"Big things were not only happening in the photographic world, but on every front."
As mentioned in previous posts, the first adjustable camera that I ever had access to was my dad's Yashica 44 EM (or LM). I was in the fourth grade, nine or ten years old, living in Fairbanks Alaska in the winter of 1963, I think, when I first used my Dad's little Yashica 44 EM in earnest. 1963 was one of several very important years that greatly impacted the world during the era. Big things were not only happening in the photographic world, but on every front.
While new transistor radios (among the firsts fruits of the miniaturization research incident to NASA's race to the moon) blared carefree tunes by the Beach boys singing about surfing and muscle cars and girls,The Drifters singing about rooftops, and Roy Orbison wailed about going back to his Blue Bayou--long before other singers claimed it--and a cadre of other goldies were unleashed upon the first of a generation of maturing baby-boomers--it was a popular pastimes to capture memories with handy still cameras. Prices came down and a wide range of camera shapes and brands emerged to a relatively wealthy consuming public in the USA.
"They were armed and nervous and not a bit nice as they stripped the film out of everyones Brownies."
Shown above left is a Baby Rolleiflex--gray model; the link shows more indepth pictures. http://notesandnods.typepad.com/photography_for_profit_or/2009/09/more-pictures-of-reviewed-vintage-cameras.html
"The ailing U2 spy-plane was one photo op I allowed to get by. I'm still kicking my own butt, some 45 years later."
The large wingspan and resulting glider-like characteristics of the U-2 make it highly sensitive to crosswinds which, together with its tendency to float
Although proper protesters such as Joan Baez ballad-ed about serious causes and overcoming and the war in Southeast Asia quietly heated up, life was good for many Americans. Conservative values were still being observed by the masses, although the roots of free-love and anti-war protests were being sewn and nurtured to erupt a few years later. !963, began as a very good year for Americans. This time period was better documented than any previous era--largely owing to the volume and variety of still and movie cameras flooding into the market.
"This time period was better documented than any previous era--largely owing to the volume and variety of still and movie cameras fooding into the market."
A young President John F. Kennedy Kennedy and his wife and family had captivated the world with their money, youth and good looks. Camelot, they called it. JFK had backed down Russian Premier Nikita Kruschev in the Cuban Missile Crisis. We have actual still photos pertaining to these events. The United States dispatched flying U2 spy-planes utilizing specialized cameras, played a crucial role in this dangerous game, but their existence was staunchly denied until one was shot down over Russia.
"During its hay-day, the 127 4x4 format gave rise to first the Baby Rollie Twin Lens Reflex camera, which in turn spawned a number of copies."
While my family living in a small base in the Arctic near Kotzebue, a U2 made an emergency landing at our Federal Aviation Agency landing strip near the Air Base. A security detail from the base just six miles away was dispatched to keep their secrets. The burly young men, who probably saw little action in our geography, looked more like disallusion college kids about the age of my oldest brother who was then a nuclear weaponist in the Navy.
"The Russians named a camera after their Sputnik."
They were armed and nervous and not a bit nice as they stripped the film out of everyones Brownies. They were stationed, as were we, gazzilion miles from anywhere. If only I had had my camera with me that day, I was foolish and clever enough to try something covert, even in the fifth-rade. The ailing U2 was one photo op I allowed to get by.
Russia did their nuclear tests in Siberian. The natural travel of the nuclear fallout was right over Alaska. At times our government required employees and families to wear little pen-looking devices called dosimeters to record the daily radiation doses we received. Very little was really know about nuclear energy and fall-out at the time.We were told not to eat the fresh snow, but we did anyway.
Americans were fully embroiled in the heat of the Cold War. Russia has successfully launched the Sputnik, an orbiting satellite, and the USA followed with the Telstar and soon a challenge that pitted the US against the USSR in a Race for the Moon. The Apollo Missions were gathering steam and we were allowed to watch many of the events unfold on black and white television at school. The Ventures had titled an electric-guitar-heavy instrumental after the Telstar Satellite. It was an exciting time of patriotism and national pride. The Russians named a camera after their Sputnik.
"The 127 film format which had been around since shortly after the turn of the century was gaining new life, driven by these miniature TLR cameras."
Most Americans had not yet wearied of the Viet Nam conflict; few even knew much about the conflict, nor even where the place was. It was accepted as necessary to stem the tide of Communism that threatened our own cherished tenants of freedom and Capitalism. This was the general thought at the time and it was swallowed hook-line-and sinker by most Amercans. And maybe it was even true in the beginning.
President Kennedy had come to be regarded as a hero-figure and was highly respected, even by many who had voted against him. One minor thing I remember was his mandatory physical education program at school which would affect the physical health of us kids for years to come.
". . . the 4x4 negative size was particularly popular for making the so-called Super Slides."
The Space Program defined a generation as the Space Age was upon us. Few people today realize that the side benefits of technology, such as modern computers--were as a result of NASA-driven research into making things smaller. Without it the need would not have been there.
Really exceptional school teachers are rare. They make a huge impact on children. My fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Kanopka, where I attended Fox Elementary School in, Alaska, did a lot for my confidence. I was a government brat, and as such perpetually stood out wherever we were required to live. I learned coping behavior that has served me all my life. My confidence was at low-ebb, but Mrs. Kanopka, fourth-grade teacher par excellent' knew how to motivate me. Praise--it Will work every time. Photography played a roll in her scheme.
"The square format had long been lauded for its ability to provide both horizontal and vertical cropping fro popular print sizes after the picture had been taken. It also provided a larger color slide image."
During the late thirties, forties, fifties and half of the sixties the 4x4 negative size was particularly popular for making the so-called Super Slides. As noted above, they provided a much larger image area than 35 mm, and thereby a larger projected slide image; the mount was about the same size as a 35mm slide mount and would fit in the same 35 mm projectors.
During its hay-day, the 127 4x4 format gave rise to first the Baby Rollie Twin Lens Reflex camera, which in turn spawned a number of copies. Yashica led the pack in sheer numbers of these creations and was in fact among the best imitators in terms of quality and survivability. Atg least the Yashica optics were good--and generally better than imagined. I will describe the other imitators later, but this post explains how I came to use a Yashica 44 variant as my first good camera.
"But Rollei was still the king of quality. There always was and still is a tangible difference in the feel of these cameras. Half a century of more later, the differences are even more evident."
The Yashica 44 LM Twin Lens Reflex camera was a popular Japanese-made knock-off of the Rolleiflex Baby Rollei. There were several others, but Yashica had risen to the top of Japanes camera imports. The TLR design was still very much alive, but it was becoming evident that 35 mm cameras was overtake them for most amateur photographers and some professionals.
"The Yashica 44 LM Twin Lens Reflex camera was a popular Japanese-made knock-off of the Rolleiflex Baby Rollei."
The 127 film format which had been around since shortly after the turn of the century was gaining new life, driven by these miniature TLR cameras. The Rollei, Yashica, and other TLR cameras were small enough to compete with 35 mm cameras. And although they made fewer exposures per roll, they did make a significantly larger negative, 4 centimeters each way. The square format had long been lauded for its ability to provide both horizontal and vertical cropping for popular print sizes after the picture had been taken. It also provided a larger color slide image.
These 4x4 cameras were always a niche-market, but they filled a pretty big niche at that. Yashica was the biggest benefactor of the design that Rolleiflex had invented in the Baby Rollei super-slide camera. But Rollei was still the king of quality. There always was and still is a tangible difference in the feel of these cameras. Half a century of more later, the differences are even more evident.
". . . the TLR design, having reached its evolutionary apex at Rollei design engineer's hands, was being embellished by playful or show-off German engineers for the sheer joy of engineering."
One curious design difference that Rollei engineers incorporated into their Baby Rollei design was that the shutter and controls would not work unless the viewfinder hood was flipped up. This feature, different from any of the knock-offs, was apparently to discourage children or casual handlers who had no business using them, from playing with them or accidentally exposing pictures.
But this is a stretch. I rather suspect that the TLR design, having reached its evolutionary apex at Rollei design engineer's hands, was bing embellished by playful or show-off German engineers for the sheer joy of engineering. They were having to stay up nights to figure out any improvements to make on these optical mechanical marvels. Indeed, I at least, consider these Baby Rollie's to be the very best design and construction that Rollei ever achieved.
Often in the afterlife of vintage cameras, collectors, unaware of these facts will relegate the 4x4 127 film cameras to some inferior level. The exact opposite is in fact the truth. People, put off by the common misconception that 127 film can no longer be had. Although a little difficult to find, it is available from a number of sources and can even be hand-rolled by the industrious photographer. It is certainly worth the effort, in order to enjoy the use of these gems.
"127 film was first introduced by Kodak in 1912 or thereabouts"
All of these miniature Rolliflex cameras and knock-offs fit twelve images (or more sometimes if you knew how) on a roll of 127 film. 127 film was first introduced by Kodak in 1912 or thereabouts, to accommodate the small size of the Kodak vest pocket cameras It became one of the main-stay film formats for most of the century--only discontinued around 1995.
I don't hesitate to call my first Yashica 44 LM or EM a good camera. It served me well, with good optics and durability, until a friend borrowed it and evidently dropped it. He asked to borrow it, and after much hesitation and instructions to keep it securely around his neck, I relented. When he gave it back nothing worked. The Yashica repair facility said, "irreparable, due to damages associated with impact." I was heart-sick. I unsuccessfully tried to repair it, and put it carefully up for later.
"Only two kinds of people attempt to repair cameras: camera repairmen, and fools."
Several truisms emerged from my first good camera experience.
1) Don't loan your equipment.
2) Don't try to repair you own camera--unless you have nothing left to lose.
3) TLR 4x4's are fine cameras.
I worked after school on weekends, and during summers for a photographer at the time. I was a darkroom kid and general flunky. I had no doubts that photography would play an important roll in my life. For youngsters, something may be learned by this experience too. I was a fairly negatively-oriented kid by default. But I had been reading various positive self-help books that got me thinking a little bigger. It gave me the idea to ask for a part-time job with this photographer. Had I not asked, nothing would have happened.
As it turned out, this association was to be very important to me, if maybe a unexpected bit of drama for him. I think the book that urged me to act was Napoleon Hill's, Think and Grow Rich. The title is a misnomer, and was his publishers choice rather than his. I recommend this book to anyone. Bill Ward, my photographer boss, taught me a supposed ancient parable. "Only two kinds of people attempt to repair cameras: camera repairmen, and fools."
It's pretty good advice. But if you have nothing to lose with a hopelessly broken camera, and you have a modicum of mechanical ability and a lot of patience, why not try? You'd want to get a good repair manual which today is much easier with the vast resources of the Internet.
"I did try to repair the little Yashica myself, but at the time it was out of my league."
had no small tools and less mechanical experience, although I think understood what was wrong with it. I put it in plastic and away for another day. I wish I could find it. Instead, I will turn to the half-dozen other similar Yashica 44's that I have acquired over the years. They came in several flavors and configurations, but are all essentially the same in construct.
They all have similar Yashinon lenses. These are excellent optics. I lost many of my genre photos in one of my moves, but I will post a few including one made of my dog, which is used elsewhere in this blog. It was made in 1967 or thereabouts, with that old Yashica 44.
I plan to add sample photographs to this post in the near future. We will see by objective comparison how the Yashica 44 lenses measure up against the famous Baby Rollie lenses. My collection also includes two prime Baby Rollei's. The Rollei's are clearly constructed and packaged better than the Yashica copies. But we'll just have to see how the optics stack up. We may be surprised.
Now a few caveats if you ever are fortunate enough to own one. First, the 127 film size is readily available from various specialty film manufacturers and dealers. You'll probably have to order it over the Internet. I will include links at the end of this post of several sources, but any Internet search should disclose sources for film. These 127 TLR's and other 127 models have become cult classics with hard-core fans who, world-wide, will probably never allow the format to completely die. It is certainly making a comeback.
". . . the 127 film size is readily available from various specialty film manufacturers and dealers. You'll probably have to order it over the Internet."
For the determined and the ambitious, there are also ways to cut other roll-film sizes down and re-roll it to fit 127 reels. So save your reels. If you ever undertake to do this, first try it with old film in the light. It gets pretty hairy in the dark.
Any 127 camera you acquire will undoubtedly have collector value, but these are worthy of actual use as well. Putting the camera though its paces will keep it from seizing up. So remember, to keep your cameras working, take them out and operate the controls now and then.
If you happen to be so fortunate as to acquire a Baby Rollei model of the 4x4 TLR, remember that you may save some time by knowing in advance that the camera was designed so that it would NOT operate unless the top viewfinder hood is in the UP position. I am guessing that more than one Baby Rollei has ended up in the junk pile, because this idiosychrocy wasn't realized.
". . . the excellent engineers at Rollei liked to play jokes . . ."
It seems that the excellent engineers at Rollei liked to play jokes or were inclined to unnecessarily over-engineer their products out of sheer cleverness--as I can think of no real use for such a feature--unless to keep children from unwittingly disturbing the controls or settings--or perhaps to keep the Allied Forces from using the cameras.
If you have never used a Twin Lens Reflex camera you may be surprised, even dismayed when you look down into the so-called waist-level viewfinder. To engage the viewfinder of any such camera you may have to first push the back hood release release button one way or the other, but it should also be pretty obvious how to release it. Once you tug the back edge or corner of the viewfinder upward, it will spring into place. The extra magnifier can be popped up by pushing the front (top when in the down position) of the viewfinder hood inward toward you. This springs into place in such an orientation that you can place your eye to it and see through the finder clearly.
"This is one of the few drawbacks of the TLR designs."
If the subject you want to focus on is not clear, you will need to turn the knob located on the right side of the camera to and fro until the image clears. If you have never manually focused a camera, you will find that over-shooting the clear focus forward and backward in decreasing amounts will soon bring you very close to a clear image. You then only need to make very minute adjustments to clear the image entirely.
Remember, however, that you are viewing through the top lens, and not getting a true picture of the actual depth of field rendered by the setting of the lower taking lens. This is one of the few drawbacks of the TLR designs. But it is not much of a flaw, once you learn to use the zone-focus markings around the top of the lens. More about this later.
For now, you'll notice that everything seems to be backward. This is due to the mirror that directs the view around the right angle from the lens to the viewfinder. This peculiarity has caused even the most-knowledgeable modern camera enthusiasts a degree of consternation. I recently read a camera blogger's post who declared that this was one of the reasons the TLR designs "never caught on." I had to chuckle, as this blog was hung out as an expert source. Contrary to his quick rush to judgment, the TLR design has been one of the most enduring and popular designs ever devised. It began during the 1920's and continues today in several countries.
". . . your brains' neurons rewired themselves so that the image looks correct to you."
The truth is that within a very short period of getting used to the reverse image, you will not notice it as a handicap again. Your brain, being the fine computer that it is, compensates for this viewing problem. You could say that your brains' neurons rewired themselves so that the image looks correct to you. This doesn't take very long at all, although you will think it is a terrible handicap at first. Just persevere and you'll see that what I am saying is indeed true.
As I told my friend, keep the strap around your neck so that the chance of dropping it is minimized. The soft case will help if you do drop it, but it is not foolproof armor. Best to just not drop it. The actual viewing level is not quite as low as waist-level, but you will need to bend forward and place your eye down to the pop-up magnifier to focus. You can then drop the magnifier and compose with your eyes at a farther distance from the viewfinder, however, the image is quite small. I typically keep my eye to the magnifier throughout the process. Again, you just develop a feel for using the TLR finder effectively.
". . . not easily noticed that you are looking to the side--a veritable periscope."
One advantage to the right angle viewing design is that you can hold the camera over your head above a crowd oe other obstacles. You'll invariable see this feature depicted in period movies, but I probably haven't actually used the technique more than a couple of dozen times in my life. It does offer an advantage. I recently watched Fred Astaire as a newspaperman or something, using the overhead technique in one of his old black and white classics.
You can similarly take candid pictures of an unsuspecting child, or pretty woman if you prefer, unnoticed by turning the lens at right angles to your body. You still look down into the camera and are not easily noticed that you are looking to the side--a veritable periscope.
http://notesandnods.typepad.com/photography_for_profit_or/2008/11/yashica-44-continued.html
