Tag Archives: Germany

…the holly and the ivy …

Toronto. Rats! Wrong web site! This should be about Photographica, not Christmas in July(ish). Oh well, let’s talk about the Holly camera, at least it’s Photographica. A rare, unsuccessful German plastic box camera of 1950 vintage, The Holly uses 120 … Continue reading

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a Johnny come lately

Toronto. Introduced in 1924, the Leica by Leitz was a flat out success. Two years later, in 1926, its competitor, Zeiss formed the Zeiss-Ikon group to rationalize the German photographic Industry. By 1932, the first Zeiss Contax reached market – … Continue reading

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brave new camera

Toronto. In the 1920s after losing the great war (WW1), Germany suffered a massive bout of inflation and depression. The Ernst Leitz optical house in Wetzlar had mainly made microscopes, objectives, eye pieces, accessories, and the occasional other optical item … Continue reading

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a linhofty objective

Toronto. I dream about the last century when I used film and had a darkroom. I was sold on 35mm back then, but still dreamed of larger format media and cameras. For many years, I wanted to own and use … Continue reading

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an unusual roll film camera from Germany

Toronto. Have you ever heard about or seen a strange camera from the 1930s called a Makina III? Originally designed pre WW2 (one may have been auctioned off last May in Ohio), sales and manufacture were interrupted by WW2. The … Continue reading

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eye of the storm

Toronto. It was ‘the best of times and the worst of times‘ between the world wars. After the first war, pent-up demand blossomed into unprecedented wealth in the first decade, followed by the worst depression ever in the next (world … Continue reading

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Dr Hanin Hannouch: Lippmann Process – July 21st PHSC Presentation

Toronto.  Dr Hanin Hannouch: Lippmann Process. Dr Hannouch will be speaking to us from Germany next Wednesday on the Lippmann process. Find out what a dead parrot (this one’s not a Monty Python routine) has to do with an experimental … Continue reading

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camera boy

Toronto. My good friend and fellow PHSC alumni, George Dunbar spotted this interesting web site and the sample German stereo card added by John Robertson of the UK back on January 18th of this year (2021). Browse the interesting links … Continue reading

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Kodak goes to war

Toronto. It was massive, heavy, and awkward to use, but with a great lens. It was the Medalist I 620 camera. Kodak built it for the US and British military after Germany cut off the German supply of cameras including … Continue reading

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fries with that?

Toronto. We often think German cameras like Zeiss, Zeiss-Ikon, Rollei, Leica, Nagel, Retina etc. but what about Franka (not hot dogs)? On J. Noir’s site, many cameras are described including those of the Franka Kamera Werk in Bayreuth, Germany, at … Continue reading

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