical item.
There is even a youtube video showing how the cardboard marvel from Luckies of London is assembled. Brightness and sharpness depend on the smartphone used. The room must be very dark and the distance from the project to screen adjusted to balance brightness and sharpness.
Of course, if you tend to the cheap side, youtube also shows you how to make it with a couple of old shoe boxes…
Go wild!
Portrait of a little boy by Herman V Wall of Los Angeles CA. p81 of magazine. c1948
Toronto. My thanks to my good friend George Dunbar for tracking down this issue of Popular Photography, now nearly 70 years old!
On September 9th George writes, “Here’s a list that may interest PHSC members.
“It’s huge, illustrated and shows almost all of the photographic equipment that was available in 1948 – still & movie cameras, exposure meters, lighting equipment, enlargers, darkroom items and much more.
“This [October] 1948 issue of Popular Photography contains it all.”
The directory of what was offered in 1948-9 in the U.S.A. begins at page 112 of this issue. Not surprisingly at the time, almost all pages except the front cover are black and white. a few pages are spot colour (mostly using red) and the odd page or two of advertising is in colour.
Toronto. As Shakspeare’s girls say while making bat-wing soup in Macbeth. I bought this delightful little book by Kodak in January, 1960 for $1.25 – and no tax.
I was busy absorbing all I could about the complexities of developing and printing B&W and colour as I did my own B&W and colour slides – and attempted colour printing using Ferraniacolour. I whipped up my own chemistry for B&W from basic ingredients – just like the Macbeth girls made their soup.
In the heyday of photography, magazines and books on the subject were plentiful and all wanted to teach you the many facets of photography. I had a pricy Exakta camera, a couple of added lenses, an old Federal enlarger with an iffy light conversion to a softer light for colour printing using two aluminum pie tins and a circular florescent bulb.
The little booklet Photo Chemistry gave me an introduction to the complexities of the art and science of photography in layman’s terms I could understand. And right there on page 12 facing left is our little wet plate man! In five brief pages the history pf photography was succinctly covered from the view-point of Eastman Kodak, Rochester, at the time the largest and most successful photography company of all.
Ilford sample book c1974.
Click for David Hamilton – Horses
Toronto. Photographic paper companies often had samples of their products to help you chose a particular style. Once you chose a paper style, there was the physical size, weight, and the dynamic range (contrast) to consider. Of course nowadays you choose inkjet or laser printer paper of various weights and textures instead of photographic papers.
I initially used Kodak papers (didn’t everyone?) and then moved on to Ilford for black and white as they had the filters to vary the dynamic range of any Ilford paper you chose. Most often I used double weight 8×10 papers in 10 or 100 sheet packages. 8×10 could be cut to 4×5. Later on I bought 100 sheet boxes of 4×5 paper.
On October 5, 1974, I bought this lovely sample book published by Ilford and featuring their various papers as used by two professionals – David Hamilton (Ilfomar papers), and Tassilo Trost (Ilfobrom papers). The covers are yellowing now but the prints inside remain their natural tones.
And the horse of the title? Click on the book cover icon to see David Hamilton’s shot of three horses printed on Ilfomar A 112 Paper (one is lying down near the black horse).
50mm FOCOTAR lens code DOOCQ c1960
Toronto. As a line from the TV series New Tricks says, this is the last of the Leitz enlarging and copying lenses offered as the film era quietly disappeared.
This is the famous FOCOTAR series (FOCOTAR, FOCOTAR 1, FOCOTAR 2, and WA FOCOTAR). My 1960 version is like new. It is a DOOCQ with a 17675x extension ring to convert it from a copy lens to an enlarging lens. It was bought on April 5, 1987 from the late Bill Belier.
The DOOCQ version of the FOCOTAR was made from 1953 to 1970. It is a beautiful black lens with white lettering and like most non-camera photographic items is short on details.
According to some sources it is a five element optical design with a coating to reduce internal reflections. The FOCOTAR series of special lenses were made in 50mm, 60mm, and 100mm focal lengths at various times and with various code names. At one time the lens was made by Schneider-Kreuznach who made some other lenses for Leitz over the years. I used a 50mm Schneider Componon enlarging lens for many years. I also have a Tele-Arton 240mm lens in a Leica thread. The light Tele-Arton was a favourite of birders and came in various lens mounts.
The Elmar lens in an enlarger and copy stand mount
Toronto. Post war, the Elmar went to the DOOGS. The little camera mounted collapsible Elmar was redesigned as a reproduction and enlarging lens in a much more practical lens mount and the elements were coated to reduce the internal reflections.
The DOOGS used an extension ring called a DOORX to extend the lens the correct distance for the enlarger. The lens and ring combination was coded as a DOOIT. Without that ring the lens was used as a reproduction lens. The design was a short lived (1951-1953) bridge from the VAROB and little collapsible Elmars to the FOCOTAR, the professional enlarging lens made by Leitz.
I bought my lens in August of 1986 from Roger Pelham. It was an early version made in 1951. I tracked down the DOORX extension tube locally much earlier in February of 1979 at Henrys downtown when they had imported and were selling off a whack of stuff they bought from a Chicago store.
Pre war VALAU (left) and post-war VALOO (right)
Toronto. I mentioned in the previous post that Leitz made a special ring so the fiddly little aperture adjustment on the 5cm Elmar could be seen and moved by a ring that went around the accessory. This avoided the risk of poking a damp finger smack in the middle of the front lens element while trying to make an adjustment in the dark.
Unlike on the camera, on the enlarger one had to open the lens fully to focus and then shut down the aperture a stop or two for the sharpest results. Leitz made two rings for the famous little Elmar – pre-war there was the VALAU, a nickel plated gizmo that converted the aperture setting to a number.
Post war, Leitz offered a more elegant and heavier ring called a VALOO that adjusted the aperture but showed the actual aperture at the side of the lens. Beautiful! The deeper design was often used on the camera mounted lens as a sunshade when taking photos.
Of course those with deeper pockets and less inclined to fiddle could buy a lens made especially for the enlargers of the day.
Leitz VAROB – black and nickel made in 1939.
Toronto. In the fall of 1983 I had a call from Sam Schlifer. Sam wanted to know if I had a spare camera Elmar lens I could swap for an old enlarger lens by Leitz called a VAROB. I did and we made the swap.
When Leitz first made the market with its Leica camera, they used the phrase”small negative, big print”. Within a few years Leitz made and sold a number of enlargers, some fixed focus, some variable.
They even touted using the famous 50mm Elmar camera lens as an enlarger lens once interchangeable lenses were possible (c1930). The big problem was adjusting the diaphragm with the fiddly and tiny front adjustment lever. The solution was the VALAU and later VALOO attachments that showed the f/stops more clearly in the gloom of the darkroom.
The ultimate solution was an Elmar lens made specifically for an enlarger – the VAROB. This lens uses stops that show the number times the exposure must increase for each stop reduction (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10). A ring around the lens barrel circumference makes the adjustment a snap. Leitz uses a consecutive series of serial numbers for all lenses making it relatively easy to determine date of manufacture. Pre-1933 lenses were not numbered on the lens.
The site L-Camera-Forum on its Leicawiki page shows the VAROB as made from 1931 to 1938. My example extends the dates from 1931-1939. Initially an all nickel on brass lens, the later models like mine were black paint with a brass/nickel aperture ring and click stop. The second world war started the fall of 1939 and must have put an end to the VAROB.
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Stan White – Poems & Photos
Mise Au Point – sur la photographie Quebecois
