A New Twist on the old Fresnel Lens

Thin lens concept at U of Utah Engineering

Thin lens concept at U of Utah Engineering

Toronto. Russ Forfar sent me this interesting link to ScienceDaily.com which reports on the work of a professor and his post grad students at the University of Utah. They have come up with a way to make super thin lenses of glass or plastic. These lenses use diffraction rather than the traditional refraction to focus all colours to a single spot.

“Electrical and computer engineering professor Rajesh Menon and his team reported their   findings in a new paper, ‘Chromatic-Aberration-Corrected Diffractive Lenses for Ultra-Broadband Focusing,’ published in the current issue of Scientific Reports. The study was co-authored by University of Utah doctoral students Peng Wang and Nabil Mohammad.”

Having proved the concept, the trio envisions practical lens in about five years. Cameras, smart phones and even eye glasses will benefit from these super thin lens elements.

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Street Photography in Kabul

Street-KabulToronto. Member Russ Forfar, a frequent participant at our fairs and an independent camera repair expert sent me this link to a Youtube video about a street photographer in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.

These itinerant photographers with their ubiquitous “picture in moments” cameras have all but disappeared in this day of digital cameras,  smart phones, and selfies.

This Afghanistani uses photographic paper to make a negative image and then rephotographs this image to create his positive – a much longer process than the common old fashioned North America use of a tintype to create the positive image in a single pass.

Take a moment to step back in time and watch this gentleman at work.

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PHSC Auction March 20, 2016

March 20, 2016 Auction. Click for details

March 20, 2016 Auction. Click for details

Toronto. Our first big event of this year is the March 20, 2016 auction. This event will be held at the Long Branch Legion Hall. Just click here or on the icon at left to see detailed times, directions and rules. All welcome to attend and space permitting, offer photographic goods and collectibles for auction.

The first photos we have received are from the Loban collection. Included are tripods, a unique Minox enlarger, stereo projectors and viewers, and more. Click here then on the thumbnail of the Minox enlarger. Click on any thumbnail to see a larger view. Your left and right arrows will step through all the images.

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Montreal Camera + Image Show April 10

Rangefinder-Spring-2016-FleaMarket-Flyer-E-smToronto. If you plan to be in Montreal this April, drop by the Montreal Camera+Image show in the West Island area of Montreal. Sol’s show will be at the Holiday Inn Pointe-Claire from 10am to 3pm.

Click here or on the icon at left to get full details.

I graduated from university in Montreal and the weather in April was always so warm and cheery it was hard to prepare for the final exams. So enjoy your visit to a city of ambiance, charm and great food.

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Sony a6300 24 Mpx APS-C camera body

Sony a6300 24 Mpx with a kit lens.

Sony a6300 24 Mpx with a kit lens.

Toronto. If the $56,000 USD Phase One is a bit rich for your blood, you might like Paul’s second camera, the soon to be released Sony alpha 6300.

The body-only rings in at $1000 US (about $1400 CDN). This APS-C size “half frame” mirrorless camera touts the fastest auto focus currently offered in a mirrorless camera. That and the 11fps burst feature ensures any one can snap the decisive moment now. Shades of Cartier-Bresson and his trusty Leica screw mount!

This petite camera follows the NEX line in style and is reminiscent of the NEX-7 with its dual adjustment knobs on the top of the camera.

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100 Mpx Phase One Camera

Phase One iQ3 100 MPX

Phase One iQ3 100 MPX

Toronto. PHSC member and occasional speaker Paul Pasquarello of Buffalo sent me a note the other day regarding two announced digital cameras.

The first camera is a Phase One medium format camera which will sell for a modest $56,000 dollars US complete with a  35-mm Rodenstock Alpar lens! Other lenses are optional and include the ultra wide 23mm and normal 70mm Alpagon. The price is about $80k in Canadian dollars at the moment.

Unless you have ignored the last few decades, you know digital technology has swamped film science and relegated it to a niche position as it dwindles in size (we still manage to move many film cameras and accessories at our fairs and auctions).

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Photographic Canadiana 41-4

Indian Chiefs at New Westminster c 1864 by Carlo Gentile

Indian Chiefs at New Westminster May 24, 1865 by Carlo Gentile

Toronto. Editor Robert Lansdale’s latest issue hit the mail Monday last week. Members should see their copy shortly if not already. Not a Member? Just click on the right side bar to  pay by PayPal. No account is needed as PayPal accepts a credit card! Canadian is $35 CDN per year. US and International is $45 CDN per year to help defray the cost.

In this issue, the first of two thesis award winners for 2015, Ms Elizabeth Larew, discusses the photographs of Berenice Abbott and preservation of Abbott’s glass plate negatives. Editor Lansdale and Robert Wilson review the Gundlach Korona IV Camera.

Another article covers the history of a necessary and common accessory of the professional photographer – print dryers. There is a book review for Fixed in Time available as an eBook or in print.

The review of the  Toronto meetings for November and December 2015 is covered as well as many other items. Continue reading

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A Visit to Ryerson Image Centre and Library (Special Collections)

Alison Skyrme of Ryerson by Robert Lansdale

Alison Skyrme of Ryerson by Robert Lansdale

NEXT TORONTO MEETING: Wed, Feb 17, 2016
Alison Skyrme: A Visit to Ryerson

** NEW LOCATION for THIS MONTH **

Alison Skyrme of Ryerson will host PHSC members for the February meeting. The group will meet at 7:30 pm on Wednesday February 17th at the Ryerson Image Centre (in the lobby) located at 33 Gould Street (between Victoria and Bond streets, next to the pond/skating rink). She will meet us there. A representative from the RIC will take us on a tour of the current RIC exhibition (Wendy Snyder MacNeil, Photographs and Films). We’ll have half an hour for the tour and viewing the exhibition (the RIC closes at 8 pm) at which point we will head over the library.

The public is welcome. See above for times and directions.

Continue reading

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Camera Shows Scheduled for 2016

Cameras-by-the-box-load-smToronto.  PHSC VP John Kantymir has taken the time to list all the 2016 camera shows he knows about in the following spreadsheets.

**IMPORTANT:  users should confirm information and dates as we are not responsible for errors or omissions.**

Click on the underlined words following to load John’s spreadsheet in various formats like Excel, Numbers (Mac) and PDF. Note that either the Excel or Numbers spread sheets are the best to download. The PDF format is multi-page.

All PHSC shows are in deep red bold fonts.

If you know of other shows not listed here please contact John at auction@phsc.ca.

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Zeiss and Photography book arrives in Toronto

ZaP-cover-smToronto. The first four copies of the book Zeiss and Photography arrived here this afternoon. It is a colourfully illustrated hard cover book of some 890 letter size pages weighing about seven and a quarter pounds a copy. The book includes a CD disk covering topics too small for the main book.

A copy of an index to the book is divided into “Important Personalities and Firms”, “Important Cameras”, and “Important Lenses” and is included separately.

Zeiss/Zeiss Ikon was and is a major player in photographic cameras and lenses. For this reason alone the book belongs in the library of everyone who collects cameras or has an interest in the history of photography.

Continue reading

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