Bert Keppler on SLRs

[summitar]

For those of you missing the straight talk of the recently deceased and admired Herbert Keppler, his book,

"Keppler on the Eye Level Reflex" is available on Amazon.com. Just do a search under books for "keppler". There

were 9 copies available when i checked a few minutes ago ranging in price from $2.85 to $80.

 

I received mine today in very good condition. The book was published in 1960, and although i have (I dunno,

maybe 75-100 35 mm SLRs) a few SLRs, only two were specifically reviewed, the Nikon F and the Kodak SLR. The

book is good reading. Until I read his obit, I did not know that he performed distinguish naval service as an

officer in WW2.

[james_ollinger]

I've got a boatload of old Modern Photography magazines, and I enjoy re-reading them. I was always a fan of his column and articles. Keppler, Arthur Kramer, Andreas Feininger--they are sorely missed.

 

Funny--I recently got an old issue of US CAMERA from around 1946. They had a monthly column where they posed a question to different people in the field and got the answers, and published a little mug-shot of each contributor. One of them is Keppler, wearing his Navy officer's uniform.

[JDMvW]

This a guy who, together with Julia Scully, made Modern Photography into a really interesting magazine for a time.

He was a treasure and is missed very much.

[george_shihanian]

No more like him around. What a sweet man.I sent in a shot once for the photo of the month or something, and he sent it back with a letter explaining their rejection of it. Even while insulting my ability ([smiley] not really) his tone in the letter was gentle and kind, sort of fatherly. And it wasn't a pre printed form letter- it was typed (personally by him I'm sure) on a typewriter and addressed to me personally. Nice touch. I still have it somewhere in my photo files.

[profhlynnjones]

I've known Burt since about 1955, his dad, brilliant photographer, Victor, was a mentor of mine when I was a USN medical photographer in my 20's. Burt was about 5 or 6 years older than I. I was a sometimes writer and photographer for small circulation magazines until the 60's when I wrote in every issue of The Rangefinder and PhotoLab Management for about 30 years.

 

In addition to Burt's being a warm, friendly, photographer/writer, he knew more about the industry, what is was doing, what it was going to do, and like that. Furthermore, even though we always wrote for competitive books, he was always friendly and perfectly willing to share anything that wasn't secret.

 

I've shed tears for very few of my contemporaries, but for Burt, this was very painful, he was like my brother.

 

Lynn

[johnw436]

Very touching, Lynn. I enjoyed reading that.

[JDMvW]

Some time back I emailed Herbert Keppler and he was kind enough to reply and allow me to post his own story about

the demise of Modern Photography and why he had switched to Popular Photography.

 

Scroll down about half way at http://www.photo.net/classic-cameras-forum/00LFvG

 

[There were some server problems at the time, so the post was deleted for a while, I reposted it and then the

deleted stuff was restored, so it's actually in there twice.]

[profhlynnjones]

By the way to all you guys, Burt never liked to have his name spelled Bert, but as the gentleman that he was, he never-never corrected another's spelling of his name. I made that mistake, I was told by a mutual friend how he liked it. I spoke to him at a photo convention and apologized for that, his response was, "Its alright, I'm always happy to hear from friends, you can spell my name any way you like"! That my friends is just another example of a good person.

 

Lynn

[james_ollinger]

Thanks for the link re: Modern & Popular. That's something I've always wondered about. I always wished Mr. Keppler had written an autobio about his experiences with photography and the Industry.

[JDMvW]

Lynn, I too, appreciated your post and I'm pleased to find out about the Bert/Burt thing. He was a part of "my" photographic scene for much of my adult life. I always read his column first, eager to see what new gadget or new idea he would present. He was someone that had real influence with the camera industry, and not just in the USA.

 

Thanks.

[jack_welsh]

I always read his column first, even though I'm not into 35 SLR's. He will be truly missed!

[JDMvW]

As an historical note, here are some comments out of the March 1962 Modern Photography. pp 14-5

 

" ... so fascinating and instructive

it's hard to put down till you've gone

from cover to cover."-Alva L. Darn,

Kalamazoo (Mich.) Gazette.

 

" ... I heartily recommend you read

a fascinating and entertaining new

book by Herbert Keppler and take to

heart the advice he doles out in generous dollops."-Albert W. McCollough,

Beverly (Mass.) Times.

 

"This is the kind of book which

made Grandpa's eyes light up as he

said' ... a man's mind is capable of

creating only one such book in one lifetime,

but here it is.' "-Ralph Miller,

New York World Telegram.

 

" ... A would-be buyer of a prism

reflex 35 will get some pretty straight

dope on specific cameras from this

book."-U.S. Camera.

 

"By far the best guide available

today for the bewildered camera fan

lost in the woods of eye-level reflex

cameras."-Irving Desfor, Associated

Press Newsfeatures.

 

"Up until the time this columnist

read Keppler's book he had seldom

thought of the single-lens reflex. Since

that time, plans have been made to

purchase one."-Lyle Rolfe, Aurora

(Ill.) Beacon-News.

 

and importantly:

 

"By the way, nobody calls him Herbert;

he winces at Herb and Herbie; and he

spells it Burt, not Bert."<div></div>

[John Cook]

Hi, Just wanted to share my recent discovery of an Original B & W Herbert Keppler photograph. The subject is a Falasha woman & child in Gandar, Ethiopia. The details of exposure time for different portions of the photo are all listed on the back. I am looking to learn more about this photograph such as when it was taken. Any help will be appreciated. Thanks so much, John Cook

jesmcook@yahoo.com