Tag Archives: film

all sizes great and small

Posted on December 30, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. From the beginning of analogue (a sensitive coating and emulsion) most cameras were the size of their negative (or in some cases the positive) as prints (if needed) were contact printed. Glass Plate and film sizes varied to match the … Continue reading →

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self portrait

Posted on December 29, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. Self portraits or selfies are simple today with the ubiquitous front facing smart phone camera. Before that, a self timer allowed self portraits with  tripod mounted cameras. But how can you capture something that is over in the blink … Continue reading →

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a new tourist in town

Posted on December 28, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. Kodak made many cameras from the in expensive box cameras to the high end minicams. Some of their folders settled into the mid-range with a better, faster lens and a multi-setting flash synchronized leaf shutter. An example with a … Continue reading →

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will that be matt or glossy?

Posted on December 22, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. In the early 1950s I was a member of our high school camera club. At the time we could buy a single sheet of 8×10 double weight Kodak photographic paper for a dime. If we washed and dried the … Continue reading →

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just another ad for the Beacon II

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. George Dunbar came across this ad in Popular Mechanics for July 1948 and shared it with us. I did a couple of posts on this typical box camera and its predecessor (both dressed up to look like the popular … Continue reading →

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taking its measure

Posted on December 15, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. While browsing for photo history material, George Dunbar spotted this May 1948 ad for a GE PR-1 selenium exposure meter and shared it with us. To separate the GE meter from others, it was advertised as having a ‘memory’ … Continue reading →

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Auction this Saturday December 17, 2022

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Robert

poster for our estate auction Toronto.  Winter is in the air and we are holding our INDOOR AUCTION on SATURDAY, December 17, 2022 down in the Long Branch area of Toronto at the usual venue – free parking and free … Continue reading →

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grainy days

Posted on December 13, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. In film photography, grain is the ‘clumping’ of metallic silver created by the development of exposed silver halides. Large clumps were not a great issue when the sensitivity of glass plates was relatively slow and the plates and cameras … Continue reading →

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calling all cameras

Posted on December 10, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. Anther faux pas in North American camera sales. An article in the April 1948 issue of Popular Mechanics touted a case that carried a small camera plus a ‘portable’ battery powered radio. Smart phone users may relate to this … Continue reading →

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the sky is falling …

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Robert

Toronto. … or so said Chicken Little in the Children’s fable (I learnt the English version … ). For many years film and glass plates were basically insensitive to blue light (orthochromatic) so clouds and sky exposed for the landscape … Continue reading →

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