Tag Archives: advertisement

sparking a revolution

Posted on December 16, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. While Leica wasn’t the first camera to use 35mm movie film, it was one of the first commercially successful 35mm cameras. The tiny marvel was the brain child of Oscar Barnack. The prototype (UR-Leica) was made by Barnack in … Continue reading →

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PHSC News newsletter for December 2021

Posted on December 11, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Recognize the Leica M3 at the right top of page 1 in this month’s PHSC News newsletter? The most famous of all Leicas, design was done before and during WW2. You can see the prototype Leica IV in the … Continue reading →

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when f/2 was super fast

Posted on November 25, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. In the 1930s, the films and plates were very slow by today’s standards. Normal lenses were usually around f/3.5. To help this lack of sensitivity, Leitz designed a new lens around 1933. The 6 element lens was a modified … Continue reading →

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an early marketing phrase …

Posted on November 23, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. In the 1930s, the minicam rage was taking off, so how could you differentiate one camera from another? Leitz chose to call its camera an AUTOFOCAL camera in advertisements in various early 1930s magazines. An example is this small … Continue reading →

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really, David? a Realist?

Posted on November 2, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. The Stereo craze ebbs and flows reaching a peak about every 50 years. In the later 1800s and early 1900s it was stereo cards. A basket of cards plus a Holmes viewer took the place of television or movies … Continue reading →

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where there’s a will …

Posted on October 23, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. … there’s a way. This old chestnut came to mind when I saw George’s email showing the famous NYC store, Willowbys, advertising the anvailability of Hasselblad cameras. A couple of words of explanation: Willowbys was a block-long 5th ave … Continue reading →

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an inspiration for the Hassy?

Posted on October 22, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Bentzin made cameras in Görlitz, Germany beginning in the late 1800s. The firm collaborated with Zeiss over in Jena to make high end cameras to use Zeiss lens designs. Sadly, both Jena and Gorlitz fell in the Soviet sector … Continue reading →

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when is a brick not a brick?

Posted on October 20, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. When its an Argus C-4! The Argus C-3 was an awkward rectangular weighty thing loved by all. In 1951, Argus took a shot at replacing it with a C-4 camera but the C-3 lived on. This ad on page … Continue reading →

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another inexpensive German made camera

Posted on October 13, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Post war, the photographic industry was awash with inexpensive cameras made in Europe or Japan and sold by North American distributors. An example is the Iloca line made in Hamburg, Germany. In the April 1951 issue of Popular Photography … Continue reading →

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tiny, I can see you

Posted on October 12, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. The makers of rangefinder cameras such as the Leica went to great lengths with accessories to allow the cameras to be used for any photographic project. On page 85 of the April 1951 Popular Photography magazine, Leitz NY ran … Continue reading →

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