Friday, December 27, 2024

ODDITIES FROM PHOTO AND LEICA LAND


BEFORE LEICA...

“WARNING:

It is granted that hand cameras are indispensable for such as street views, or on the beach, or on shipboard, but they are decidedly out of place for use as picture producers.  Therefore let us oppose all attempts to popularize the use of hand cameras at our photographic outings, the high standard of pictorial excellence to which landscape photography has attained being in great danger of reduction by the use and abuse of hand cameras.”

R. P. Drage, British Journal of Photography, vol. 37, 1890; p. 565.

I think we should all be glad that Oskar Barnack did not read this.

 
Typical "Field Camera" ca. 1890


TRUE STORY

“Can I help you please?”

“Yes, could you please put this roll of film into my camera?”

The customer hands over the most expensive 35mm camera at that time.  A moment later everything is done.

“Excuse me, Sir, I don't mean to tell you how to take care of your camera, but I couldn't help notice that your lenses are rather dirty.  All the extra performance that you spent so much money for certainly gets lost that way.

“Oh no, that's alright.  Someone who knows told me the best way to keep a lens clean is to lick it...”


another TRUE STORY

We pass along an article from LEICA POSTAL PORTFOLIO NEWS:

I should relate, albeit briefly, a little incident that happened in the shop a few days ago.  A customer (new to us) handed us a colour negative film for processing with the comment that he thought few of the pictures would 'come out', but even the bad ones required printing.  Accordingly we marked the order “print regardless' and tactfully inquired if we might help with any problems concerning his picture taking.

He told us that he had been taking pictures off the TV screen but that he did not think his flash was sufficiently powerful.  We explained that the more external light that fell on the front of the TV screen, the less the actual television picture would be visible – but we distinctly got the impression that he did not quite believe us.  Somehow he appeared to doubt our expertise.

“Anyhow,” he said, “even if I had not used the flash, they still wouldn't be any good.  I couldn't change the focus setting on my camera as fast as the TV camera crew did with theirs.  I simply couldn't keep up with them.”

We did not press the point...


Did You Know That...

...The US Air Force, for their top 35mm camera, used the Leicaflex for many years?

...and that a special production run of Leica M4s, dubbed the KE-7A, was made for the US Army?

The KE-7A was accompanied by a special instruction book which even included a special section on how to destroy the camera in case of capture by the enemy.  It was an intriguing process.  The first suggestion was simply to try to break it with a hammer, shovel, or other blunt instrument.  Apparently they realized how well built the cameras were, because the instructions continued, saying that if none of the first methods succeeded, to use explosives like dynamite.

I know Leicas are quite tough, but dynamite?

 
Leica KE 7A

The camera was originally supplied with an f/2 version of the Leitz Elmar called Elcan


    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        

      



Buy vintage Leica cameras from 
America's premier Leica specialist 
www.tamarkin.com

 http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show


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Thursday, December 26, 2024

LARGE FORMAT QUALITY FROM 35mm?




By Heinz Richter

A while ago I had the opportunity to see an exhibition of portraits by Yousuf Karsh at the Institute of Arts here in Minneapolis. It is a known fact that he did most of his work with a large format, 8x10 camera. I was not disappointed. The overall quality of the images was breath taking, with a tonal range that needs to be seen.

The biggest negatives my camera equipment at that time was able to accommodate was 5x7 inch or 13x18 centimeter. But I was doing the bulk of my work with 35mm Leica equipment. That made me think how close I could come with my 35mm equipment. I had no illusion that there would be some noticeable differences. But I had never put this to a test.

The first order of business was to find a suitable model. For quite some time I had contemplated to photograph Reggie Anderson, an artist who also worked at MIA, the Institute of Arts in Minneapolis. He agreed and we set a time for the shoot.

To get the most out of my Leica equipment I chose to use Agfapan APX 25. To this day I consider it one of the best 35mm films ever available. The Kodak high contrast copy film at that time was rated at a slightly higher resolution, but by its very nature, it was also quite contrasty, even when developed for a full tonal range, and therefore was definitely less desirable for portrait work.

I chose a Leica M3 camera with a 135mm f/2.8 Elmarit. I purposely went with a longer focal length because that enabled me to use a greater shooting distance. Individuals that are not used to sit in front of a camera very often, like models, for instance, usually are a lot more comfortable if the photographer and the camera are further away.

On the day of the shoot I purposely chose lighting that was similar to what I had seen numerous times used by Karsh. I chose a profile view with one light set for rim lighting to outline the profile of the face. That was done with an open, undiffused studio strobe. To light the side of the face towards the camera, I used a second studio strobe with a relatively large softbox. For the exposure setting I used a handheld light meter in incident mode. The initial reading was for the rim light. That was overexposed by 2 1/2 stops to make it rather light. That also established the actual exposure setting on the camera. The side of the face was supposed to be relatively dark. Therefore I chose an underexposure of 1 2/3 of a stop.

Even though the shoot took place in a studio with all white walls, the background was far enough away to be underexposed by about 3 stops which rendered it almost black.

The film was developed in Agfa Rodinal, diluted 1:100 with a developing time of 16 minutes with constant agitation in a rotary drum. Even though Agfa Rodinal is by no means a fine grain developer, using ISO 25 film made grain a non-issue. Rodinal, on the other hand, is a high acutance developer. That renders negatives with enhanced sharpness and tonal range.



Cropped section of the same file

I think the result speaks for itself. Obviously it cannot compete with a large format, 8x10 negative, but on many occasions viewers have wondered if it was not done with medium format equipment.



    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.

All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.

_______________________________________________________________________

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

      



Buy vintage Leica cameras from 
America's premier Leica specialist 
www.tamarkin.com

 http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show


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


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