marc_bergman1 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 <p>This next ad is from Popular Photography Jun 1942. It shows the beginning of some salesmanship in their ads.</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 <p>Here is the Radio Wave Building at 49 West 27th as it looked a while back.</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert_marvin Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 <p>Hmmm-- in my time (starting in the late 50s) they were a bit north of that--in a 2nd floor space off of Broadway or 6th Avenue, more or less across from Gimbals department store and just east of all the fancier camera stores on W. 32nd Street (Willoughbys , Minifilm, etc.). However their main store, or at least the location from which they ran their mail order business, was on Northern Blvd., just east of Main Street in Flushing Queens. I lived in Queens, and, a few years later attended Queens College, also in Flushing, but public transportation was so bad within Queens that it was much faster to travel to their Manhattan store.</p> <h2 id="total_reviews"> </h2> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_bergman1 Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 <p>That is quite a step up in one year from doing film development in your bathroom to renting space in a nice building.</p> <p>The first ad I found where they were selling something beyond their darkroom work was in 1946. Here is an ad from Popular Photography Oct 1946.</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted February 20, 2013 Author Share Posted February 20, 2013 <p>Several years ago, rising out of an exchange on this site with Jonathan Spira (<a href="/classic-cameras-forum/00VUBt">link</a>), I ended up sending the Spira family pdfs of a set of scans of their magazine ads from 1941 up to the last ads in 1987, when they disappeared from the magazines.</p> <p>The 306+MB of compressed pdfs that I have of these are a capsule history of photography - showing the initial offers for Mercury camera gear to the range of lenses and accessories that they ended up with. The last few years of their advertising largely looks like the company (no longer in the hands of the Spira family) was simply selling off existing stock from earlier, better days.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonathan_spira Posted February 20, 2013 Share Posted February 20, 2013 <p>I'm somewhat in awe of the treatise that JDM prepared on the subject of Colorflow (and Colorflow II) filters. <br> <br />More importantly, I'd like to thank the forum members for their very kind comments about my father. Not to single anyone out but Steve Levine's Henry Ford comment was particularly meaningful because it was not the first time someone made that connection (John Durniak wrote this in Pop Photo in 1979). <br> <br />Here are two fun trivia facts that relate to the thread:<br> <br />1.) In addition to the Colorflow filters, there was also Colorflow background paper. (I still use the few sheets of Colorflow background paper that I have - and I would give anything to get my hands on more)<br> 2.) While the company merged with Interphoto (a public company) and ended up out of my father's control at the point at which he left, he still owned the fairly large headquarters building in Flushing and eventually had to evict Spiratone (in Spira v. Spiratone) after the company could no longer pay its bills including rent.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted February 21, 2013 Author Share Posted February 21, 2013 <p>Thanks for the comment. I think many of us really miss looking through those long multi-page ads in Modern and Popular Photography. :)</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_bergman1 Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 <p>Here is a Spiratone ad from the Feb 1949 issue of Popular Photography. It is the first month they used just the name Spiratone in an ad.</p> <p>I noticed they also mentioned the address of their main store as 32-34 Steinway Street, Long Island city. This is the first mention of this address.</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuck_foreman1 Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 Very Cool that a family member joins in here with trivia and memories. I also likedthe SP observation about how back then we learned by persuing ads and now we peruse the net! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farside Posted February 23, 2013 Share Posted February 23, 2013 <p>JDM, do you mind if I put a link to the Spiratone catalog in the MF forum?</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted February 24, 2013 Author Share Posted February 24, 2013 <p>A Link is Not a problem for me, anyhow.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farside Posted February 24, 2013 Share Posted February 24, 2013 <p>Cheers.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 <blockquote> <p>A Link is Not a problem for me, anyhow.</p> </blockquote> <p>Well, in an altogether different sense that is not strictly true. The link I gave above to Hoya filters of this type appears to be a recursive link to this post.<br> Unfortunately, that filter seems to no longer be offered by Hoya, or I would give a link to them for it.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted April 19, 2013 Author Share Posted April 19, 2013 <p>time out error, sorry</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted May 6, 2017 Author Share Posted May 6, 2017 Note after Photo.net version 2 All pdf files are lost in the transition. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glen_h Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 Yes, putting a circular polarizer on closest to the lens should work. I am not sure about autofocus, but the anti-aliasing filter uses birefringent materials, which are polarization sensitive. If your image doesn't have things that will be bothered by aliasing, you might get away with a linear polarizer. -- glen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Gammill Posted May 6, 2017 Share Posted May 6, 2017 Great thread. I enjoy these old ads as much as the articles of the day. If I had a functional time machine I would go back in time and order from Spiratone. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertliang Posted May 8, 2017 Share Posted May 8, 2017 Wow - I loved looking through the Spiratone materials back in the day - it was down the street from my Aunt's house and was a key reason that I would accompany my parents to their trips to Queens just so I could go explore the store. I still have some of the processing equipment from them, albeit sitting in storage. Thanks for the great post and historical info. "It's not what you look at that matters. It's what you see." -Henry David Thoreau Bert Dr. Bertrand's Patient Stories: A podcast dedicated to stories of being. \\anchor.fm/bertrand0 FineArtAmerica: https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/bertrand-liang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Bowes Posted May 9, 2017 Share Posted May 9, 2017 Hello everyone. Waiting for a friend to arrive, I ventured onto this excellent thread by JD. Spiratone was my primary source of "affordable" photo accessories during my army days 63-67. Spec 4 pay was not a Trumper deal. A 400mm Tamron on my Nikon F keep me in sportscar & Gran Prix heaven. Upon discharge, they were the ONLY source of Series 7 filters for the 4x5. Their telephoto lens kit for the YashicaMat EM is still with that camera. . . the filters still in the 4x5 kit. Thanks for the trip JD ! Aloha, Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDMvW Posted October 30, 2017 Author Share Posted October 30, 2017 I am not above "re-aniimation" on occasion, but in this case I discovered a nice graphic of how the Colorflow™ filter works in a June, 1976, issue of Modern Photography: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Gammill Posted October 30, 2017 Share Posted October 30, 2017 Great find, JDM. I have this magazine somewhere at home. I remember wanting one of those filters, but on a college student budget it had to wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew_kleinfeld Posted October 31, 2017 Share Posted October 31, 2017 <p>I'm somewhat in awe of the treatise that JDM prepared on the subject of Colorflow (and Colorflow II) filters. <br> <br />More importantly, I'd like to thank the forum members for their very kind comments about my father. Not to single anyone out but Steve Levine's Henry Ford comment was particularly meaningful because it was not the first time someone made that connection (John Durniak wrote this in Pop Photo in 1979). <br> <br />Here are two fun trivia facts that relate to the thread:<br> <br />1.) In addition to the Colorflow filters, there was also Colorflow background paper. (I still use the few sheets of Colorflow background paper that I have - and I would give anything to get my hands on more)<br> 2.) While the company merged with Interphoto (a public company) and ended up out of my father's control at the point at which he left, he still owned the fairly large headquarters building in Flushing and eventually had to evict Spiratone (in Spira v. Spiratone) after the company could no longer pay its bills including rent.</p> <p>time out error, sorry</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodeo_joe1 Posted October 31, 2017 Share Posted October 31, 2017 So, if the description above is true and accurate, it would be possible to remove the magenta filter and effectively have an "any colour" filter all in one. Right? Add a built-in linear pol layer with rotating mount, and all other colour filters are redundant! Spiratone (and Vivitar) were sneaky not to decimate their market by making such a filter. A pity that digital and PS have now replaced optical ingenuity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendell_kelly Posted October 31, 2017 Share Posted October 31, 2017 <p>Hmmm-- in my time (starting in the late 50s) they were a bit north of that--in a 2nd floor space off of Broadway or 6th Avenue, more or less across from Gimbals department store and just east of all the fancier camera stores on W. 32nd Street (Willoughbys , Minifilm, etc.). However their main store, or at least the location from which they ran their mail order business, was on Northern Blvd., just east of Main Street in Flushing Queens. I lived in Queens, and, a few years later attended Queens College, also in Flushing, but public transportation was so bad within Queens that it was much faster to travel to their Manhattan store.</p> <h2 id="total_reviews"> </h2> I believe that you are describing Olden Camera. Spiratone was on 27th Street, as has been mentioned. There was also a closeout sort of store on Herald Square called Camera Barn. All sorts of odd stuff to be found there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wendell_kelly Posted October 31, 2017 Share Posted October 31, 2017 <p>Hmmm-- in my time (starting in the late 50s) they were a bit north of that--in a 2nd floor space off of Broadway or 6th Avenue, more or less across from Gimbals department store and just east of all the fancier camera stores on W. 32nd Street (Willoughbys , Minifilm, etc.). However their main store, or at least the location from which they ran their mail order business, was on Northern Blvd., just east of Main Street in Flushing Queens. I lived in Queens, and, a few years later attended Queens College, also in Flushing, but public transportation was so bad within Queens that it was much faster to travel to their Manhattan store.</p> <h2 id="total_reviews"> </h2> I believe that you are describing Olden Camera; Spiratone was on 27th Street, as has been mentioned. There was also a "closeout" sort of store on Herald Square called Camera Barn. A really chaotic sort of place with all sort of things for sale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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