Tag Archives: film

zoom before zoom

Posted on December 27, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Today, when we speak of ZOOM, we usually mean the app used to video conference by computer and internet. In this time of COVID-19, live meetings in person have been replaced by computer conferencing using special apps like ZOOM … Continue reading →

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lousy timing

Posted on December 22, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Ansco and its predecessors and future companies tried hard as number two to be better than Kodak in films, papers, cameras etc. In the 1920s, known as Agfa-Ansco, the company built a massive factory which went into production the … Continue reading →

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a star is born

Posted on December 20, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Today, with modern digital cameras and smartphones, we take colour for granted and convert the results to B&W only for a ‘special effect’. It wasn’t always the case. For many decades various colour processes were tried. Some had good … Continue reading →

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night moves

Posted on December 19, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Ahhh, 1934 (before I drew a breath) Kodak was advertising its newest film – Super Sensitive (SS)  Panchromatic – plus a couple of inexpensive cameras and special photoflood bulbs ready to screw into their special reflectors or into ordinary … Continue reading →

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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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smaller can be better

Posted on December 12, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. For many years flash bulbs were used to illuminate scenes at night or indoors.  Early flash guns were somewhat big and required fresh batteries to reliably trigger a flash bulb via a cable connecting flash gun and shutter sync. … Continue reading →

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1940’s creme de la creme

Posted on December 10, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. 1940. America was a year away from being pushed into WW2 by the attack on Pearl Harbor. Color movies were very possible but very costly. That year, critic’s poll happened to choose black and white titles for the ‘top … Continue reading →

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shining a light on an iconic American photographer

Posted on November 18, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. O Winston Link lived from late 1914 to early 2001. A number of his photographs are offered by the Atlanta, GA gallery, Jackson Fine Art. George Dunbar, also a photographer (and a retired industrial cinematographer) , saved Link’s obituary. … Continue reading →

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PHSC News newsletter for November 2021

Posted on November 13, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. At right top of page 1 in November’s PHSC News newsletter is the famous Minolta CLE. The camera design was also badged as a Leica CL. Leica justified the difference in retail price as the result of a more … Continue reading →

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lessons from the movies

Posted on November 10, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Just picture the late 1920s. Movies were well established as silent entertainment media complete with musical accompaniment from piano to orchestra and all in-between. In 1928, the silents used body language and text slides to convey meaning. Actors could … Continue reading →

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