movie time

Posted on May 21, 2024 by Robert

Darling Cine camera Model A (early 1900s) – courtesy of the Hove Museum and Art Gallery

Toronto. Before TV became common place, the only means to view any news ‘videos’ was the “MovieTone News” – a short shown before the main feature in movie theatres. Such palaces seem a bit quaint today with huge high resolution flat screen TVs in the home common place. Before going digital ourselves, we often had relevant movies queued up in the event a speaker was suddenly unavailable.

In April, 2003, we conducted a mail-in auction for the items in the collection of the late Walter Shean. One lot consisted of an unusual wood encased 35mm cine camera from the early 1900s. This lot went to our then resident movie expert, the late Robert Gutteridge.

Bob was a teacher in his earlier years and an author more recently. Once he received this strange foot square camera, he began doing serious research. It turned out to be a British camera, known as a Darling Model A. The little camera was made a bit earlier than 1905 when the newer Model B was marketed.

Bob’s detailed story titled, “A Story of Alfred Darling” appears in our journal, issue 30-4 dated Jan/Feb 2005. Read more about this camera and Alfred Darling, benefitting from the detailed research by Mr Gutteridge.  Just a note – ALL members have the DVD which includes all issues of Photographic Canadiana from Volume 1 to 35, or more recently 1 to 40.

Not a member? No sweat! At the right on most pages, there are two PayPal buttons – one for those with a PayPal account and one for those who prefer to use a credit card. Choose one and choose the membership period from the drop down menu – one or three years. That’s it! Your DVD will be on its way from our membership secretary.

Next Sunday we will  be hosting our 49th Spring Photographica-fair (Camera Fair). See the poster here for all the gory details. Free parking, modest admission fee, great food, and good friends. Plus you have a chance to augment your personal collection/user gear – movie or still; film or digital.

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just right

Posted on May 20, 2024 by Robert

article from Photographic Canadiana issue 30-3 shows this Graflex XL and more

Toronto. Remember the fairy tale, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”? Well, like the little heroine, photographers found the medium format cameras “Just Right” In issue 30-3 of our journal, the late Bill Belier did a short survey of the earlier Medium Format cameras.

Included in the survey was this beautiful Graflex XL which sold from 1965 to 1973. Members receive volume 1 to 40 of our journal in PDF format on a DVD, including issue 30-3 which covers in more detail medium format cameras.

You can still get this DVD – just join the PHSC. It’s easy! Two PayPal buttons are on the right side of this and most pages. Choose one or three years of membership; pay by PayPal account or by credit card, and you will receive your DVD. Issue 50-1 in PDF format will be ready shortly.

Come on down to our spring fair on the 26th of May – you may find a Graflex XL, or other ‘must have’ for your collection. Free parking, modest admission, and great food. What a grand way to spend a Sunday!

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and a sida camera with that, please

Posted on May 19, 2024 by Robert

the tiny SIDA minicam from the late 1930s

Toronto.  In the late 1930s, the ‘minicam’ revolution was well under way. The craze centred on cameras using 35mm ‘movie film’ or similar  sized paper backed roll film. An enlarger was a ‘must’ for even pocket sized prints.

A small German company got into the act with its Sida line. Basically a tiny box camera, the Sida produced one inch square frames (bigger than half frame but smaller than a Leica image). The earliest versions were made in Germany with a metal casting. Later models were plastic in various colours, made in various countries. The  camera arrived on the eve of WW2 which perhaps sparked the manufacture in other European countries.

The camera took 8 exposures on a custom roll of film. It used an f/8 35mm meniscus lens and a primitive T (time) and I (instantaneous of unknown speed) shutter.

One of our late members acquired an early metal German-made model.  You can read the background of this particular camera in our journal, Photographic Canadiana, issue 30-2 which is on the DVD disk given to all members (the lens is mis-stated as f/1.8 since the lens marking is 1:8 for f/8).  Join today (see right hand side-bar) and read about this tiny marvel back in the day when film was king.

Pop down to our spring fair on the 26th of May – you may even spot one – or another goodie – for your collection!

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not just a pretty face …

Posted on May 18, 2024 by Robert

Eastman View No. 1 c 1905 restored by member Ed Warner

Toronto. Collectors usually prefer to acquire a pristine example of a particular camera model. That is not always the case. Member Ed Warner picked up an Eastman View No1 a couple of decades ago as a ‘basket case’. Ed used his expert handyman skills to restore the camera to its original condition.

The 5×7 camera was originally sold around 1901-1910.  Fortunately the name plate was on the basket case and once cleaned up, reattached to the camera.

A beautiful camera and a beautiful restoration. You may not find just such a camera at our spring fair (Sunday, May 26, 2024) but there will be ample goodies for your collection and/or user gear (film, plate and digital). Come down and enjoy the day. After all, the parking is free, the admission cheap, and the food is delicious!

Oh, yes. The camera restoration was featured in our journal issue 30-1 which is on the DVD given to all members of the PHSC. Not a member? See the PayPal buttons to the right. Cost is $35 CDN for one year and $100 CDN for 3 years regardless of your mailing address.

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what ever happened to …

Posted on May 17, 2024 by Robert

from dry plate negative c1908

Toronto. As you browse the old photos at our fairs, do you ever wonder what happened to the people you see? The image at left is from a dry plate I bought some years ago at one of our fairs from Ms Cook. Another plate in the package had a date of 1908 so I estimate this little girl was photographed around the same year.

I often wondered what ever became of the child as she grew up, perhaps married, had children of her own, and passed on. Was she educated? Wealthy? Impoverished? Drove a car? Listened to a radio? I wonder.

Well, it’s rather late for that dry plate, but our fair on the 26th may well have other old photos and plates that spark your interest. They can be yours – just open your wallet and let those moths go free ….

We have held the fairs for nearly half a century (since 1975) to the delight of collectors everywhere. You can get details on the current fair being held Sunday, May 26th, 2024 from the poster shown here. Come on out and see old friends, while you add collectibles and user gear to your treasures. Remember – Free parking, modest attendance fee, and great food.

NB: The post title is a riff on the title of that creepy 1962 movie. “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?“. I dreamt up the post after accidentally discovering where on earth I saved the tiff of the glass plate in my computer.

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another, and another, and another …

Posted on May 16, 2024 by Robert

tables at our 2017 spring fair

. .. Wow! Wall to wall cameras and photo goodies at our coming fair. The image at left is from our spring 2017 fair at the ‘palace’.

Come on down on the 26th  and see what you can find to add to your collection and user gear. There will be lots of interesting stuff on the exhibitor tables – cameras, lenses, books, photos, accessories, and more. Things for the film and digital folk.

Mark and Clint will be there to help out. Good food, cheap admission and free parking. Check out the poster for details (same link as the 26th).

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powder … POOF!

Posted on May 15, 2024 by Robert

a young gentleman photographed indoors by flash powder. c 1908

Toronto. The early light sensitive media were far too insensitive for dusk, night or  indoor shots (studios used long exposures, a means to hold the subject very still,  and large windows, ideally facing north, to let in copious amounts of sunlight). This deficiency (media insensitivity) was remedied by flash. As can be seen by this early 1900s portrait indoors of a young gentleman at left (the dry plate negative was bought some years back from Ms M Cook). The sharpness and shadows give away the secret of using flash powder for the shot.

Long before we had flash bulbs and electronic flash, photographers used a mixture of magnesium and nitrate in a long trough held over the photographer. This concoction was announced in 1887 by Adolf Miethe.

Ignition provided a brief and intense light. Too little and the plate was under-exposed. Too much and the plate was over-exposed. Way too much and disaster! Unfortunately, the mixture was also somewhat unstable and sometimes it accidentally ignited with often bad results.

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Triumph of the Image

Posted on May 14, 2024 by Robert

postcard photo from the book by Harvey Tulcensky

Toronto. My good friend, George Dunbar, recently dropped me a line mentioning a NY Times article about at a Museum in Belgium. The article, titled, “Triumph of the Image” is an archived writing by Luc Sante.

George writes, ”  A wonderful history of ‘images’ is presented here in a New York Times’ archived article. That final statement (my underline) describes the joy and delight experienced by us all, thanks to photography.”

This is the excerpt from George: “The invention of photography furthered the impact of these great repositories. If you couldn’t stroll the Louvre’s marble corridors, at least you could look at pictures of its collection. Large numbers of people first became acquainted with the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo when photographs of these works (dim sepia views, especially in the case of the paintings) began to be made and distributed in the 1850’s.

“The considerable power of these pictures is beautifully evoked in Jean-Luc Godard’s 1963 movie, “Les Carabiniers.” In one scene, a couple of near troglodytes sent off to war come back with plunder in the form of a suitcase full of postcards. For 10 minutes — an eternity on screen — the characters lovingly pull their newly discovered cards out of the case one by one: monuments, landscapes, animals, street scenes, fine-art reproductions. They possess the world. Godard’s scene, for all its ironies, comes close to the excitement and amazement that must have seized people when they first realized that everything on earth could be conveyed, and owned, in the form of pictures.”

I illustrated this post with a postcard photo from a book by Harvey Tulcensky of the USA. Two other postcards courtesy of Tulcensky are included in the NYT article.

Photo collectors take note! There will be many fine old photos offered at our coming spring fair this May. We have hosted the fair for almost a half century now at various venues in Toronto and the GTA. Come on down (see above link for details) and check out the goodies to add to your collection or user gear.

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you’re stringing me on …

Posted on May 13, 2024 by Robert

An early ad in the BJA for the revolutionary KODAK camera of 1888

Toronto. … a comment that may have entered the mind of an 1888 photographer seeing Eastman’s ad for his new camera. Before the Kodak was offered, cameras were mainly large, heavy devices that took only a few shots at most.

The novel camera called the Kodak was light (just over a pound), small, and boasted 100 photos before returning the roll and camera to an Eastman company location. The camera used the new flexible and light roll of stripping film (so called because the clear backing was not optically perfect). At Eastman, the emulsion was stripped from the backing and carefully placed on a long glass top table. Each correctly exposed frame of the  processed film was contact printed to make a round print some 2 5/8 inches in diameter glued to a small rectangular card.

The prints and camera, with a fresh 100 exposure roll of film, were mailed back to the owner. A few months later optically clear backing was developed for the roll film making the process even simpler!

The story of Eastman’s early days and the famous KODAK camera are included in a profusely illustrated book by Reese Jenkins called “Images & Enterprise“, first published in 1975 by the Johns Hopkins University Press. Jenkins’ book is well worth reading by any photo historian, photo collector, photographer or businessman. Borrow a copy or buy a used edition or the 1987 reprint (I bought my copy of the original 1975 hard cover in 1977).

Stringing people on  indeed – the Kodak in its day was a revolutionary camera!  By the way, while we can’t promise  you will  find one of these rare cameras at our fair – you will certainly find goodies for your collection or user gear (film or digital).

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June Bug

Posted on May 12, 2024 by Robert

Mature June Bug c2019

Toronto. Entomology is the science of bugs. An offshoot of photography is close-up shots of bugs and bug parts for books, magazines, education, study, etc.

Each spring we experience white grubs just below the surface. Skunks consider them delicacies and prowl over lawns at night digging random holes as they pursue this tasty treat. In May the mature adults begin to emerge and crash against outdoor lights, house windows, etc. in the evening.

Professionals can skilfully photograph these little beetles and offer up their fascinating details to the eye. Have a look this coming June and see if you can spot and snap these little beasties. As a photo collector, keep an eye out for old photos of these and other bugs. You may find such photos at our Fair this month.

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