Tag Archives: Leica

wild lights

Posted on May 13, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Okay, flash is “the next big thing” and you don’t have a flash socket (pc) or a hot shoe. So what can you do?? Welll, if you are Leitz of Leica fame, you could make a base and flash … Continue reading →

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just like a Leica

Posted on May 5, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. When we were first organized in the 1970s, Leicas, Zeiss-Ikons and other old cameras were everywhere at reasonable prices. We had red curtain Leicas, K (German for ball bearing) stamped curtains (these shutter worked reliably under very low temperature … Continue reading →

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if not for you …

Posted on April 28, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. … my lens would unscrew. Photographers know that the infinity focus setting sets the lens at its closest to the film/sensor plane. For close-ups, the lens is extended further from the film/sensor plane. Box cameras for film often had … Continue reading →

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a camera fit for a Queen

Posted on April 6, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. The German optical firm of Ernst Leitz began as a maker of optical objects including microscopes. In the mid 1920s to keep its factory open and staff working, Leitz began the sale and manufacture of the 35mm Leica camera … Continue reading →

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spring bloomers, spring roomers

Posted on April 1, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. Isn’t it great? Spring is here! Flowers! Grass! Bugs! Sunshine and showers! Kodak moments one and all. And of course rumours. Digital technology has had an horrific impact on the photographic industry. The landscape is littered with dead corporations … Continue reading →

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don’t give me the gears

Posted on March 26, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. A short time after moving back to Montreal, I joined the company Camera Club and offered a shutter and lens test. This was with good reason. My trusty Exakta VXIIa had shown a wavy anomaly in my fast shutter tests … Continue reading →

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the long and the short of it

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. In the 1930s, Leitz sold a special short mount coded as COOED for the ELANG 9 cm f/4 Elmar lens head. This strange focusing mount and lens head were intended for use on the rotating focusing stage coded OORES … Continue reading →

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a loopy idea

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Robert

Toronto. I show three magnifier loupes at the left. The first is a Taylor, Taylor, Hobson brass loupe used in the late 1800s to focus a lens on the massive old field/studio cameras so that the subject was sharp on … Continue reading →

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valau for money

Posted on December 18, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Leitz first introduced the Leica in the mid 1920s to keep employment up at their optical works in Wetzlar during extreme inflation in Germany. Bad timing as it turned out. A few years later, the dirty 30s hit with … Continue reading →

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it’s complicated

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Robert

Toronto. Photographic product makers worked hard at besting one another to capture a larger segment of the ever growing amateur photography market. Typical of the strategy was this May 1969 ad in LIFE magazine touting Polaroid. The ad emphasizes its … Continue reading →

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