Made in West Germany

Here is Part 2.

 

 

WG 16 sm 2

Here is a look at Kodak's Plus-X film.

 

 

Plus-X 1 sm 2

Who's ahead in 35mm?

 

 

Lens vs Film 1 sm 2

From the October 1958 issue of Modern Photography. Part 1:

 

 

WG 1 sm 2

Here are this month's Modern Tests.

 

 

MT 1 sm 2

Here is this month's 35mm column.

 

 

35mm 1 sm 2

From Popular Photography we learn about new developments in automation.

 

 

Automation 1 sm 2

Here is a nice article on other Russian cameras.

 

 

RCT 1 sm 2

Lloyd Varden discusses "adjacency effects".

 

 

WA 1 sm 2

So what are the Russians doing with automation?

 

 

Russian Automatic 1 sm 2

You can see the entire collection of magazine scans at my web site here.

 

 

A Look Back – Photography Magazine Scans

Here are this month's dealer ads.

 

 

BB 1 sm 2

Here are this month's camera equipment ads.

 

 

Alpa 1 sm 2

For the west German supplement -- perhaps revealing in terms of the Japanese tsunami to come in only few years down the road.

 

Thanks.

I actually have this issue. Great choice. The Plus-X was a wonderful film even in that day. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, great articles. I’m not aware of any contemporary magazine, in the UK at least, that still offers good technical articles like ‘Who’s ahead in 35mm’. Amateur Photographer, the first photographic magazine in the World makes a token effort at scientific articles in every issue, but mostly it is what I call ‘filler’ articles constantly regurgitated. I have some issues from the ‘20s and the standard of knowledge that is assumed the reader has is far higher than of that the magazine today. Maybe this is because the standard of knowledge WAS higher then, as most were real amateurs doing their own processing and printing, and were probably mostly well educated and, relatively speaking, affluent people who could afford film and paper. I recall my Dad saying that his own Father had plenty of film, processed, but little printed, as paper was much more expensive than film. Plus ca change!

JDM - I thought the best part of the West German article was the part about their apprentice program. I had heard about it but never read any details.

 

Mike - I liked Plus-X too.

 

Stuart - I enjoyed reading the British photo magazines in the 1980's and 1990's. They had a good mix of general articles along with the technical ones. I put together a list of the Oldest American photography magazines here.

 

History – A Look Back

Thanks, great articles. I’m not aware of any contemporary magazine, in the UK at least, that still offers good technical articles like ‘Who’s ahead in 35mm’. Amateur Photographer, the first photographic magazine in the World makes a token effort at scientific articles in every issue, but mostly it is what I call ‘filler’ articles constantly regurgitated. I have some issues from the ‘20s and the standard of knowledge that is assumed the reader has is far higher than of that the magazine today. Maybe this is because the standard of knowledge WAS higher then, as most were real amateurs doing their own processing and printing, and were probably mostly well educated and, relatively speaking, affluent people who could afford film and paper. I recall my Dad saying that his own Father had plenty of film, processed, but little printed, as paper was much more expensive than film. Plus ca change!

 

Actually, having just read this week’s edition, I take the filler comment back, perhaps there is plenty of content, just not what I would call technical, or advancing one’s knowledge. Reviews of lighting equipment, new camera releases etc. Many of these magazines churn out articles like ‘what to shoot in Autumn’ on an annual basis. I recall one where we were advised to wear appropriate footwear when heading into the great outdoors. Perlease!

Thanks for this. Wow, my Leica M2 with a 50mm elmar for $276! And the ads had the Minolta Autocord and the Contaflex IV too. Had one of each of those.

Thanks for this, Marc.

 

Great pieces on the West German industry. All that apprentice training and SQC would not be enough later on, but they fought gallantly. The M2 featured in the ads was an example.

 

The Plus-X article brought a lot of memories, I shot so much of that film when young.

 

That Cometa Russian camera looks very interesting! I had never heard of it.