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Toronto. Apologies to the riff on the NY Times and its slogan to make the above title. Photographic Canadiana issue 50-3 has gone to press and the pdf version sent to all members. This issue was an amazing effort by … Continue reading
comparing a Nikon CoolPix S33 digital camera (left) with an iPhone 13 camera about December 2024 – courtesy of Lily Dupuis
Toronto. This old chestnut seems to apply to early digital cameras now.
Past president Les Jones dropped me a note the other day (followed by current president Clint Hryhorijiw with same link) about an article he read on the CBC web site regarding the discovery of old digital cameras by the Gen Z crowd. The ambiance of photos taken are softer and the shutter speeds slower than those snapped by modern smartphones.
After finally coming to grips with film cameras being old, now we must contend with early digitals! It should be noted that some members began collecting the old digital cameras a few years back. Now there are people using them (like the film brigade) to create photos that are a bit closer to art than fact.
Have at look at the article posted Christmas day from Calgary and written by Lily Dupuis. My first digital camera was a Nikon Coolpix which I followed by a couple of newer ones before moving to Sony mirrorless cameras and Apple iPods. My current go to is an old iPod with an 8 mx camera on board.
I do have a Samsung smartphone with a fancier and higher resolution camera, but it’s a royal pain to transfer image files to my computer using Android technology which seems to have been designed by dumb and dumber (spoiler alert – I prefer Apple and wireless for transferring files).
a 1957 Christmas Party poster from Graflex
Toronto. I sure hope the turkey and trimmings are all digested by now! Those of you who collect/use large cameras, especially those of the Graflex persuasion are in for a treat. The second issue of the Graflex Journal for 2024 is now out – just squeezing in before year end.
Three tasty items are featured: first, “A Need for a Speed – An Upgraded 1939 Baby Speed for 120 Roll Film” written by Jeffery L. Yost, second, “Synchronization in 1939” a massive undertaking by editor Ken Metcalf, and third, an interesting tale from GEH, “From the George Eastman Museum 2-color Kodachrome Camera”. As usual the issue is packed with illustrations.
Illustrated here at left is a “1957 Santa Claus poster (22 x 28″), from eBay. The poster uses the original pen and ink artwork by S. P. Wickert of Rochester NY.”
“Wickert was hired as a draftsman by Graflex, Inc., and soon rose to the position of industrial designer. He became well known to Graflex employees for his many amusing posters advertising annual company picnics, clam bakes, and Christmas parties.”
Issues from 2022 and earlier are online. If you can’t wait to see the latest issues visit Graflex today and see what others offer.
… little pictures …
Toronto. Ev and future editor Bob Lansdale visited the GEH in 1993 to join the Daguerreian Society’s 5th annual symposium. The symposium speakers were reviewed in issue 19-4 by Renaté Wickens-Feldman who taught photography in the Department of Visual Arts at Toronto’s York University.
She begins her article as follows, “On October 15-17, Rochester’s George Eastman House (GEH) was the site of the Fifth Annual Symposium of The Daguerreian Society. The meeting, held in conjunction with the Regional Photographic History Group, was complemented by five exhibitions at Eastman House and two at The Strong Museum.
“Most notable were the Eastman House’s ‘Now and Then: Making the Daguerreotype’ and ‘Language of Light: Masterworks from the Collection.’
“The 213 participants at the event (a three- fold increase over the turnout at the original 1988 gathering) were also treated to an optically dizzying 48 table Trade Fair featuring daguerreotypes and, to a lesser extent , antique photographs. The Fair, in turn contributed $5700 toward publishing the Daguerreian Annual.”
The title of this post is a put down remark by a ‘seminal historian’ who ‘is reported to have dismissed these daguerreotypes as “little pictures, difficult to see, of people no one cares much about.”
The rest of this article and more can be viewed in the appropriate pdf file on the members-only free DVD. Not a member yet? Join now (it’s really easy)! See the MEMBERSHIP sub-menu item above (form) and the article at right (PayPal). Send your cheque with the form or send the form and use a credit card/your PayPal account and your DVD will be sent tout de suite. Questions? Email Lilianne at member@phsc.ca.
a Leitz tape measure accessory for copy stands
Toronto. Are you aware that Leitz once offered a tape measure as an accessory? The company actually offered a few differing only in the type of attachment arm. The tape was black with chrome markings – extending for 1-1/2 metres and marked in mm on one side and 1/16th inch on the other.
I didn’t record when or where the measure shown was acquired. Nor the actual cable code used (STAMA? STUOO? TUSOO?) depending on the arm. The black crackle arm and nickel frame holding a chrome tape casing is unsigned but obviously a Leitz product.
Used with the various copy arms/stands, I imagine it became superfluous when the various focussing slides came to market. And thanks to Bill Shakespeare for the title of this post.
Paquin Enlarger made in Canada (Toronto)
Toronto. Editor Ev Roseborough seems to have known and met dozens of eccentric folk in the photography business. Makers of darkroom equipment like enlargers were no different.
Ev has an article in issue 19-4 of our journal titled, “J.M. Paquin, Canadian Manufacturer of the ’30s” (please note that the article ends on the following page, not on page 16 as printed).
Years ago, I wondered why we saw so few Canadian products (like Paquin Enlargers). Other than Canadian Kodak or Leitz products up in Midland, which as far as I could tell (other than lenses designed by Walter Mandler), were manufactured or assembled here from designs created elsewhere.
For example, I saw only a couple of Paquin “Made in Canada” enlargers. One was in John Linsky’s collection (John had explained the Paquin to me). Another showed up with a widow who wished to dispose of her late husband’s darkroom gear. After reading Ev’s article I realized why I saw so few ‘Paquin’ products at our events.
Ev begins, “One of the most abrasive characters I have ever met was J.M. Paquin. His dusty showroom was separated from the rear factory by a tongue-and-groove partition, decorated with signs such as NO CREDIT. Several glass showcases occupied this showroom, their emptiness concealed somewhat by a veil of dust mixed with the vapours from his japanning oven.
“In the show window, at 787 Queen St., W. in Toronto, there would be an enlarger or two surrounded by dehydrating entomological specimens, feet up.
“The proprietor was a short bandy-legged gentleman who always wore a battered fedora, (Brodie Whitelaw commented, “even in bed”) and a vest with a gold watch chain. Gold also formed a large portion of the most elaborate dental work I have ever seen, revealed only during a fleeting smile.
“J.M. made little effort to sell his products, you either wanted them or you didn’t. Although a flyer, loaned by Bill Belier, states, “see it at your dealers,” I don’t believe there were any dealers. He was short to the point of rudeness with prospective customers who were just looking. …”
You can read all of editor Roseborough’s article in the paper copy of 19-4 or the pdf file for 19-4 on the free members-only DVD. Non-members can join today. Read the MEMBERSHIP sub-menu above (Membership Form) and the article at right (PayPal). Send your cheque with the form or send the form and use a credit card/your PayPal account. Questions? Email Lilianne at member@phsc.ca.
Have a great holiday and a wonderful 2025
An Italian 20x and 40x viewer for a focussing slide
Toronto. The summer of 2019, I did a post on an Italian knock-off of a focussing slide viewer. The Al Who [L WHOO] mentioned in the above link was the code name for a Leitz 30x magnifier designed for the focusing slide.
As noted about five years ago, the San Giorgio company in Genoa made a short lived Leica copy and accessories. Time and the short period of marketing these products make them very scarce today.
Looking at the viewer, the construction quality is very much Leitz-like and a tribute to the famous maker. The Italian camera and accessories were all post-war, sold for those few years before the Famous M-series of bayonet mount Leicas took over from the original screw-mount gear. This change likely contributed to the demise of San Giorgio copies – that and the snobbery for German made Leicas.
It should be noted, that such high power magnifiers focussed on the arial view. The focussing slides had a clear glass spot in the centre of the ground glass.
a c2017 DSLR offered by a California company
Toronto. …business plans that is. While we can’t be sure of the web site (very cryptic today), the product announced in June, 2017 never arrived as far as I can tell. My good friend George Dunbar (who no longer has a land line, computer, internet connection, etc.) mailed me the attached from an article he spotted in the June 2017 Photo District News.
The concept by a California based company is to give ‘free’ digital cameras (suitably disguised by a stitched covering) to those folk who enquire at their Palo Alto office. All digital shots taken with the camera are sent to a special server and are viewable via a special app. Files for any shots selected are downloaded to the customer for a US buck each.
But the idea seems to have withered on the vine. No surprise since smartphones, web sites, computers, etc., already around years before Relonch, already offered photo shots without extra fees, in fact, less than a decade later digital images far exceed those taken with non-digital technology from the very beginning of the art. Some sites do offer copyrighted images taken by others at various rates.
Smartphones and their editing apps these days are beginning to mirror DSLR image quality and flexibility raising serious disinterest in using a bulky standalone camera and paying extra for files of photos taken by the ‘owner’.
Leitz SFTOO sports finder with distance adjustment for 20cm lens
Toronto. In early 1981, at one of our fairs, I bought an odd looking viewfinder from a Mr Hyman. Actually, he had a box of Leica stuff that I picked up. Most items were for use with Telyt 20cm lens (not included).
There were a few copies of each item. The 200 mm viewfinder (SFTOO) is an enclosed black frame sports finder with a distance adjustment from 10 feet to infinity.
First made in 1938, the viewfinder survived WW2 and was marketed to around 1968. The examples I have are like new and likely post war (accessory foot and distance ring are both satin chrome).
Drop by one of our events – you may even find such a viewfinder for a Leica or other 35mm camera!
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Stan White – Poems & Photos
Mise Au Point – sur la photographie Quebecois
