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Monday, May 29, 2023

WHO REALLY MAKES LEICAS AND OTHER CAMERAS




As I explained a few day's ago, I am currently traveling in Germany and France and have only limited access to the internet. The visit at the mothership in Wetzlar is going to be on June 9. I hope I will have something interesting to report t the time. Meanwhile, here is something that few are aware of...

By Heinz Richter

A different look at Leicas and other cameras from past to present.

Probably the best known name connected to the research of the evolution of man is Charles Darwin.  However, many people don't realize that his research involved a great omission.  Although he successfully discovered the basics of man's evolution, nowhere did he mention the evolution that took place with today's elves.  These peaceful and industrious  creatures must not be mistaken as gnomes, elves do not wear long, pointed hats.  They play an important role in the lives of many of us.  The users of Leicas and other cameras everywhere owe a great deal to these elves.

The great cultural centers of the European elves are the Black Forest, some parts of the Alps, the less harsh regions around Salzburg, and also the Harz mountains, the Erzgebirge in eastern Germany and the Riesengebirge on the boundary of Silesia and Bohemia.  Here they played an important role with the giant Rübezahl, but that is a different story.

Over time the typical habitat of the elves became smaller and smaller, primarily because of the advances of man and the advent of larger cities.  Consequently the elves found it necessary to change their lifestyles as well, many following man into the cities.  One of the earliest achievements between man and elf was reported from the city of Cologne where many elves helped a poor shoemaker succeed in his business.  Needless to say, the business of making shoes is not the only trade of the elves.  As a credit to their very small stature, they soon developed tremendous skills in the manufacture of fine mechanical things.  Today's finest clocks and chronometers are still largely made by elves.

Therefore it is no wonder that many found their way into the manufacture of cameras.  The Erzgebirge is not too far from the former German optical center in Jena and it was here that the first elf-made cameras became famous as, for instance the Zeiss Super Ikonta, the Contax and the Ermanox.  Unfortunately, the perils of time and politics brought an end to this center of optics and cameras.  But it was not too far from the Black Forest to the city of Wetzlar which was to become an integral place for the performance of the skilled elves.  Anybody who has ever visited this quaint little town, where time seems to have stood still for centuries, will quickly realize why these little people came and settled here.  We must remember that these unselfish creatures very much shy away from contact with man.  Some might say that this is just another example of their intelligence.

Wetzlar and the surrounding hills presented a perfect habitat for the elves.  They soon decided to help with the manufacture of microscopes at the Optical Institute.  This took place in approximately the middle of the 19th century.  Another new area for the elves was the Bavarian town of Oberkochen.  A lot of the former Jena elves decided to settle there when the Zeiss company decided to make Oberkochen their new headquarters after WWII.

After working on the Ermanox for a few years, it became obvious that a small, ready to use camera had a great future.  Several attempts were made by a number of manufacturers to use motion picture cameras for still photography, but it was not until 1913, when Oskar Barnack at Leitz made the first prototype of the Leica, that such a camera became a possibility.  Oskar Barnack has always been credited for inventing the Leica and along with it, practical 35mm photography.  But equal credit must be given to the elves.  It is interesting to note that some of the elves, who formerly worked in Jena, decided to visit Wetzlar upon the recommendation of some of their relatives who lived there.  Some decided to stay, and it is they who were instrumental in the development of the Leica prototype and with it the development of 35mm photography as we know it today.

Early attempts in creating the Leica were somehat crude 
and in need of help from the elves ...

... which soon resulted in the Leica prototype, the Ur-Leica

It is not known if the basic idea for the camera came from Oskar Barnack or from the elves, but we do know that they were instrumental in the development of some of the features.  For instance, the prototype or Ur-Leica had an accessory shoe which was designed by one of the former Jena elves.  It is interesting to note that the dimensions of today’s accessory shoes and hot shoes on our cameras are identical to the one originally developed by the elves in Wetzlar.  The Ur-Leica initially had to be loaded in a darkroom.  It held enough film for 40 exposures.  After finishing the roll of film, the camera had to be unloaded again in the darkroom.  This, of course, proved to be very unhandy, and soon the elves designed a small, re-loadable, light-tight cassette to hold the film.  Since this cassette took up some of the space initially reserved for the film, the total length of the roll had to be shortened to 36 exposures.  That is the very reason why to this day 35mm cameras can hold (officially) no more than 36 frames.


Even special models like the Panorama Leica and the Leica Turret were soon developed.

Things were destined not to work as nicely as they could have.  War interrupted the beautiful conditions in Wetzlar.  Since elves have never made a gun or any other weapon, it is even more sad to see how they were influenced by something they had so little influence on.  The early post-war years were very hard.  This resulted in the decision of the elves to try their fortune elsewhere.  Thus it is not surprising that when Leitz Wetzlar decided to establish a North American branch in Midland, Ontario, some of the Wetzlar elves decided to go along.

Midland is a small town with surroundings very much to the liking of the elves, a perfect habitat.  The Midland elves soon felt very much at home.  They did not much care that their first working space had to be improvised in an ice skating rink.  They were finally able to do again what they did best – make cameras and lenses.  The operation grew and while Mr Kluck and his followers got most of the credit, it is no secret that without the tremendous skill and help of the elves, there would be none of those fine instruments for which the name Leitz and Leica has become known.  So even though the Midland products did not bear the insignia “Made in Germany” anymore, it was still the same elves who manufactured much of the goods.

Transport of a FODIS rangefinder in 1927

A couple of them worked very closely with Dr. Walter Mandler and with their help, Midland soon became the center of optical design for the entire Leitz works.  The success of the Leica was assured and in the early seventies it became apparent that there was a need for additional expansion.  Once again, a small town with perfect living conditions for the elves was found, this time not far from the Portugese town of Porto.  Some of the older Wetzlar and Midland elves, now in their prime, decided to relocate in Porto.  After all, in one's older years, the milder climate in Portugal was something to consider.

With the help of the Wetzlar and Midland elves a marvelous new camera was developed, the Leica R3, entirely made in Portugal  Considering that most of these elves received their training in the mid-nineteenth century, it is much to their credit that they were able to make the transition to electronics.  Although Leitz has been criticized for making changes much too slowly, we must remember that with the average elf life span of 350 years, 10 years are but a moment in time.  According to human standards, elvers are definitely in no hurry, yet soon after the R3 we were presented with the R4, R5 and up to the R9.  The rangefinder cameras were further developed from the M3 to the M7 and then the digital M8 and M9, up to the current M11 and the incredible Leica Monochrom cameras, along with a variety of other Leica digital camera and the Leica flagship, the marvelous Leica S.

For those who have doubts about the quality of the Canadian and Portuguese Leica equipment, remember that it is made by the same elves, or their descendants, who brought the name Leitz Wetzlar into such high esteem.  And let there be no doubt that the people at Leitz in Wetzlar  are fully aware of the benefits they derive from those elves.  Why else would they have been so careful in the selection of new sites in Canada and Portugal?  They knew that by selecting such elf-friendly environments, the future participation of the elves in manufacturing Leica equipment would be assured and it is this that has and always will set Leicas apart from their competitors.

Legends say that the Wetzlar elves are descendants from an old Roman elf with the name Cameraus Automaticus, who is known for making some early experiments in the harnessing of light.  Unfortunately, traces to modern times are difficult to follow, since so many of his descendants went into different trades.  We do know however, that one of them, Cervesaus Delectibus, is known to have been instrumental in establishing the art of brewing beer in Germany.

But back to the manufacture of cameras.  It is no great secret that elves are a very proud people.  As soon as the Leica became a success, the elves in Jena decided to help in developing a 35mm camera for Zeiss as well.  The result is the now legendary Contax.

Unfortunately, we cannot show any photographs of the elves.  As we know from the experience of the shoemaker in Cologne, it is an unwritten rule that one must not watch or photograph them.  Heaven forbid!  This would result in their immediate departure.  So I hope that the readers of this article will understand that we can only show an artist’s conception of secret observations of what goes on at night in some of the camera manufacturing plants.

It was around the time of the introduction of the Contax that Eastman Kodak decided to buy the former Nagel Camera Works in Stuttgart.  Many elves had been working there for years, and they too helped in the development of yet another, the third ever, 35mm camera, the famous Kodak Retina.

 
Leica M5 Assembly

 
Working on the Optical Components of the Leica M Rangefinder

There are many other accounts of elves helping in the development of cameras.  Names like Exacta, Rollei, Hasselblad, Linhof, Plaubel, Sinar etc. come to mind, too numerous to mention in detail.  But one other success story must be mentioned.

In the early years after WWII, with Europe in ruins, some of the elves there got discouraged.  They thought it too difficult to rebuild and subsequently decided to try other regions, far away regions, which led many of them to Japan.  This, of course, also included some of the “camera elves.”

One of their early successes was the manufacture of lenses.  They helped the fledgling Nikon company, and it was due to the memory and the skills of some of the Wetzlar and Jena elves, that Nikon was able to make versions of lenses which were originally designed with the help of the elves for Leitz and Zeiss.  When Nikon decided to make cameras as well, it was again with the help of the elves that the original Nikon came to be.  The former Jena and Wetzlar elves decided to work together and to take the best of their previous masterpieces and combine them into a new camera.  The result was that the first Nikon essentially was a Contax camera body and lens mount but with the film transport and shutter system of the Leica.  Even the famous Nikon F was still based on that principle.

Another manufacturer, benefiting greatly from the help of the elves was Canon.  Their factory had mainly Wetzlar elves.  Therefore it should come as no surprise that the early Canon cameras were very much based on the Leica camera.  As a matter of fact, a very large percentage of camera manufacturers in Japan benefitted a lot from the experience of the "Leica elves.  The result is that many of their early cameras carried a large amount of Leica DNA.  There is no other camera that has been used as the base for newly developed cameras as much as the Leica.

At this day and age all the various camera manufacturers of course have camera designs entirely their own. Tremendous advancements have taken place since the early days of making cameras, and unfortunately most of us give little thought and little credit where so much credit is due.  It is safe to say that even in these days of electronics and electronic controls, the top cameras in this world would hardly be possible without the help of the elves.  The developments of multi megapixel digital cameras would simply be impossible without them.  So let’s all be thankful that the experience with the shoemaker in Cologne a long time ago did not discourage the elves from working on our behalf.  Photography as we know it today would not have happened without them.

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

LIMITED ARTICLES FOR THE NEXT FIVE WEEKS

 


For the next 5 weeks I will only be able to publish a very limited number of articles because I will be traveling in Germany and France. Of course that will also include a visit to the Leica Mothership in Wetzlar.


To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

_______________________________________________________________________

EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap     
 www.eddycam.com        

      


Click on image to enlarge
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography

Click on image to enlarge
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography

Click on image to enlarge
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography

Monday, May 15, 2023

HOW I OPTIMIZE BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHS





By Heinz Richter

Lately I have received a lot of compliments regarding my black and white photographs, as a matter of fact, many have asked for an explanation of what I do to arrive at the final photographs.  Unfortunately there is no simple answer, but it is not an unsurmountable task either.  The market offers a number of software choices, all of which enable the user to greatly improve their photographs, in color as well as black and white.

My choice has been Photoshop ever since it was introduced in 1988.  I am fully aware that Photoshop, or similar programs, have a lot of opponents, and Photoshop certainly offers the ability to alter a photograph way beyond it original look and purpose.  That is not what I am talking about.  My reason for using Photoshop is to take a photograph as it comes out of the camera and improve it to offer the best possible end result.

That is nothing new at all.  Analog photography, then as well as now, requires the same or at least similar approach.  Just as a straight print from most any negative will rarely be as good as it could be, a straight print, right off your digital camera files will most likely have similar issues.

Arguments that a print should be exactly like what the camera saw, or similar opinions are frankly a bunch of nonsense.  When printing analog, from a negative, it is necessary to adjust exposure as well as the correct contrast level.  Then, in addition, it is often necessary to dodge and burn and to utilize other trickery to achieve as good a print as necessary.  Anyone who has ever followed some of the great analog photographers like Ansell Adams, Edward Weston, Helmut Newton and many more will know that taking a photograph was nothing more than the beginning of the process of creating a great photograph.  As Ansell Adams once said,

“The negative is the score, the print is the performace.”

The same is the case with digital photography.  Just because we have automatic features that a generation or two ago could only have dreamed about, our cameras are incapable of producing the perfect photograph without any further input. 

Unfortunately, that is where it ends with many camera users these days.  The internet is full of lousy pictures that are not worthy of a lowly Instamatic, leave alone a Leica.  The results are pictures of poor composition, poor color correction and a severe lack of tonality, just to mention a few.


I fully realize that many photographers simply don’t have the knowledge to see these mistakes.  What I don’t understand is when, upon some constructive criticism, the comeback is,

“But I like it that way.”

I heard that phrase ad nauseam during my over 13 years of teaching photography.  In spite of paying thousands of dollars in tuition, a valid critique was for many unacceptable.

But enough of being on my soap box and on to the topic of this article.  I do shoot all of my photographs in color although a Leica Monochrom just will not disappear from my wish list.  The reason is that quite often I come across photographic opportunities that lend themselves equally well to be in color as well as black and white.  Thus I prefer to make that final decision when looking at the results on my monitor.

I am aware of the advantages of shooting RAW and for very important jobs I certainly do so.  I feel my clients deserve that.  But for myself, I have no problem shooting JPEG files, however always with the least amount of compression.  After a simple conversion to black and white in Photoshop, I save the black and white image as a separate file.  This allows me to compare both side by side before making the final decision of color or black and white.

Once I have a file that I want to be in black and white, I make no further manipulations before opening the image in “Bridge.”  A right click on the chosen image allows opening the file in “Camera Raw” even though it is a JPEG file.  That offers a huge amount of manipulations, beyond simple Photoshop.  

The first thing I do is click on “White Balance” and switch from “As Shot” to “Auto”.  That will switch the image to a very slight brown or sepia tone which I like better than the cold tones from the Photoshop black and white conversion.


Next are some initial “Exposure” or “Brightness” corrections if necessary.  The same goes for “Contrast.”  At this point the image should already show some definite improvements over the basic starter image, but further evaluation is usually necessary.


I always told my students that black and white means just that.  If at all possible, our final prints should have a tonality from deep black to pure white.  That by itself is not difficult to do.  Simply increase contrast and you will definitely end up with black and with white.  The trick is to adjust the blacks and whites, but also all tones in between in a manner that no detail is being lost.  For this Bridge offers several possibilities:

Clicking on the “Tone Curve” symbol close to the top allows fine adjustments for “Highlights”, “Lights”, “Darks” and “Shadows.”  How much of these adjustments are necessary is ultimately a judgment call.  Be careful because these adjustments will influence the image as a whole.  But when used correctly, it is definitely possible to get rich blacks in the shadows, blacks where only the very darkest areas are totally black, but areas just a bit lighter will maintain detail.  The same is true for the highlights as well as the lights and darks.  What is being done here is simply extending the tonal range of the photograph beyond what the camera was able to do on its own.


Next to the “Tonal Curve” symbols is “Sharpening” and “Noise Reduction.”  This allows isolating especially fine detail from its background and, when shooting with relatively high ISO values, the resulting noise can be noticeably decreased.  But care must be taken because noise reduction beyond a certain point will definitely lead to a loss in detail and sharpness.

At this point the final image should have emerged, or at least an image that is very close.  Earlier I mentioned dodging and burning, a technique often used with analog printing.  Digital printing is no different.  It offers the same possibilities.  When opening the image by clicking on “Open Image” at the bottom, the image will open in standard Photoshop.  This offers additional adjustments.  For instance, with the “Magic Wand” tool we can isolate the sky from the rest of the image and lighten or darken it, if necessary.  If more precision is necessary, the “Lasso” tool or preferably the “Polygonal Lasso” tool will do the trick.  The “Burn Tool” or the “Dodge Tool” can be used to make some final adjustments by allowing lightening or darkening of selected areas, down to very fine detail.

For the final image I used the dodge and burn tool to selectively lighten and darken small areas to 
extend the tonal range of the image

The end result will be a photograph way beyond what originally came out of the camera.  This is not altering the image beyond what the camera saw or what the camera was supposed to photograph, it is simply a means to show everything the camera recorded.  We just make it all visible and by doing so end up with much better photographs.

Here are some more black and white images that were optimized in a similar fashion:

This photograph required some careful tonal adjustments for the dark areas to maintain detail.
Adjusting the brightness of the sky prevented any areas to be too white, again to prevent the loss of detail.
The original had a distracting rail going almost across the entire bottom third of the photograph.
Photoshop allowed it to be removed without any noticeable trace.

In the original hardly any detail was visible in the dark, shadow areas as well 
as in the reflection off the water.  The lit areas of the top of the buildings in 
the background also showed a considerable loss of detail.  
Careful adjustments of the shadow and highlight areas allowed for 
a full tonal range and darkening the top of the buildings in the background 
allowed for no detail to be lost.

This early evening scene originally was much too light.  Darkening prevented the evening mood to be lost.
The trees in the background were purposely kept as dark as possible without  
losing too much detail to maintain the general mood of the scene.

Here it was important to maintain detail in the dark areas of the face.
Even more important was to adjust the highlight areas to maintain a full tonal range
in the lit areas of the skin.

With this example it was important not to lose any detail in the dark areas at the 
bottom of the image. Careful adjustments of the shadows accomplished that.
One area that presented a definite problem is the bright area across the road. 
As it turned out, the exposure was slightly beyond the capabilities of the sensor 
of the camera, so only a limited amount of detail could be saved.
The solution would have been to expose a bit shorter to avoid the loss of detail
in the brightly lit areas. This would have further darkened the dark areas with some
loss of detail. But that can easily be retrieved in post production.

This is another good example where careful balancing of the highlights and the dark areas resulted in 
a greatly improved image.  Especially darkening of the white areas resulted in noticeably more detail in the clouds
which made them look a lot more dramatic.  Careful adjustment of the dark areas allowed to make  them
quite dark without the loss of detail.

The highlight and dark areas in this image did not present any problems at all.  But an adjustment with the 
"Haze" tool allowed the mountains in the background to become more detailed.



For other articles on this blog please click on Blog Archive in the column to the right

To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.

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_______________________________________________________________________

EDDYCAM - the first and only ergonomic elk-skin camera strap     
 www.eddycam.com        

      


Click on image to enlarge
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography

Click on image to enlarge
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography

Click on image to enlarge
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography