Tripping to the 1978 photo scene

The time machine at hand is the July, 1978, issue of Modern

Photography. Like the 1982 issue I recently described, the magazine

is more print-heavy than a similar photomag today. The articles run

long, and the typeface is tiny.

 

There is little mention of autofocus, and certainly nothing about

digital. The only ad for an autofocus camera is Konica�s, for its

otherwise simple C35. The three cameras most advertised in the

issue are the Minolta XD11, the Nikon FE, and Canon�s A-1. The A-1,

calling itself �hexacybernetic,� wins an eight-page favorable review

in the editorial section. The anonymous reviewers call it a union

of �the modern camera and the electronic calculator� and declare it

so much fun to play with that you almost forget to take pictures.

The camera tests out with highest scores except when it comes to

shutter speeds. Here, there is a slight swooning at speeds 1/500

and 1/1000. For some reason, 1/2000 seems not to have been tested.

 

Enlargers receive a notable amount of advertising. Omega pushes its

C67XL and Beseler answers with its 67C. Among cameras, the Practica

is advertised as having the only �electric lens.� This turns out to

mean that the diaphragm information is transmitted to the body

electrically, not mechanically. Rollei presents its SL35M, whose

German origins are not so subtly underscored in a headline that

reads, �Made like a Mercedes-Benz, priced like a Volkswagen.�

 

Some of the items introduced to the industry at the just-adjourned

Chicago PMA show are presented in a four -page spread. Pentax has

put up its K1000 SE�as in �Special Edition.� This one has better

mirror damping and a different skin from the �plain� K 1000. And

enlargers are introduced from Durst, Star-D, and Unitron. There are

six new film projectors, all featuring Super-8 sound; and the

familiar Air-Brella for flash units is a new kid on the block.

 

Herbert Keppler, writing even in 1978, discusses whether it is

better to have match-needles or diodes in your viewfinder. He goes

on for several pages, but in the end can�t decide. Jason Schneider,

in his �The Camera Collector� column, features �one of [his] all-

time favorite folding rangefinder 35s,� the Voigtlander Vito III.

Schneider bought his specimen of the camera from Ken Hansen, for

$98.

 

In the back pages are the large ads for camera stores. B&H is

there. For the Pentax MX body, they ask $189.00. Minolta�s XD-11

body brings $289.00, and Nikon�s F2AS Photomic body is a whopping

$549.00. The body of the new FE goes for $329.00. The classic

105mm 2.5 AI lists at $225.00. By comparison, Minolta�s MD 100mm

2.5 lens costs $129.00. Mario Hirsch, whose store used to anchor a

corner on Third Avenue in Manhattan, offers the MX and F2AS bodies

for the same prices as B&H. The Minolta XD-11 is ten dollars more

at Mario�s, and Nikon�s FE goes unlisted. Minolta�s XK-AES body

with built-in motor drive is a thrilling $1195.00. The Pentax K

1000 body is a hundred bucks, and the Leitz/Minolta CL with 40mm 2.0

Rokkor is three hundred.

 

 

In medium format, Olden Camera offers Yashica�s 124g �Mat at $125.00

and a used Rolleiflex 3.5F at $239.00. A used Mamiya RB67 with a

normal lens and 120 film back is $400.00.

 

Among flash units, the Vivitar 283, into its second year of success,

earns a two-page ad. The ad is ugly as hell, but I�m sure it didn�t

hurt the 283�s sales. It sure didn�t hurt its longevity!

 

There were ads for cut-rate film and processing companies, but the

big ads of the photo stores listed no film prices, not even in a two-

page ad for a store named Minifilm! Kodak advertised Kodacolor II

(ASA 100) on the back cover of the issue, and Agfa presented a full-

page ad for its Agfachrome 100. Agfa worked on the prestige of

imported merchandise by calling its chrome �the color of Europe.�

Its colors are subtle and European-pure, they claim, �without gaudy

splashes of postcard color.� The ad doesn�t tell you what I found

out by using the film: its subtle colors became more and more

subtle with time, until you wound up with black and orange slides!

The black and orange color of the Agfachrome film boxes turned out

to be a prophecy. Only one ad in the magazine listed prices for

commonly used film. Master Color Labs of New Jersey offered

Kodachrome 25 and 64 at $5.35 a roll. Their high-speed Kodacolor

400 was $9.30 per roll!

 

In 1978, I had not yet bought an SLR, although I was moving in that

direction. My friends urged me to get a rangefinder, but the

glamour of the SLR was irresistible. I finally decided on a Minolta

XG-7. It gave good service until 1984, when the electronics

fizzled. After that, I converted to mechanical cameras. If you

recall, there was something of a camera-sales boom in the late

1970s, as cameras became simpler to use and good optics were

available at reachable prices. On the streets of New York, you saw

masses of people walking around with new cameras hanging on their

chests like jewelry. The sidewalks of what was then the camera

district were crowded, and new camera stores sprang up weedlike.

All this fervor was quelled by the economic pinch in the early

1980s, or maybe the fad just passed.

 

So, where were you, photographically, in 1978?

 

I had graduated from my first camera (an Olympus 35RC) to a Nikon FM sometime in the preceding year or two. My recollection is that the Vivitar 283 was a tad older than '2' in 1978, as I used to use mine with the 35RC (those of you familiar with these two will realize that the flash was larger and heavier than the camera). I had bought the bigger flash knowing I would move up to an SLR eventually.

 

I was still in High School, contributing (but by choice, not a staff member of) the school newspaper and yearbook.

Back in July 1978, I was a bit older than Todd (and I still am). I had just finished my freshman year in college here in California and drove across the USA with a couple of college friends. I remember gasoline was aournd 55 cents per gallon. At that time I already had a Nikkormat FT3 and the infamous 43-86mm/f3.5 zoom, which I still own. I would soon buy the then brand new FE body and 3 AI prime lenses; all of which I would eventually sell in 1990.

 

During my cross-country trip I took a lot of slides using Ektachrome 64 at Lake Tahoe, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, etc. etc. I used to treasure those slides very much. Now looking back, I cannot believe how poor a photographer I was at that time. However, after 25 years, those slides haven't faded at all.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't save any magazines from that era. I am sure it would be interesting to read them again. I still have the FE and 43-86, though.

 

By the way, I don't recall hearing about B&H back then. THE mail order store at that time was 47th Street Photo, also in New York. I think they have long gone out of business.

In 1978, I had just gotten my 90mm f2.5 Vivitar Series 1 Macro, to go with my Soligor 200mm f2.8 CD for my SRT-102, and I was trying to come up with a persuasive excuse to convince my parents to help subsidize the purchase of an XK Motor Drive (I was shooting sports for my H.S. Yearbook & Newspaper, and had just had a local exhibit of my Nature/macro work). My Dad countered that even his Nikon F2A with a motor drive cost less, and he told me I should have bought Nikons. I never DID persuade them to kick in enough to swing the XK Motor, so I had to make do with an XD-11 with an auto winder, which strained my budget to the max even though THEY bought me the winder as a birthday present. Turns out that this was probably a very reasonable compromise (and saved us together over $800 1978 dollars).

47th Street Photo

 

I don't rmember what I did in 1978 except hang out in Discos drinking harvey wallbangers and tequila sunrises. I did buy a few things from 47th Street Photo. I got a Honeywell/Asahi Pentex screwmount body for $150 I think ( my first one was stolen I got as a Xmas present in 1971 from a cousin returning from Viet Nam) and a Beseler 23c for $200 I belive with $25 shipping? ( it was massive)...I still got the enlarger in the garage that I haven't used in 20 yrs. I remember trying to push TRI-X to 1600 and 3200 asa by developing it in warm water and reducing the amount of water to the developer. Only wish I would spent a few more dollars and got Nikon F or F2 back them. I think I used to order a few items from Spiratone and Cambridge camera before all those NYC photo places turned into rip off joints.

I remember those early-mid 1970s Modern Photo issues - like porn for photographers. Especially the December issues with the illustrations and write-ups on almost every 35mm and medium format camera available.

 

In 1978 I was in the Navy, stationed in Bethesda, MD, at the National Naval Medical Center. I was between serious cameras, the meter on my Miranda Sensorex having died about three years earlier.

 

I mostly used, yup, the ubiquitous 110. Most of the snaps were crap and I generally despised the film format. Now, tho', with a Pentax 110 SLR, I wish 110 b&w were readily available - or at least an easily reloadable cassette for use with subminiature film. That'd be fun.

 

By late 1978 I was back in Southern California, stationed at the beautiful old Balboa Naval Regional Medical Center and ready for a decent camera. Got a Ricoh outfit with K-mount lenses. Lasted me several years, including through a stint in photojournalism after the Navy, until the whole rig went swimming in the Guadalupe River during a canoe trip while on assignment.

In 1978 I bought my first real camera, an OM1, which I still have. This was a turning point year for me. I had spent a about 7 years working heavy industry; paper mills, sawmills, oil rigs etc... dangerous work. But I had quit and gone to school for a year or so and bought my first 35mm to go along with my new interest in journalism.

 

I went on to a path that included many different jobs in the photo, publishing and graphics industries.

 

Its funny, but I still have and use a Vivitar 285 from that era, still have a couple of enlargers (most catching dust), light box , gitzo, domke bag and a number of other items still doing the job after 25 years

 

I was covering a play for the local weekly in 78/79 and one of the attractive actresses who I was photographing, took one look at the Oly and said 'how come no Nikon?' with a *certain* disdain. I hope that is not the only reason I have a bag full of MF nikons these days ;-).

 

I just bought a new film scanner, so I dug up one of the first rolls of film I ever shot, Tri-X, grainy, contrasty, scratched, watermarks and all: this shot represents '78 to me, I call it 'Chasing Whistles', it is a Millwright in a sawmill (a job I had held up until not long before this shot.) He is responding to a sequence of steam whistle blasts (2-1-3, if I remember right), telling him the saws need immediate maintenance work, he is off and running...<div></div>

Hi Guys,

 

I was only 7 years old and was in Sri Lanka that stage (presently, Australia). Because of the political situation there was an imports restriction so had to be lucky to see a camera. So at that time I've never even seen a camera !!!!

Tie-in: I bought my first decent lens, the Vivitar Series 1 90/2.5 macro, from 47th Street Photo via mailorder in about 1977. I still have the lens (beat up, see a "what macro lens?" thread I contributed to in the last week) but not that FM. My original FM was a casualty in a saltwater boating accident.

A little older than most, perhaps. I had a 7 year old son and new baby girl in '78. Used an ugly Yashisca SLR at home, while using a Polaroid at work to document all shipments leaving the plant as quality control inspector. Used it to take pictures of the "Freedom Train" in '76. Kept yearning for a Nikon, but had to wait a year on so, until I picked up an EM at GEMCO (pre-Costco) LOL. $200 was a lot in 1978.

- Harold

>>So, where were you, photographically, in 1978?

 

As a 5 year old kid, In 1978 I was mostly being photographed by my father (a very talented photographer) who used a Yashica 635 and 120 film. By 1985 I graduated to using the Yashica myself. I still use that camera occassionally ...

Damned fine photo, Neil.

In the spring of 1978 I started my second Nikon system with a Nikon F2As and a 55/3.5 AI Micro Nikkor. I had a small photo processing business. I think that�s the year I went to Yosemite National Park and jumped over Mirror Lake (extreme drought). Late in the year I traded a Hasselblad with 80/2.8, 150/4.0, (2) A12(s), tubes, etc. for a Technika Super 45, Rollie 3F and Pentax 6x7, etc.

In 1978, I lived in Los Angeles and worked as a color processing technician in a motion picture lab.The camera to own back then was the Nikon FM.Combined with its racy MD unit it made anyone look like a pro!I remember a friend buying a new FE,and opting for the MD unit over a second lens!(To this day I still have never used a MD on continous!)The other camera to own was of course the Olympus OM1.I had a pair of these and loved them,untill their cloth shutters disintergrated from over use!

I have several 1950 and 1960's foto magazines,these are even funnier to read now.However,I think the average hack had to know his hobby more back then.There was no AF ,AE etc to do the work for you.The interesting thing I notice is that pro cameras stopped evolving by 1970.I could shoot a wedding or a studio shot with this era's cameras and not be handicapped in any way.Cameras have become gadget like with bells & whistles to sell cameras,not to make them better.

In 1978 I was born. Immediatly thereafter I bought a Nikon.

just started working after university..... and either a Yashica FR SLR or a Yashica Electro G35 RF, also somewhere around then I purchased a Yashica D TLR....just posted some photos I took a couple of weeks ago with the D in my portraits folder.

In 1978, I was admiring my uncle's photos from various trips, 4 yrs later in 1982, I would be given his Spotmatic (he graduated to a Canon A1), and start accumulating my own collection of negatives.

 

Idle Aside: $400 as the used price for an RB with normal lens and back is still the price. Must have been always priced by the pound.

In the July 1978 issue of Road & Track magazine I had the lead shot from the 1978 Long Beach Grand Prix. This was the first photo I sold R&T and it was on my first attempt. I shot F1 for them for the next seven years. R&T would use the best shot regardless of shot it as they still do. Here's a link to a scan of the actual magazine page:

 

http://www.jaypix.com/pix/villb01.jpg

 

Shot on K64 with an F2S/MD1/MB1 and a Nikkor 500mm Reflex.

In 1978 I was 12 years old and either shooting a Kodak 110 camera or my late father's Zeis Ikon Contaflex (SLR with a fixed 50mm lens, he bought in Germany while he was in the Army during the mid 1950s, I still have that camera). I thought the flip flash on the instamatic was pretty neat. I didn't know any better.

 

I got my first interchangeable lens SLR in 1984. My mom and grandpa pooled their money and bought me a Canon AE-1 program with an FD 35-70mm f4something-5.6 lens. That was a great camera. I sold it after I bought my first Nikon SLR. I remember the 35-70 zoom was so poorly designed that you couldn't zoom then lens to one end of the range if a polarizer was attached.

That's a great shot, Jay, and should be 'required viewing' for anybody who says, "All mirror lenses are crap and not worth the time".

Graduated from college in May 1978 (doesn't answer question).

 

In April became proud owner of Nikon FM.

A spry 16 yr. old with a 1 1/2 yr. old Minolta SR-T 201, I was busy taking photos for my yearbook, and of the exhilirating weather we get in North Texas (Dallas). With only the 50mm f/1.7 Rokkor-X that came with the camera (a gift from a well-to-do uncle), I had to use my wits and good eye (plus lots of moving around) to frame interesting shots, but the workhorse SR-T was a brick. It already sported a dented corner from a fall onto a concrete street the year before, yet worked flawlessly. The one shot that eluded me then was of a model rocket just clearing the launch pad. Manually synchronizing that shot was just impossible.