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Japanese 4×4 TLR (edit) | |
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4×4cm | Cordlef | Olympus Eye Flex | Haco-44 | Halma 44 | Kino-44 | Laqon-44 | Minolta Miniflex | Primo Jr | Prinz 44 | Ricohmatic 44 | Ricoh Super 44 | Sawyer's Mark IV | Tower 44 | Tower 44B | Toyoca-44 | Walz Automat 44 | Yashica-44, 44A, 44LM |
Other TLR, pseudo TLR and medium format SLR -> | |
Other Japanese 6×6, 4.5×6, 3×4 and 4×4 -> |
Posted by PapaD on November 30, 2008 at 09:56 PM | Permalink
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When it comes to 4x4 TLR's Rollei and Yashica makes a sweep. There were several others however. The Topcon Primo Junior, was also sold in the USA rebadged as a Sawyer's 4x4. I swear that both Minolta nd Richo made versions of TLR's in 4x4 as well, but I can't find anything written about them. I do know however because I had them in my collection up until recently when I started selling my collection. Oh well, guess they were rarer than I realized. Some one got a bargain!
Pictured here is one I just learned about. Check out the link to the site where I discovered it. This link is a wonderful resouce for all things 127.
The Komaflex was issued for a short itme and in limited quantities in a SLR 127 format. I wonder why it didn't go places? It looks a lot in desgn like the Kawa 6, which is also of the Fuji family. However it is about a quarter the size. I have only encounter three of these cameras in my life. I on the only working one of the three. They had something strange going on with the shutter cocking that often caused broken shutters. I love these little jewels however. Both of mine are gray. I understand that the black ones, which I have never seen, are even more rare.
I'll add camera photographs and lens test photograhs of and from mine ASAP.
Here are references of a few 4x4 TLR's I've known about, but have never actually used.
The Prinzflex
Excerpt: (taken from this link. Hop to this link for additional info.) http://www.tlr-cameras.com/Japanese/slides/Prinz%2044.html
This sounded a bit confused to me - there is no other mention of a Halina 44 anywhere else, and Halina generally sold cheap and grotty low-end pseudo-TLRs (which this one is not). I also don't know of any Tougodo camera which looks at all like this or the Walzflex 120 models. However, Walz DID make a Walz Automat 44 with the Zunow 2.8 lens, which is mentioned in McKeowns, and pictured in Sugiyama (in two variants). Both are crank-wound and look nothing like this Prinz 44. But I do notice that the frontal design of the Prinz, particularly the lens surround/escutcheon has some similarity to the later knob-wound Walzflex and Wagoflex. So, initially I thought that Walz (or their supplier) perhaps made this for Dixons around the mid-to-late 'fifties
Posted by PapaD on November 30, 2008 at 09:15 PM | Permalink
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Ways to use the TLR Viewing Options
The image is also viewable from a distance equal to the reaching length of your arms, enough so, that you can easily stoop or squat and place the camera at knee-level or ground-level to take pictures. This is especially effective when taking pictures of children, as it is desirable in most cases to be at their level. It can also provide a different view than is usually snapped of the same scene providing a dramatic view of a tall ediface or other such scene.
For sports events, you will better use the sports-finder feature, which is activated by folding the magnifier down, and the front panel of the viewfinder down until it clicks into place and stays. By raising the camera to eye-level, you can then look through the small hole in the back panel of the viewfinder and point the camera in the correct direction for sports pictures such as a football player running.
Once, when I was in Junior High school, I was on the sidelines taking pictures of a highschool football game. I had by them started doing a little freelance work for the local newspaer where I then lived. I had run the gambit of methods for getting publishable shots. The old editor had taken me under his wing and was helpful in his own gruff way, by critiquing my hadful of prints from each game.
I had determined what worked and had become comfortable enough to pick a place where the action was likely to come and just sit there until it did. It's not a bad way to work. I had to stay up late to get the pictures and then process and print them to get them to the newspaper. So, I would sometimes take a book or other homework and try to do study while sitting there.
For whatever reason, I was not using the sportfinder, but was instead looking down into the viewfinder to follow a play that brought the action my way. Before I knew it, the small images in the viewfinder trampled over me. I was young, limber, and resilient and nothing was very hurt but my pride. My vendication was an awesome close up that I snapped just before being trampled.
By appropriately using the sportsfinder, you can avoid such incidents, and rely on the greater depth of field of a smaller aperture, and/or your ability to estimate distances to gain a clear image, as you become accustomed to the zone-focus markings surrounding the top of the viewing lens for focus.
Snag 'em While You Still Can
There are still plenty of Yashica 44 variants to be had on the used market ushc as eBay. They are solid cameras with excellent optics. At this time there are enough of them floating around that you shouldn't settle foranything but a nice clean working one. Get one with a case manual, and box, plus any accessories you can snag--in that order.
The next post will show a few other extraneous cameras, which, although they may not exactly fit in this category, more closely fit here than anywhere else. Pictures, lens tests and comparisons, and additional links, if not included at this time will soon follow.
Continue at this Link:
and
Shown below are several helpful links related to these products.
http://rolleiclub.com/cameras/tlr/info/4x4_tlr.shtml
http://www.onetwoseven.org.uk/
http://www.onetwoseven.org.uk/2
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/450101-REG/Efke_100127_R100_Black_and_White.html
http://www.frugalphotographer.com/cat127.htm
http://www.onetwoseven.org.uk/3
http://www.mediajoy.com/en/camera_review/nigan/history2.html
Posted by PapaD on November 30, 2008 at 04:50 PM | Permalink
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(readable but to be edited. rough draft)
They haven't caught on yet. But they will. "They" are the rising swell of camera collectors. It is not uncommon for collectors to miss a piece or two of the puzzle when determining "values" of collector pieces. Those whom so many people look to to value vintage cameras do get it wrong. They generally are not photographers, but experts in antiques and/or historians.
They do their best to make educated guesses about old camera values based on numbers of camera models made, original values of comparable cameras of the time period (much as appraisers use surrounding houses to establish square foot values), recent demand and trends of sales--including numbers that similar products have sold for on Ebay, and the perceptions of values among collectors.
Where these valuators get it wrong is in a rapidly adjusting field, where, not being photographers themselves, they underestimate OTHER INTRINSIC FACTORS that do now, and will increasingly,make certain brands and models more highly sought after by both antique collector/investors, AND real photographers who are looking for something neat to collect, but also want something usable--often something they couldn't justify at its original high price.
Ebay and such outlets are not exempt from the economic downturn either. I have been watching and cherry-picking vintage camera items on Ebay for some time. I have observed several phases that vintage film cameras have appeared to have gone through, and I believe that I can reasonably out-predict future values of certain models and badges. As digital cameras appeared to be supplanting film cameras in virtually every field of use, camera owners fell into three categories:
1) Those who hurried to dump their previously expensive film gear while they could still get a little return on them, so they could reinvest in digital equipment.
2) Those who were in denial and lost their shirts and hopes of ever getting any money back on their previous investments--and then sold them for pennies on the dollars in disgust (or whatever reason--they sold them.)
3) Those who decided to ride out their chosen profession using film. Being near retirement age, they neither wanted to invest in, nor to learn the requisites of the new digital paradigm.
They have never been under any illusions of any great resale value of their cameras. But they knew how much they were worth to themselves, as working cameras. They may have had sentimental attachment to these cameras (it happens), or they may have felt that if they kept them in the family, they might attain a greater value to their children or grandchildren. They were not wrong.
Now what I see happening is that certain better known camera models are being scarfed up, largely by collectors. As demand out-strips supply for these models the prices skyrocket. Many people are priced out of the market. Consequently they start looking for other models to collect and discover models new to them. And photogrpaher collectors are seeing opportunities to acquire very fine film cameras and equipment--the kinds used by the greats of a short time ago to produce the best images in the world--and they are having a field-day. They are ahead of the curve.
I don't pretend to be and expert on the values of vintage cameras, nor am I anyone more than an amateur historian with a love for the old cameras I grew up and grew old with. I do know a lot about how these cameras were used, the general professional consensus among vintage photographers--as to the usefulness, reliability, and quality of those vintage cameras. Many of them anyway.
I have to place some order to the forty or so favorite models that I plan to review in this weblog during coming weeks and months. I have a pretty good idea of how to proceed. I have already begun by writing about several Hasselblad models, especially a couple with special historical significance.
The camera brand and model, that I see most glaringly overlooked, both by collectors and user-collectors are the Hasselblad 500EL and 500 EL/M models. These are extraordinary cameras. They originally cost arms and legs. There are reasons that they did cost so much. For one thing, these are considered the "Swiss Watches"of medium format film cameras. They were designed with forethought, and engineered with precision seldom seen with any product anywhere today. Materials used were intended to last almost forever.
The EL designation has put off some conventionally thinking people because it means that they were and are electric models and depend on batteries to work. I recently read one prominent camera site whose experts had concluded that this was a drawback because:
Indeed they were, but a quick iInternet search will show that they can be reasonably had "all-over the place", including all over eBay without any problem, from after-market manufacturers. They work fine. I have tried them.
Try The Battery Warehouse on Ebay
There is another solution as well. There are inexpensive conversion kits which will enable these cameras to run off either standard 9-Volt Batteries or standard-or-rechargeable AAA Batteries. I guess that's actually two separate solutions.
Oh yeah, you can also use the EL series powered by a proprietary AC Cords.
Conclusion: The electric argument does not hold up. Think about his intuitively for a moment. Do you really think NASA would allowed the only opportunities to take photographs in space and on the moon to be lost because of battery failure. The fact is that the old argument about manual camera capabilities while interesting, is really a non-factor today. If you think you might be caught with a prized-shot facing you just as your battery runs out, carry a couple of extra sets (you DO already DO this don't you. How many digital cameras do you know that have manual capabilities? Or how 'bout electronic flash units? They don't run on wind power. The argument just doesn't hold up.
2. The 500EL is too large and cumbersome for field work. It should only be relegated to the studio.
Okay, I kinda agree with this, or wait, do I really? No, I really don't. I must be getting spoiled. By todays standards, the Haselblad 500EL cameras is quite large. It's weight is not so formidable, however. Having used many film cameras going back to the old press cameras, such as the Mamiya Press 23, or the Omega Rapid, and the heavy twin-lens reflex models, such as the Mamiya C330, and the SLR Mamiya RB67, and/or the Graflex 4x5 field cameras--to say nothing of the Graphlex flash units that required the big gray 16 lb. shoulder-carried battery packs. I could go on. The point is, you may be susrprised what a smallish photographer can manage without undue duress. It is all mindset and expectation.
You are likely to require a bag or case to carry your camera accessories anyway, right? So you just put all the extraneous stuff--and only what you actually need-- in the case. What about the weight of the camera itself? It has been my experience--honestly--that it is easier to hold a larger, heavier camera steady. That's right. No motion blur from tired unsteady hands, nervous tremors, or shaking from anger or terror.
If this doesn't resonate with you, you haven't photographed some of the things I have--everything from combat and weddings, to bull-riders and bull-fights, to angry mobs and angry drivers who have survived (or not) auto accidents, to location shoots of industrial machines for advertisements and sales sheets.
I promise that all of the types of photography mentioned above can be accomplished with a Haaselblad EL Series Camera System in tow, with room and energy to spare. Two bodies actually. I have done all of the above with much larger, heavier and less-prestigious cameras. Okay, it might be bigger or heavier or bigger and heavier than the digital or compact film camera you are accustomed to, but if that is the case I am merely guessing that you don't do any of the types of photography mentioned above.
Another thought is to aquire a Hasselblad two-handed grip. It makes handling the EL a breeze. Just another accessory from a fine camera company. A comfort-curved padded neck-strap, a hand strap, and a choice of several bags and hardcases are also available from Hasselblad. These vintage accessories also will add value to your investment. Speaking of future value to collectors, if you can snag a black EL or a MOON Modelo EL/M, it will immediately have greater value, and it will increase. Since the Haselblad EL/M was used durin g the Apollo Moon Landing, the forty-year annaversary date of the Moon Landing will be July, 1008. Then, it will really be celebrated ten years later during the 50-year Landing Annaversary.
I had been wanting a higher-end digital camera for a long time--mainly just for grins. I'd had quite a few good consumer models and had been very impressed with them. I'd actually managed to do some serious jobs with them. I am old-school. I simply don't buy things I don't need--that is until I can somehow trick myself into justifying to myself that I DO need that something. Last summer, I found the excuse to buy a "good" digital camera. What I wound up with was an entry-level professional
digital Sony SLR and a good contingent of accessories and lenses, a nice bag, some tripods and electronic flash units.
I had been consigned (by my wife) to document a music festival, which she was producing. So I got my long awaited digital gear, made myself comfortable with it, and set out for Music City, three hours away. I spent a week there in the resort and did my daily due on assignment. It was a huge place. I found myself more than once having to stop to sit and rest and gather my thoughts. Right! It was hard physical work. That's what many types of photography depends on. Unless you can afford multiple assistance and porters, it is part of the job. NO?
Sooo, the big and heavy argument really has no substance, but if you still feel that the Hasselblad 500EL series is too heavy, then just think, at the cost you can now buy one for, it could be relegated to the studio only--if necessary. There is no better portrait camera. Attached to a tripod with a Hasselblad quick release tripod mount accessory, and the optional ten-foot electric cable release, a 150 mm lens of any number of variations--your choice--or outfitted with a softar and a warming filter and a Hassleblad lens shade or vignetting bellows, loaded with 220 or 70 mm film or digital back; and accurate stove-pipe finder for a really precise focus--there is nothing more reassuring as the resounding clunk-and-advance provided by the 500EL camera system.
3) Which brings us to another possible "objection" to using the Hasselblad 500EL Series Camera System. "It is tooo loud!"
Are you a wildlife photographer? If you are you may have a point. although, I must say that I have used a Hasselblad 500C for just such photogrpahy. The C has the same loud clunk of the shutter. You can, however, lock up the mirror on the EL, which makes it much quieter. Not quiet, but quieter. Working from a camo blind, with proper scent control it was never a problem for me. It usually results in a cautious look around. I don't know what it woulds like to animals, but they don't know either. It doesn't spook them. The sound can also be dampened with small sandbags used to both steady and mute the sound.
No, I wouldn't use it to try to steal a shot in the theater. You are not supposed to do that anyway, are you? I wouldn't try to take clandestine spy pictures with the EL, unless of course, it was from far away, with a long lens, in which case it wouldn't really matter, anyway.
Frankly, I probably wouldn't take it while covering a story behind enemy lines while tagging along with a squad of rag-tag irregulars making raids over the Albanian lines. The last time I tried something like that, I got mobbed and beat-up by friendlies wanting candy and MRE's and lost all my good good Nikon gear. Come to think of it, I could afford to lose his stuff now. But no, since I would be uploading images for timely coverage by 2-meter radio satellite link anyway, so--it would be better to be digital, and smaller WOULD be good. so I probably would leave the EL at base camp, in this one case.
4) This is a lame one, but the objection might come up that you are not using the latest- greatest state-of-the-art digital equipment for a particular job wherein your reputation might suffer and you'd be embarrassed.
Give me a break! It's the results that your reputation rests on. I recall using Nikon FE2's and F3 long after they were considered "OLD" All it earned me, was respect from other photogrpahers who reverence the truly good stuff. In this case the younger photographers wondered how I could manually focus it so fast. You just can. I dunno. It's quality stuff. I mean, what better gear can you get than what was used by NASA astronauts on the moon!Who can top tat?
In fact the Haasselblad EL series cameras were so far ahead of their time that they set a precedent for all future cameras to scramble to attempt to match. Being a Systems Camera, these cameras have a vast array of secondhand accessories and lenses that you will wait in vain for, for your new camera to be equipped with.
Your camera will undoubtedly be a relic itself, before anything actually becomes available to begin to rival those made and readily available on the secondhand market for the Hasselblad EL Series Cameras. For instance, microscope adapter, multiple types of finders and viewing glasses, numerous types of trip mechanisms including electric cable shutter-releases, and radio-controlled ones intervalometers (know what that is? It 's cool), backs to accommodate all types of roll, and cut film, Instant film backs (Polaroid types), custom camera cases,custom integrated electronic flash units, metering devices, covers, filters and lenses.
A gazillion lenses. True, these lenses can be fairly expensive, but now cost only a fraction of what they once did, and what superb lenses they are. Did you know that a special lensboard is made for Hasselblad lenses that will enable you to use them as film enlarger lenses? BTW, how easily can you double or triple expose on your current modern camera? It doesn't require photoShop with a 'blad.
If I were starting out as a professional photographer today, I'd probably start parttime. I would get a good new or secondhand low-end digital camera with a lot of features and resolution. I woulod get a few lenses--good ones. They I would get a Hasselblad EL/M body and 150mm or 120mm lens secondhand. I would get some inexpensive used backs, a waist level finder, a lens shade, a trip cord, and I would continue to round up secondhand accessories as I could generate the cash to pay for them.
Then when I began to establish a good clientel, I would invest in a film scanner, until I could eventually get one or two used Phase One digital backs for the Hasselblad. My Hasselblad lenses could be adapted for virtually any other digital camera, and they would be about as fine as any lenses you could ever buy.
The link below provides good information regarding the valuation of cameras.
http://www.popphoto.com/article.asp?section_id=5&article_id=1162&page_number=1
Posted by PapaD on November 27, 2008 at 04:02 PM | Permalink
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This link is a helpful artical when it comes to a good medium format overview. Here is a small excerpt. Continue reading at the link below:
Medium format cameras use 120 or 220 roll film, which is about 6 centimeters wide (2 and 1/4 inches). This size of roll film was introduced in 1898 by Kodak for its Folding Pocket KODAK Camera. It thus seems safe to say that the world has reached agreement on the proper height for a medium-format negative. On the other hand, nobody has ever agreed on the proper width. There are many standard widths for 120 camera frames: 645, 6x6, 6x7, 6x8, 6x9, 6x12, and 6x17. These numbers are ostensibly in centimeters although in practice a 6x6 camera such as a Hasselblad will expose a 56 x 56 mm frame.
Posted by PapaD on November 26, 2008 at 01:25 PM | Permalink
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Posted by PapaD on November 26, 2008 at 10:47 AM | Permalink
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"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
Posted by PapaD on November 25, 2008 at 02:21 PM in Cameras, Twin Lens Reflex, Genreal Photography Interest, Medium Format, Vintage Camera Reviews | Permalink
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. . . so little time to write about them. I have versions of most of the cameras I intend to write about. Getting it done is something else again, but I am working on it.
(Rough-draft, readable but not yet proofed)
Since, as I have previously mentioned, the first good adjustable film camera I ever owned was a Yashica 44 LM (or EM, can't remember, they are almost identical.) Twin Lens Reflex, I will continue with this camera and a few other similar ones that use the almost, but not yet, obsolete 127 film.
Those who simply don't know, and very few DO know, the history of photography is quite long and rich having its start in the middle of the 19th Century. It was certainly around to record much of the US War between the States. We have photographs of the settling of the American West, pioneer life, and yet unsurpassed landscape photographs taken in black and white by Ansel Adams and others more obscure but his equal in skill and art.
For the Twentieth Century, photography might even be compared ot some modern pursuit during this Twenty-first Century, such as Surfing the Internet. You are right! There has been nothing in our past quite like surfing the Internet, but if anything comes close, for the last century, it might be photography for its wide appeal, rapid development, and impact upon the world.
Photography was both a past-time and a profession for many upwardly mobile people. It required a little understanding of physics and chemistry during the first half of the century or more, but by the end of the last century, excellent photographs could be managed by anyone.
Around 1917, if I have it right, the 127 or 4x4 (depending upon which continent you lived on) film format was born. It was used more or less as one of several viable film formats without undue notice until not long before WWII, when photographic giant of the time Kodak, issued the Baby Brownie camera to use 127 film. This signaled something significant and a trend followed that gave rise to a number of very sophisticated cameras in the same format.
Part of the drive, at least in ad-bites, was that the larger 4cmx4cm transparency would fit in a slide mount no larger than the overall dimensions of the 35 mm slide mounts and consequently would also fit a regular 35 mm slide projector. If you didn't live through the era of home slide shows and home movies, then you never lived--but count yourself fortunate. They were universally dreaded events by all but those who had taken the pictures to be displayed.
Yes, it was a good way to show off our Alaskan adventures to those who were genuinely interested. But not everyone who'd been loosed with a camera had a compelling story to tell, nor did they have the artful skill that my own DAD had. Most were repetitive displays of ugly kids and aunts and tombstones and houses and broadly grinning fourth cousins you barely knew. And the pictures were taken too far away, crooked, out of focus, and improperly exposed. This is the 127 legacy that the Kodak Baby Brownie left us. Thankfully the Babie Rollei, Baby Yashica, Minolta, Topcon, and Kowa legacy was better.
One of the first of these cameras was the Rolleiflex Baby Rollie. It was pretty much a scaled down version of the very popular Rolleiflex 6x6 camera made by Rollei. I will soon write about the latter, but for now the former takes first notice. The thinking behind the Baby Rollei was to provide serious photographers both amateurs and professionals, a format that was as easy to handle as the 35 mm, which was growing in popularity, but offered some competitive advantages. It made sense to piggyback this camera upon the same design of the Rollie flagship Twin Lens Reflex cameras--hugely copied by every camera company from the design's inception until another half century had elapsed.
The camera business had become very competitive, and games of one-ups-man--ship played out on the world stage, in photography magazines and in consumer advertisements almost monthly. One model of camera had barely finished production before another "new, improved, more-highly featured, or specialized" model would supplant or compete with it. And this would be done by the same camera manufacturer. The other manufacturers would soon copy the original design and produce their own often less expensive, and usually not as quality a product as the originals.
Then competitors would try to go one another one better in their designs, features, lower prices, and what not. Patents meant little on the world stage during this time. Soon after the Baby Rollieflex Rollei camera was on the market, Yashica came out with their own version, which for appearances was the spitting image of the Baby Rollei. The first ones did not have the same number of elements to the lenses, but later ones did. The Japanese cameras were, at least among Americans and Western Europeans, considered to be inferior to the Rollie.
Rollie certainly spent more on quality of materials used to make their cameras, and they packaged them as fine instruments, but today, lens test actually show the optics of the Japanese cameras of the time to be quite comparable, and in some ways superior to the German cameras. And they were a lot less expensive.
May dad had several models of Rolleiflex and Rolleicord cameras during the late forties and early fifties. He, like many extremely absorbed in the hobby, would often tade one camera of a older model for a more-current model to sell one to afford a newer model. Dad studied cameras and photography as the scientist t in him studied everything of interest. He had more than a passive understanding of both. I was just a very young kid at the time, so some of my earliest recollections include Rollei TLR cameras.
Dad worked for the FAA and he was quite the adventurer. Our family was privileged to live in a number of exciting places, including a couple of tours in Alaska--for a total of five years during a time then such represented a good portion of my entire life. Of course Alaska is a vast and scenic place. Photography went right along with the venue.
During our last two years in Alaska, just prior to the great Anchorage earthquake, Dad's interest in photogrpahy had waned. He had sold all of his cameras, in order to make the relocation easier, but he had not been in Fairbanks long before he acquired another TLR, this one a Yashica, and it was a copy of the Baby Rollei. This Yashica 44 LM TLR was the first camera that I consciously ever used beyond box-cameras and snapshots. I was still quite young--nine or ten and in the fourth grade, I think.
(Continue to the next post where I will begin reviewing these Cameras)
Posted by PapaD on November 25, 2008 at 01:54 PM | Permalink
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This is a product review that I wrote for eBay, but didn't have room to complete. I have since updated and expanded it somewhat.
The Haselblad 500C (the model 500CM is merely a slightly updated version of this camera), was the first successful 6x6 negative camera Single Lens Reflex System Camera ever devised that used leaf Compur shutter, synchonizing shutter with electronic flash at all shutter speeds. From the onset,It was intended to fill a void that Victor Hasselblad and company saw in the camera market during the late fifties the last century.It was also intended to be quite simply, "the best Camera ever produced".
Many photographers would agree that 500C achieved this goal. It changed photography forever. It was also the clear choice of the astronuats and the 500C as well as subsequent models were used during the Appolo Moon Mission. An electricly-driven model, and another sister model was even used on the moon's surface itself.=The things I like most about the Hasselblad 500C are as follows:1)It was engineered by Hasselblad, with the help of the famous car makers at Porche, to be very ergonomic.In my hands,it has always felt very natural, with all the controls falling exactly in place, or within easy reach. For those who may feel differently, I submit that they may not be using it as intended.
For so many things times have changed greatly since 1958, but most of the mechanics of film cameras are still the same. However some of the routine techniques used then, have been lost on later generations.
Posted by PapaD on November 25, 2008 at 12:49 PM in 35 mm, Cameras, Twin Lens Reflex, Digital Camera Techniques, General Photography Information, Genreal Photography Interest, Medium Format, News Photography, Vintage Camera Reviews | Permalink
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Tags: 500C, FILM CAMERAS, Hasselblad, Hasselblad 500C, MEDIUM FORMAT, Vintage CAMERAS
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I have already sold my last 500 C. I am selling my entire collection and I parted with this one before I started this vintage camera documentation. I have forty some-odd remaining film cameras in my collection, including several Hasselblads--just not 500C. I have also been selling my gun collection. As it was with my Kimber 45 Custom shop Target Model 45 1911, as soon as I had sold my favorite 500 C, I was kicking my own rear and calling around to find where I could buy another. I was very attached to both pieces.
The Haselblad 500 C was the model that put Hasselblad securely on the map, and in space, and in the hands of phoitographers including mine. It still is as fine a film camera, all considered, as any camera. That's my opinion, but it is a widely sharEd one.
Hasselblad - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The company was established in 1841 in Gothenburg, Sweden, as a trading company, F. W. Hasselblad and Co. The founder's son, Arvid Viktor Hasselblad, was interested in photography and started the photographic division of the company. Hasselblad's corporate website [1] quotes him as saying I certainly don’t think that we will earn much money on this, but at least it will allow us to take pictures for free.
http://www.hasselblad.se/about-hasselblad/hasselblad-in-space/in-the-beginning.aspx
Over forty years ago, a still unknown Walter Schirra entered a Houston photo supply shop and purchased a Hasselblad 500C. The camera was a standard consumer unit with a Planar f/2.8, 80 mm lens. Schirra was a prospective NASA astronaut, one of the brightest and finest pilots of his time, a man with the “right stuff”. Thinking to take his new purchase up on a space shot with him, Schirra stripped the leatherette from the body of the Hasselblad and painted its metal surface black in order to minimize reflections. And when he climbed aboard a Mercury rocket in October 1962, he took his Hasselblad with him. Once in Space, he documented the wonder and awe inspiring beauty he saw around. He took the first space photographs using his consumer model Hasselblad. Thus began the first page in a new chapter in the history of Hasselblad and photography and a long, close, and mutually beneficial cooperation between the giant American space agency and the small Swedish camera manufacturer.
more here: http://notesandnods.typepad.com/photography_for_profit_or/2008/11/more-on-hasselblad-500c.html
Posted by PapaD on November 10, 2008 at 11:32 AM | Permalink
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Tags: cameras, film, Hasselblad, photgraphy, vintage cameras
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Click any image to enlarge.
The first HassIeblad I ever used was a 500C, which uses a leaf shutter. This was in the early sixties. The model 1600 had first been released over a decade before. It used a focal plane curtain shutter and as indicated by the model designation, had an upper speed of 1/1600. Although the fast shutter speed was desirable for news and action photographers, the slow flash synchronization speed is typical of focal plane shutters. It is the main reason the Hasselblad 500C using lenses with built in leaf shutters was born. These sync at any speed, unlike the curtain shutter, which was built into the camera body, independent of the lenses.
Both the 1600 and 1000 camera models used stop-down focusing, as it is sometimes called. This technique involves opening the diaphram wide enough, usually all the way to the largest aperture, in order to see clearly and focus the camera. Before the shutter is released it is then necessary to adjust the f/stop to the correct exposure setting. The lenses for these Hasselblads make this quite easy to do, with the mere anti-clockwise slide of an outer lens ring. Often, it can be helpful to take a look through the readjusted SLR finder in order to get a true picture of the depth of field. But often, there simply is not enough light to see clearly, once the lens has been stopped down.
The photographs shown here are of a Hasselblad 1000F, the only 50's era focal plane Hasselblad example that I have left. This partcular example of the first modular system includes a back, dark slide, and a prism finder without the eye-cup. This camera works very well. The Carl Zeiss 80mm Tessar 2.8 lens is in excellent operating order. I will post pictures taken with this set-up as soon as I can. The lens glass is excellent as is the mirror. The lens chrome shows some oxidation. As shown on the front left upper body, the black body covering is separated in one place. Once plentiful on the used market, these Hasselblad models are now becoming very hard to find even in this condition. Vintage camera restoration is becoming almost as popular as is camera collecting itself.
This was a secondary camera that was never prepared for display in the camera museum. It is a good candidate for restoration or for use. Included as shown in the photographs, is a beautiful brown Hasselblad Ever-Ready Case; the stitching has come undone as shown, and the strap is boken in one place, but is still a very fine specimen.
The camera back does not readily come off. It is stuck on the camera body. Therefore, the finder can not be removed either. I have restored several such cameras, and it just has to be carefully worked with to get it apart, but since I am short of time for this project, I am doing nothing else to this one.
This finder is without the eyecup, and it shows a lot moe cosmetic abuse than acurately reflects it good operating condition. This one was covered with velcro as was a common practice for holding accessories. I do have another lens with good glass and somewhat better cosmetics, but the stop-down feature is not as smooth as is this one. I also have a lot of vintage Hasselblad meomorabilia to help someone make an interesting display for this great old camera.
Also pictured is a tan Hasselblad case which is in very ragged-out condition, but it is an authentic example of the case styling none-the-less. As rugged as these cases are, this one had to have been heavily abused to get in this condition. Even so, the case still provides the hard-cover protection it was design for. This extraordinary construction is typical of Hasselblad accessories. One handle is loose in the case. As you can see, this case priveds a good foundation for a vintage display.
One of the last pictures shown here is of the Hasselblad full-length black strap, which is as new. For the purposes of this blog, you will be very impressed with the image quality produced with this camera. These will be added soon
For this reason, one began to learn Depth of Field tables and to use the DOF range indicators inscribed on the outside of the lenses. Where these are often a mysterious set of petroglyph's seen on modern cameras to be used exclusively by propeller heads, they were once an essential part of the photographic process, and can still be helpful today.
The mislabeled f model started a revolution when it was introduced in 1948. The System 1600f was a system camera, meaning that it was a modular design, which could be customized to meet various photographic needs. You could swap out different backs, interchangeable lenses, and viewfinders to configure the camera into the precise photographic instrument you needed for the task at hand. http://medfmt.8k.com/mf/hussy.html]
A slow sync speed, when used with flash at twilight, even while in sync often results in a double image--one from the flash, and one from extraneous light, the second generally blurring any movement. An electronic flash operates at speeds of 1/50,000 second or faster (or slower, depending upon the distance to the subject (If this sounds incredible, recall that the speed of light is accepted to be 186,000 miles per second.) So the speed-freezing capability of a modern flash is much faster than that of a mere 1/300 fraction of a second.
Effectively, two pictures are taken when enough ambient light exists to also make an exposure. In full daylight, the differing brightness between flash and available light is not enough to result in two exposures.
This was always a drawback of many otherwise fine cameras, including 35 mm SLR's. But for what was being billed as the finest camera in the world, it was simply unacceptable. The rapid speed of the large titanium shutter curtain also led to the silk shutter binding threads sometimes unraveling without much use. (continued below)
[Only around 50 units were produced in 1949, and perhaps 220 in 1950, of what collectors have come to designate the Series One camera. The Series Two versions of the 1600F, perhaps as many as 3300 made from 1950 to 1953, were more reliable but still subject to frequent repairs, with many units having been cannibalized or modified by the factory.]
[In 1953, a much-improved camera, the 1000F was released. In 1954, they took the 1000F design and mated it to the groundbreaking new 38mm Biogonlens designed by Dr. Bertele of Zeiss to produce the SWA (Supreme Wide Angle, later changed to Super Wide Angle). Though a specialty product not intended to sell in large numbers, the SWA was an impressive achievement, and derivatives were sold for decades. Hasselblad took their two products to the 1954 Photokinatrade show in Germany, and word began to spread.]
[* In December 1954, the 1000F camera received a rave review from the influential American photography magazine, Modern Photography. They put over 500 rolls of film through their test unit, and intentionally dropped it twice, and it continued to function
The 1600 gave way to the 1000, which as you might guess, had a upper speed of 1/1000. Although this did not help with the slow sync speed, it did help the silk threads that held the shutters together to wear better.
As a mentioned above, the lost speed of the shutter really didn't matter that much, because the Hasselblad had then been relegated primarily to the studio, where shutter and sync speed were less of a factor. Still Hasselblad was not to give up their ambitions. The ergonomic design and portability, the 6x6 format, and the superb optics were being heralded as a break-through. (continued below)
[*It should here be noted that Hasselblad was by no means finished with focal plane shutters. In the early seventies, the 2000 models, with a top shutter speed, true to the model designation, of 1/2000 second designed with a hew "space-age" fabric that wore better and with a modified design of the focal plane shutter was used.]
[During World War II, the Swedish military captured a fully functioning German aerial surveillance camera from a downed German plane. This was probably a Handkammer HK 12.5 / 7x9, which bore the codename GXN.]
[The Swedish government realised the strategic advantage of developing an aerial camera for their own use, and in the spring of 1940 approached Victor Hasselblad to help create one. In April 1940, Victor Hasselblad established a camera workshop in Gothenburg called Ross AB in a shed at an automobile shop near a junkyard and working in the evenings in cooperation with an auto mechanic from the shop and his brother, began to design the HK7 camera.]
[By late 1941, the operation had over twenty employees and the Swedish Air Force asked for another camera, one which would have a larger negative and could be permanently mounted to an aircraft; this model was known as the SKa4. Between 1941 and 1945, Hasselblad delivered 342 cameras to the Swedish military.[1].]
The 500C fit the bill. It had all of the good features, along with a onboard shutter in each lensthat sync'd with electronic flash at speeds up to 1/500--plenty fast as it turned out, for many types of photography. The C designates the Compur shutter design. Retroactively, the 1600 and 1000 were designated as F models to differentiate their Focal Plane shutters.
Various lenses were used with the two early series of commercial cameras. At first, the Kodak Ektar lenses were used (Hasselblad had long been the most succesful dealer in Kodak products.) Carl Zeiss then began producing lenses for Hasselblad, which proved to be an enduring relationship.
Little else changed in the physical design of the Hasselblad for forty years. I'll get to these newer models in another post. But for now, let me not slight these early models-the 1000F and the 1600F, for they were indeed fine and revolutionary cameras. SLR's with a medium format negative had long been sought after. The friendly design was deemed so important that Porche, the excellent sports-car designers, had been contracted to help come up with a revolutionary user-friendly design, which is still evident today.
As a studio camera, as well as a light-duty field camera, these models are still excellent. The optics whether made by Kodak, with the earlier issued cameras, or the later models which sported Zeiss lenses, have always aimed at being the best.
There were fewer of the F model cameras made than the models to come (~3500 of the 1500, and ~10,500 1000's), consequently it is a pleasant and rare find ro encounter one for sale that is in functional shape. If you have any interest in owning one of these cameras either as a user or a collector, you'd better scarf the next functioning one you find. Even with a partially-functioning find, the modular design of the Hasselblad renders them easily to put together piece-mill. Replacing shutters or mirrors and other things that can go wrong are not too complex wither.
If you are reticent about undertaking a fix or restoration, any reputable camera repairman can do the job. Just be sure to get a quote ahead of time. Indeed, vintage camera restoration is becoming something of a hobby unto itself and I suspect the trend will only become stronger. Some shops specialize in restorations rather than mere repairs. It can be costly.
There were two other special edition Hasselblad cameras produced during this time as well, which were rare then and that much more rare now. There was an aerial camera and a picture is included in the link below. Actually, the HK-7 was designed first, during WWII, and used by the Royal SwedishAir-Force. This advanced Victor Hasselblad's plans closer to the proto-typical model of the 1600, which was subsequently released in short supply in 1948. Then in the mid-fifties, concurrent with the 1000F, the Supreme Wide Angle, camera, more of a wide-angle box camera, won acclaim for its unique archetectural applications.
I will soon place pix of my Hasselblad 1000 here. I ALSO HAVE A 1600, which I am restoring. Meanwhile, please submit any questions or posts of your own from the comments section below. I also will include a link to a Hasselblad site that shows. these models.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasselblad The founder's son, Arvid Viktor Hasselblad, was interested in photography and started the photographic division of the company. Hasselblad's corporate website [1] quotes him as saying I certainly don’t think that we will earn much money on this, but at least it will allow us to take pictures for free.
Posted by PapaD on November 10, 2008 at 09:58 AM | Permalink
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My world was analog for many years. My profession not only demanded that I change with the digital revolution, but I personally have always had an inherent interest both in physics and all types of imaging techniques. I worked a lot with computers in my lifetime as well. I don't prefer one mode over the other. But there are benefits of using one over the other.
The following link will help those who are more technically-minded understand the capabilities and limitations of each. It will also help those desiring a more visually-intensive understanding, to understand visually as well. It is not necessary to understand the "why" in order to use the "how".
Scanner Detail, R.N. Clark's Photography
Only the 4x5 resolves the grass blades. The 35mm resolves clumps of grass blades. In the 35mm scans, it is hard to tell what is grain and what is real image detail. There is some of both. Below, other images will be compared between the actual scene (above) with images of a print from the 4x5 image. That comparison will help show what is real versus what is grain in 35mm. In any case, the images here illustrate the advantage of film size.
Scanner Detail, R.N. Clark's Photography.
Resolution Test Area 2: trees and Mountains
A second area is shown where the 35mm 6000 DPI scan is shown at 100% and other scans are shown relative to the 6000 dpi scan. The 4x5 image is still best. There is a significant increase in detail from 2700 DPI to 6000 DPI 35mm, and proportionally in between. The is only a slight increase in detail from 4000 to 6000 DPI because grain is resolved better, but that increase is important for big enlargements (more than about 11x14). On a 72 DPI monitor, these images are equivalent to a 72x91 inch enlargement. After the drum scans are scans of the 35mm slide on an HP Photosmart (the original SCSI model), a Nikon LS2000, and a Polaroid Sprintscan 4000. Again, note the detail differences from the drum scans, and the detail differences at higher dpi.
Posted by PapaD on November 5, 2008 at 04:23 PM | Permalink
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