Monday, June 30, 2014

LEICA M – FIRMWARE UPDATE 2.0.1.5



Leica has published the long awaited firmware update 2.0.1.5 for the Leica M.  You can download it here.  




This update incorporated quite a few improvements, designed to increase the performance and the overall handling of the camera.

>  Users of older lenses, including Leica screw mount lenses can now be used with live view when used with the new manual lens detection.

>  A new item in the menu is “Exposure Simulation.”  When set to “Permanent,” Live View will show the accurate image brightness depending on the manual shutter speed and aperture selected.  However, this will only work with shutter speeds shorter than 1/30s.

>  This update includes additional Auto ISO options all of which are now visible when using the ISO button.

>  To avoid camera shake when using auto ISO in conjunction with long lenses, a “Maximum Exposure Time” feature has been added.  It allows to be set to 1x, 2x or 4x the focal length.

>  “Auto ISO” is also available when exposure times and apertures are set manually.

>  The color of “Focus Peaking” can now be set to red, green or blue.

These are the main changes.  There are a lot of additional changes, all of which will ultimately enhance the operation of the camera.



Tuesday, June 24, 2014

SO WIRD DIE LEICA GEBAUT



From [m]ittelhessen

X-, S-, T- UND M-LINIE - Die Produktion der Kult-Kamera ist Handarbeit

Wetzlar. In dem Raum mit den großen Glasscheiben herrscht höchste Konzentration. 1000 Lux strahlen von der Decke. Die Mitarbeiter tragen weiße Kittel, Hauben und Reinraumschuhe. Kein Staubkorn darf stören. Der riesige Raum ist das Herzstück der Leica Camera AG: Hier werden täglich 400 Kameras gebaut - in Handarbeit, versteht sich.

<p>Das "I-Tüpfelchen": Auf der letzten Produktionsstation wird das Logo eingesetzt. (Foto: Schwarz)</p>
Das "I-Tüpfelchen": Auf der letzten Produktionsstation wird das Logo eingesetzt  (Foto: Schwartz)
 ..
70 Mitarbeiter reichen sich in der Kameramontage in Schichtarbeit auf den unterschiedlichsten Positionen die Leicas von Hand zu Hand. Die Fertigungsstraßen liegen dicht beieinander, die M- wird zwischen der S- und der X-Reihe montiert. Ständig wird kontrolliert und justiert, jeder Griff sitzt. Stimmt eine Einstellung nicht, geht es zurück auf null, einem Tisch, an dem Fehler repariert werden. Denn bei Leica diktiert nicht der Akkord das Tempo auf der Fertigungsstraße, sagt Christian Rinker, Leiter der Kameramontage, "sondern allein die Qualität". Jede Kamera bekommt einen Laufzettel, jeder Mitarbeiter unterschreibt seinen Arbeitsschritt. Doch wie baut man eine Leica? Wir begleiten eine M (Typ 240) vom Anfang bis zum Ende.

<p>Die Sensorlage wird geprüft - sie kann sich während der Montage verändern, was aber nur selten passiert. (Foto: Schwarz)</p>
Die Sensorlage wird geprüft - sie kann sich während der Montage verändern, was aber nur selten passiert.
  (Foto: Schwartz)

Position 1: In einem kleinen Transportbehälter gehen die einzelnen Kamerakomponenten der M auf die Reise: eine vormontierte Hülle wahlweise in Schwarz lackiert oder Silber verchromt, dazu die Platine, der Bodendeckel, die Deckklappe. Die Teile aus dem Werk in Portugal werden nach der Wareneingangskontrolle digital erfasst, bekommen einen Code. Rinker: "Damit ist der digitale Fingerabdruck da, jede Kamera ist mit Nummer im System erfasst." Dann werden die ersten Teile der M von Hand vorsichtig über das Rollenband weitergeschoben.

<p>Der Sensor wird gereinigt und es wird zu 100 Prozent sichergesttellt, dass kein Staubpartikel mehr vorhanden ist. (Foto: Schwarz)</p>
Der Sensor wird gereinigt und es wird zu 100 Prozent sichergestellet dass kein Staubpartikel mehr vorhanden ist.
(Foto: Schwartz)

Position 2: Das Sensorboard wird montiert. Es ersetzt in den digitalen Kameras den Film, der in die analogen Modelle noch eingelegt werden muss. Rinker: "Das Boardset aus Sensor und Imageboard macht das Bild." Ist das hochempfindliche Stück eingelegt, wird es kalibriert und die Kamera erneut gescannt - das Board ist jetzt im System der Kamera zugeordnet.

<p>Mit einem Pinsel wird die Optik gereinigt, Belege am Suchersystem beseitigt und die Deckkappe aufgeschraubt. (Foto: Schwarz)</p>
Mit einem Pisel wird die Optik gereinigt, Belege am Suchersystem beseitigt und die Deckklappe aufgeschraubt.
(Foto: Schwartz)

Position 3: Nun wird der Sensor justiert, damit er den richtigen Stand zum Bajonett - hier wird das Objektiv aufgesetzt - hat. Rinker: "Justieren wir nicht richtig, werden die Bilder unscharf." Ist richtig justiert, sendet der Computer ein grünes Signal - die Reise der M kann weitergehen.

<p>Die M wird "angezogen": Die Kamera wird mit einem Leder, dass bei Leica gestanzt wird, versehen. (Foto: Schwarz)</p>
Die M wird "angezogen".  Die Kamera wird mit einem Leder dass bei Leica gestanzt wird versehen.
(Foto: Schwartz)

Position 4: Hauptkörper, Rückschale und Imageboard werden zusammengebaut, die M nimmt langsam Gestalt an.

<p>Endkontrolle: Die M kommt noch einmal auf den Prüfstand, dann unterschreibt der Mitarbeiter das Handwerkszertifikat. (Foto: Schwarz)</p>
Endkontrolle: Die M kommt noch einmal auf den Prüfstand, dann unterschreibt der Mitarbeiter das Handwerkszertifikat.  (Foto: Schwartz)

Position 5: Mit einem feinen Pinsel wird die Optik gereinigt, Belege an Okular und Suchersystem werden beseitigt, dann wird die Deckkappe aufgeschraubt. Die M ist erkennbar!

<p>Hier geht es los: Bei der Wareneingangskontrolle werden alle Kamerateile digital erfasst. Dann geht die M auf dem Rollband auf die Reise. (Foto: Schwarz)</p>
Hier geht es los: Bei der Wareneingangskontrolle werden alle Kamerateile digital erfasst.
Dann geht die M auf dem Rollband auf die Reise.  (Foto: Schwartz)

Position 6: Per Computer wird die entsprechende Firmware aufgespielt. Jede Kamera hat ihre eigene Software. Die M bekommt also Leben eingehaucht.

<p>"Es passt wunderbar": Christian Rinker. (Foto: Schwarz)</p>
"Es passt wunderbar".  Christian Rinker.
(Foto: Schwartz)

Position 7: Der Verschluss und die USB-Schnittstelle kommen auf den Prüfstand. Sechs Minuten lang probiert die Mitarbeiterin alle Funktionen der neuen M durch. Rinker: "Wir verlassen uns nicht nur auf die elektronischen Prüfsysteme, sondern vor allem auf das menschliche Auge." Anschließend werden die Verschlusszeiten elektronisch abgeglichen und die Mitarbeiterin drückt auf den Auslöser: Die neue M macht ihr erstes Foto.

Das Leder, mit dem die "M" angezogen wird, stanzt Leica selbst

Position 8: Der mechanische Aufbau des Entfernungsmessers wird unter die Lupe genommen. Denn: Die digitale Leica kommt ohne Autofokus aus und arbeitet stattdessen mit einem mechanischen Entfernungsmesser. "Die Kamera muss sofort erkennen, an welcher Position das Objektiv steht", erklärt Rinker. Das Objektiv muss in beide Richtungen spielfrei funktionieren. Das Sahnehäubchen in der Kameramontage dauert zwischen sechs und zwölf Minuten. Der Mitarbeiter auf dieser Position ist - wie alle Mitarbeiter der Montagelinie - angegurtet, also geerdet, um die feine Technik der Kamera vor einer erhöhten Stromdosis durch elektrostatische Ladung zu schützen.

Position 9: Die M wird in eine schalldichte Prüfkabine mit speziellen geometrischen Formen geschraubt und ihr Mikrofon getestet. Besteht sie den Audiotest, kann es bei der Videofunktion beruhigt heißen: Ton ab!

Position 10: Die M wird zum Beledern vorbereitet und abgedichtet, um sie vor Spritzwasser zu schützen.

Position 11: Bleibt der Sensor in der Toleranz? Die M wird in alle Richtungen gedreht und der Sensor mit Wasserwaage richtig positioniert.

Position 12: Die Sensorlage wird geprüft. Rinker: "Hier sehen wir, ob sich während der Montage die Lage des Sensors verändert hat." Das ist laut Montageleiter nur selten der Fall - im Schnitt einmal die Woche.

Position 13: Endspurt: Die M wird "angezogen". Zuerst wird das Gehäuse mit Alkohol gereinigt, dann das Leder, das bei Leica selbst gestanzt wird, von Hand auf die Kamera geklebt.

Position 14: Endreinigung: Um eventuelle Schmutzpartikel zu entfernen, wird der Sensor der M unter einer sogenannten Laminar Flow Box gereinigt. Die Box funktioniert wie eine Luftschleuse, es gelangen keine Staubpartikel hinein, alte Partikel dagegen werden hinausgeblasen. Rinker: "Wir stellen hier zu 100 Prozent sicher, dass alle Sensoren, die die Montage verlassen, sauber sind. Die Sauberkeit wird durch eine softwaregesteuerte automatische Schmutzerkennung sichergestellt. Wer an diesem Platz sitzt, muss sehr gute Nerven und Geduld haben."

Position 15: Alle Äußerlichkeiten kommen jetzt noch einmal auf den Prüfstand: das Fenster, der Bajonettring, das Display, die Einstellungen. Stimmt alles, unterschreibt der Mitarbeiter das Qualitätszertifikat, das mit jeder Kamera ausgeliefert wird. Und dann? Na klar, das Logo. Der kleine rote Punkt wird von Hand ausgerichtet und aufgeklebt. Die M ist fertig.



Der Mann der Montage


"Die Herausforderung nehme ich an!" Mit diesem Satz trat der gebürtige Aßlarer Christian Rinker im September 2010 seinen Job in der Montageabteilung bei Leica an. "Montage war immer schon ein Steckpferd von mir", sagt Rinker und startete in der Objektivmontage durch: Innerhalb der ersten zwei Jahre erhöhte er die Menge der montierten M-Objektive um 45 Prozent. Inzwischen ist Rinker Leiter der Montage (Kameras, Objektive und Sportoptik) sowie stellvertretender Werksleiter. "Es passt wunderbar. Hier bin ich angekommen!"



LEICA HAT EINE EIGENE SCHATZKAMMER




From [m]ittelhessen

Wetzlar (iba). An einem geheimen Ort werden Schätze archiviert: Seit Monaten sichtet und pflegt Günter Osterloh alte Leica-Kameras, rund 300.000 Seiten Werkstatt- und Versandbücher, Ferngläser, Balgenkameras, Faltmodelle oder tausende von Platten aus einer Zeit, bevor es den Film zum Einlegen gab.

<p>An einem geheimen Ort werden Schätze archiviert. (Foto: Schwarz)</p>
An einem geheimen Ort werden Schätze archiviert (Foto: Schwarz)

Osterloh, unter anderem Verfasser von Anwenderberichten, ehemaliger Produktmanager sowie Leiter der Leica-Akademie bis 2002, sortiert und listet das Material im Leica-Archiv. Viele Stücke werden in das neue Leica-Museum im ebenfalls neuen Firmensitz des Unternehmens in Wetzlar wandern. Die Leica wurde in diesem Jahr 100 Jahre alt und das Kamerea-Unternehmen kehrte zu diesem Jubiläum nach Wetzlar zurück.



Thursday, June 19, 2014

THE LEICA T – A USER REPORT




Leica T system


By Rick Bronks


The much anticipated arrival of a compact interchangeable autofocus lens camera from Leica has finally happened, and I got my hands on one for a few weeks. Did I like it? Was it any good? Read on to find out. Gallery of images at the bottom of this post. 

Make no mistake - this is a beautiful looking piece of kit. It's solid. Really solid and it feels amazing to hold. It's the camera I want to dearly love, and it seems like an ideal partner for someone who has a larger DSLR kit and wants a smaller kit as a backup, or indeed as a second camera if you are already a Leica M shooter (like me). I thought I'd give my opinions on using it in a 'real life' situation, on a recent trip I took.

 Taken with the Leica T

There's a LOT of choice out there at the moment if you're in the market for a compact system camera- there are some outstanding models and lenses to be had. So is there space in this crowded marketplace for the sexy Leica T?

Leica has always been about high quality- and exacting standards. I am a massive fan of their M rangefinder and their lenses are some of the best in the world. With this experience it should only be good news for the new Leica T.

I travelled with the Leica T and the 18 to 56 f3.5-5.6 ASPH Vario-Elmar lens. I wasn't able to check out the faster 23mm f2 ASPH but I quite liked the idea of carrying one camera with a nice zoom range on the lens and seeing how I got on. I also had the Viewfinder attachment and an adapter to use my existing M series lenses.

Taken with Leica T
  
The camera is carved from a single piece of aluminium - very much like the unibody Apple laptops. Leica caused a viral stir with their 'most boring ad ever' which features a person hand polishing the case for 45 minutes. That's Leica. Handmade excellence. Audi have also had a hand in the design of the camera - and if you were to pick one up you'd feel how amazing it is.

 Leica T

It has a 16.3 megapixel APS-C sensor (same as in most consumer DSLR cameras) and the ability to shoot up to 1/4000 of a second.
It also has 16Gb of internal memory- which is a great idea if you are prone to leave your memory card at home - or as an emergency 'reserve' if you fill your own card on a shoot. The ISO is from 100 to 12,500 but it was totally unusable at this setting.. I rarely used it at 6400.

I love the fact the camera comes with a battery charger - but can also be charged via micro USB. I did find it takes longer via USB but it means that you can keep a cable handy and top up the battery from pretty much anywhere there is a computer or even a phone charger. I left it charging overnight and it was fine.

 Taken with Leica T

The camera is operated via a very large rear touch-screen and also a couple of dials that can be assigned to various functions. There's the usual shutter button and a cute but averagely powerful pop-up flash. Leica have developed a clever way of attaching a shoulder strap - there's no traditional lugs but these little posts that clip into the body, and can be removed using a little tool - the result is that it keeps the clean lines of the camera when you don't want a strap attached. They also do a few different and very vibrant colours and snap on cases to match too. Like this one. In yellow.

 Leica T

There is also Wi-Fi and an associated app which lets you control the camera from an iPhone or iPad. Nice idea but the problem I had was that the camera AND your iDevice need to be on the same physical wireless network to talk to each other - so while I was travelling I couldn't get the images onto my iPhone because there was no wifi network, which seemed to defeat the point in having wifi. Other devices use each other to create the network so it doesn't matter where you are. I think this needs looking into - because its a nice idea to be able to pull images off the camera and send them via the phone, but you're more likely to need this feature when you're travelling. A solution is to use the Apple SD card adapter and just import the card  and images into your device, but thats not as cool.

The battery pops in underneath and is quite cool in the way that it forms the base of the camera so there's no flaps to fiddle with, but the battery slots right into the bottom of the camera much like pro-DSLR bodies or indeed Leica's own medium format S-system.

 Taken with Leica T

I found the screen pretty good in most light apart from really bright sunlight - but this is common to all cameras with an LCD. I also had the clip on viewfinder which I used when the sun was too bright. The electronic viewfinder which also has a built in GPS (that does drain the battery quite a lot)

The resolution of the viewfinder is excellent and the refresh rate is good too - so you can frame and shoot with decent accuracy.

I did get used to the touch screen after a while - the problem is that we're all used to using iPads and other touch screens so there's the inevitable comparisons. This screen and the usability of the interface will never compete with those of Apple - purely because Leica don't have the massive resources of Apple or Microsoft. They're a small company who have to pretty much develop from the ground up and not with huge teams.

You can customise the 'home' screen with the features you commonly use and re-order them.

The lens is also solidly built. No plasticy feeling  here. It felt good and the zoom was smooth. The lens hood proved quite effective too.

Leica T

So what's it like to actually use?


It is great in the hands - I didn't feel the need to use any grips or cases with zoom attached. The lens wasn't too heavy and the whole unit felt nicely balanced. In the future with perhaps a longer lens it may be tricky but right now it's perfectly fine.

Autofocus seemed pretty good in all but the dimmest of light. I did find the white balance a little slow to change when I moved from outdoors to indoors. Sometimes I felt it wasn't too sure or was a little too indecisive. It's not lighting-fast but it's consistent and fine.

For me the biggest disappointment was that the camera's useable ISO is no more than 3200 and even then there's a fair bit of noise in the shadows. I was hoping that because the lens was quite a lot slower than the usual lenses I shoot with (f14, f2.8),  I'd be able to push another couple of stops out of the camera by upping the ISO to compensate for the f5.6 maximum aperture at the zoom end on the lens. Alas, I wasn't able to and this was a little annoying. Even at it's brightest f3.5 I felt myself needing to shunt up the ISO in an averagely lit room.

 Taken with Leica T

I started trying to use the camera as a more manual camera - and wasn't getting on with it at all. I'm not convinced this is what Leica had in mind with this unit. I popped the ISO into auto mode and never allowed it to max out more than 3200 ISO.

Once I did this I found it a lot more pleasurable to use. I tended to use P mode most of the time and let the camera figure out the settings -it was quicker and less fiddling on the screen, so I missed less shots.

I did use Aperture Priority by setting one dial to be my F-stop controller and the other as exposure compensation. I left the camera on auto focus and auto ISO.

 Taken with Leica T

At the moment Apple haven't updated their OS to be able to read the RAW files so I knew I was going to have a bit of a round-trip to get the images into my image editor (Aperture). I shot RAW and JPEG fine and the picture settings I had set to all neutral.

I found the neutral settings ok - did find the skin tones a little pale but nice enough and smooth. The colours were good but not overly rich and fake.

I was using Aperture to edit the JPEGS and actually found them amazingly robust. For the shots in this review I actually exported the RAW files using Photoshop's Raw editor then saving as TIFF files then re-imported into Aperture.

This let me pull some more details from the RAW files than using the JPEGS but I don't think the difference is massive - but it's certainly better using the RAW/TIFF converted files. I am sure that editing the images natively once they are able to be read by OSX that this process will be a lot better.

I have to admit I was impressed with the images once I was using the TIFF  files. The colour is good and there's a heck of a lot of detail.

 Taken with Leica T

In good light the lens performed like a champ. Once you're in a low light environment you're going to be in bother. This what what infuriated me about this - that this wasn't the all-rounder I really wanted it to be.. once indoors it was a bit of a struggle to get a decent shot. I'm not talking pitch black here.. just what I would call normal early evening light indoors. Perhaps a little window light and some artificial light. I was shooting wide most of the time to keep the aperture at 3.5 but at anything more than 3200ISO it was pretty poor in terms of grain and noise. Spot metering helped me get a decent shot of the singer you can see above.

With the 23mm lens at f2 this may not be so much an issue- but it was disappointing I couldn't really push up the ISO past 3200.

 Taken with Leica T

When I travel I like to shoot video too - Video shooting on my M240 is quite tricky handheld, so I usually throw my RX100M2 into the bag to use as a point and shoot and also for video clips. I was excited to use the T for both stills and video. If it performed then I'd be even more excited about it's possibilities.

Unfortunately the video quality was just about ok. I was shooting in 1080p the whole time and whilst it was good, it wasn't anywhere near as good as my small RX100M2. The colours are a little washed out and the images looked over-sharpened. Don't get me wrong - its not 'bad' but it's just not up to my standards and I was a little disappointed. For most people though I am almost certain it would be fine- and looks good (not excellent) on a 48inch LED TV.

Conclusion

The Leica T is a fine looking camera that is capable of taking very good images. Leica have firmly placed their feet into the CSC (compact system camera) market with a potentially exciting product. The touchscreen is very nice too - and although the interface and operation may not be as finessed as other devices it's very useable.

The additional viewfinder has a good screen and is helpful for framing in sunlight or using as a 'brace' when shooting video. It also adds GPS if you want to log your travels- but be prepared to carry a spare battery.

The camera produced a good JPEG out of camera and they're quite robust in editing if (like me) the system can't read the DNG files it produces as it's RAW output.

Video quality is 'ok' if not a little disappointing, and the 18-56mm lens is a little on the slow side.

The ability to use M lenses means that you can perhaps start your foray into the world of Leica at a much more friendly price point and then perhaps graduate to their Rangefinders once you've saved enough!

What's for certain is that this is a very interesting camera. Albeit with disappointing performance at high ISO's.

I want to love it.. but not quite yet.

Leica T


To see Rick’s gallery images go to: http://www.satureyes.com/leica-t


Rick Bronks writes about himself:


I am all about great images and stories.

My work has a strong narrative, with elements of lifestyle.

I am firmly established as one of the leading photographers in the live events world.

I am a qualified member of the BIPP (British Institute of Professional Photography) and a certified European Photographer.

My professional career began with eight years working in TV, producing national TV shows as well as documentaries and award shows for SKY TV.

I learnt how to shoot with broadcast cameras and edit video. I am an Apple Certified Professional in their industry standard editing and motion graphics applications.

My background in TV enables me to offer my clients a video production service alongside stills photography. I am able to shoot both stills and video at an event and turn the content around very quickly.

Member of the British Institute of Professional Photography & Federation of European Photographers




Thursday, June 12, 2014

PHOTOGRAPHIC LIGHTING THEN AND NOW




In the early days of photography, the only source of light was, of course, the sun. Subsequently photography depended mostly upon long days and good weather. It was obvious that artificial light would be indispensable: not dependent on the sun anymore, pictures could be taken where natural light wasn’t sufficient, or on dull days when studio work was impossible.

The first artificial light photography dates back to 1839, when L. Ibbetson used oxy-hydrogen light (also known as limelight, discovered by Goldsworthy Gurney) when photographing microscopic objects. Limelight was produced by heating a ball of calcium carbonate in an oxygen flame until it became incandescent.

Despite being used widely around 1839-1840, the results of using the chemical were rather poor: chalk-white pale faces and a harshly lit picture, an effect created due to the imperfection of the light source and differentiation of the reflectance of different parts of the scene (due to different distances and materials).

Attempts of using limelight and other chemical sources for lighting the picture can be considered to have been a failure, either because they did not contain the rich blue, that the plates of the day required, as well as due to the chemical’s low intensity.

Other possibilities had to be explored. Nadar – an early French photographer and journalist – for example, photographed the sewers in Paris, using battery-operated lighting. Later the arc-lamps were introduced to aid photographers, but it was not until 1877 that the first studio using electric light was opened.

Powered by a gas-driven dynamo the studio by Van der Weyde in Regent Street, had the light sufficient to allow exposures of 2 to 3 seconds.

Flash Powder

Despite being quite a step forward in artificial lighting development, the early chemicals could not provide the satisfying result for the photos. Producing a shorter, and therefore more predictable flash became the goal. There was one solution: magnesium.

In 1862 Edward Sonstadt began experiments to prepare the metal on a commercial basis and by 1864 magnesium wire was finally placed on sale.

 
Magnesium wire

The wire was extremely expensive, but following an extremely successful demonstration in February the same year, where a photograph was produced in a darkened room in only 50 seconds, the highly actinic light proved ideal for photography and became incredibly popular.

The technology of the wire wasn’t too complicated. Magnesium was burned as a wire or ribbon twisted into tapers or clockwork lamps with a reflector. There were different lamp designs, each for different use. Despite different ways of using the magnesium, there were no ideal variant for this method.

 
Clockwork driven magnesium wire lamp

Burning was often incomplete and unpredictable. Exposures varied considerably and the air remained laden with grey, opaque fumes, making the method unsuitable for studio use.

Even more, the technique was not without its obvious dangers and it also released a lot of smoke, smell and a fall-out of white ash.

Nevertheless, magnesium lamps gained in popularity through the 1870s and 1880s despite the expenses and danger. Trying to solve the unpredictability of the popular magnesium technique, Charles Piazzi Smyth, experimenting in the pyramids at Giza, Egypt, in 1865, had attempted to ignite magnesium mixed with gunpowder. The resulting picture was quite poor but the principle of combining magnesium with oxygen-rich chemical resulting in a combustion was developed.

In 1887, Adolf Miethe and Johannes Gaedicke mixed fine magnesium powder with potassium chlorate to produce Blitzlicht. This was the first ever widely used flash powder. Blitzlicht gave the photographers the ability to produce instant photographs at night at a very high shutter speed. This caused quite an excitement in the photography world.

Being the explosive that it is, flash powder accidents were obviously inevitable. Simply grinding the components was dangerous enough, and a number of photographers died while either preparing the flash powder or setting it off.

In the beginning of the 20th century, the flash powder formula was refined and improvements were made to make the process simpler and safer. The flashes now lasted for 10 ms only, so subjects no longer closed their eyes during the exposure which helped portrait photography.

There were still enough disadvantages to the method, for example, the smoke was still causing trouble, making studio work quite difficult, so another invention was awaited.

 

 Early commercially produced, prepackaged flash powder

 Flash powder "flash gun" with flash powder dispenser
Pushing the spring loaded button on top of the dispenser would release a premeasured amount of flash powder.

 
Turning the igniter wheel would create a spark to set off the flash

Agfa flash powder with Haka Flashlight
A lit candle would be moved toward the igniter strip via a clockwork mechanism and set off the flash after a predetermined amount of time.

Preloaded flash powder capsules with built-in percussion caps for firing

Flash gun for preloaded capsules
A spring-loaded firing pin would set off the flash via the percussion caps.


Flash Bulbs

In his experiments in underwater photography in the 1890s, Louis Boutan – a French zoologist and a pioneer underwater photographer – used a cumbersome magnesium lamp. Powdered magnesium, sealed in a glass jar fixed to a lead-weighted barrel to supply oxygen during burning, was ignited by means of an alcohol lamp.

Paul Vierkötter used the same principle in 1925, when he ignited magnesium electronically in a glass globe. In 1929 the Vacublitz, the first true flashbulb made from aluminum foil sealed in oxygen, was produced in Germany by the Hauser Company using Johannes B. Ostermeier’s patents.

 
Early magnesium foil filled flash bulb

 Early flash gun and flash bulbs

It was quickly followed by the Sashalite from the General Electric Company in the USA.

The flash bulb was an oxygen-filled bulb in which aluminum foil was burned, with ignition being accomplished by a battery. The light of the bulb, although powerful, was soft and diffused, therefore less dangerous to the eyes than flash powder.

Using a flash bulb produced neither noise nor smoke when the charge was fired. This provided an opportunity to using flash in places where flash powder use was questionable or simply dangerous. The first photos using the “Sashalite” flashbulb were published by The ‘Morning Post.

The pictures were of the engine-room and other compartments of a submarine. These were not only interesting as unusual subjects, but they indicated a high technical standard. It was not to be until 1927, however, that the simple flash-bulb was to appear for sale.

Flashbulbs were a big step forward. They weighed little, were easily fired electrically and were extremely powerful and, therefore, convenient. Another important aspect of the technique was that it was extremely safe, especially compared to the widely used before flash powder.

Due to a high quality of the invention, mass-market cameras were soon fitted with flashguns or synchronizers to fire a bulb when the shutter opened. This was a huge technological leap forward for the photography and a very advanced technology in its own, so by the 1950s bulbs had virtually replaced flash powder on the market.

 
Kodak Brownie with flash attachment for flash bulbs

There were also several versions of the flashbulbs released to the consumer that fitted everyone from professional to amateur photographers. The purpose was mainly to make the use of the flash more convenient for a novice or an amateur user.

For example, Flashcube, a popular bulb by Kodak was a device that had 4 bulbs installed in one, making it easier to take several pictures in smaller amount of time.

 
Flash cube on Kodak Instamatic camera

Flash Synchronisation

Early flash photography was not synchronized. It’s hard to imagine an non-synchronized flash today, but the way those worked was that one had to put a camera on a tripod, open the shutter, trigger the flash, and close the shutter again – a technique known as open flash. The exposure time had to be managed manually, and the process was very inconvenient compared to today.

Despite all of the problems, the open flash technique using flash powder was being used quite widely until the 1950s. But with the success and ease with which flash bulbs were used, flash powder slowly became history. With the marketing success of flashes, and the value of the idea of taking pictures at any time of the night or day, by the late 1930s manufacturers began to incorporate flash synchronization into their cameras.

 
Leitz VACU flash synch device for Leica cameras without built-in flash synch

 The flash was triggered by a cam added to the rotating shutter speed dial

 VACU cam on shutter speed dial

 VACU installed in Leica III

Some of the first mass produced cameras with this facility were the Kine Exakta, Falcon Press Flash, Agfa Shur-Flash and the Kodak Six-20 Flash Brownie box camera released in 1939 and 1940. After World War II, it became usual for a camera to have a flash synced shutters.

Cameras designed to be used with flash bulbs usually had different sync modes in order to be used with various bulb types. Depending on the requirements, the flash contacts were triggered accordingly prior to the shutter being open.

The principles of flash bulb synced cameras are still used today in modern cameras with electronic flashes and with big studio lights.

Electronic Flash

It was in 1931 when Harold Edgerton – a professor of electrical engineering – produced the first electronic flash tube. One of the most important advantages compared to the flash bulbs was that the electronic flash intensity could be controlled and adjusted.

Another great advantage, of course, was the rechargeable aspect of the electronic flash. Flash bulbs, despite being extremely useful, were very expensive and could only be obtained by professional photographers. Electronic flash used batteries of some sort, so it was possible to recharge the system.

Today’s flash units are electronic flash tubes. An electronic flash contains a tube filled with xenon gas, where electricity of high voltage is discharged to generate an electrical arc that creates a short flash of light.

 
Modern electronic flash for on-camera use

 Metz 60 series flash, one of the most powerful portable flash units available

 Multiblitz, a modern studio flash with built in modeling light

Photographic flash has moved through chemical to electronic phase, mostly driven by a desire to shorten duration and increase intensity of the light. In addition, a sensor either in the flashgun or within the camera is now used to detect that enough light has reached the film (‘auto’ flash).

For that, an infrared sensor is usually used to determine the distance between the camera and the subject, therefore setting the aperture and flash intensity automatically.

With every automated process there is always a possibility of something going wrong. The disadvantages with automatic electronic flash lie with unequal lighting in subjects at dissimilar distances from the camera with the flash, however, this problem is easily solved by using several light sources when working with the subject.

An Interesting Side-Note

The red-eye effect happens because the light of the flash occurs too fast for the pupil to close and much of the very bright light from the flash passes into the eye through the pupil. The light then reflects off the back of the eyeball and out through the pupil.

The camera records this light. Since the light goes through the blood in the choroid which nourishes the back of the eye, the color of the eye is red, hence this annoying effect everyone is aware of. Various techniques are available to combat the problem today, but it’s interesting to know why it occurs!





Friday, June 6, 2014

WIN A LEICA



The International Leica society (LHSA) once again is offering their annual raffle.  Tckets are on sale now.  This is an open raffle, available to all LHSA members as well as non-members.

This year, the Grand Prize winner will have a choice of a complete Leica T outfit or a Leica M camera body.  The Leica T outfit includes two lenses, a Visoflex eye level viewer, and a Leica M lens adapter.  The Leica M is offered as the alternate Grand Prize and is the most innovative and versatile M camera ever made.

The Second and Third Prizes are the Leica V-Lux 4 and Leica D-Lux 6.


Online ticket purchases can be made on the LHSA website at https://www.lhsa.org/raffle/Default.aspx.  
LHSA members will also receive Raffle packets in the mail.

Tickets will be on sale through Friday, July 11 and the drawing will be held on Tuesday, July 22.

You could be one of this year's lucky winners!  Support the LHSA!

Not a member of the LHSA?  If you purchase a membership, you will receive a 20% discount on your first book of 10 tickets!


Questions?  Email us at info@lhsa.org.