steve_levine

<p>Early films were not panchromatic nor were the lenses designed for their use. So early lenses can sometimes not see reds and will fail to focus these properly.Also older films had big glorious "chunks" of silver which created rich dark blacks and grays. Later films used smaller more equally spread grains of silver. That said you will get a vintage look with many older uncoated or single coated lenses on any camera regardless of age.</p>

<p>As both a "camera" and "gun" guy I always try to see if cameras and weapons are period correct. Quite often in old movies the film's armorer would send over what ever guns they had laying around and hoped no one would notice. Quite often soldiers in the Crimean war (1850's) would be fielding 1870's rifles etc.</p>

<p> The silliest of these historical mistakes has to be in the 1941 film "Sgt York" starring Gary Cooper. In real life Sgt Alvin York received the Congressional Medal of Honor for holding off wave after wave of German's in WW1 with only a Govt issued Colt 1911 .45 calibre pistol. In the film the prop dept / armorer couldn't get a Colt .45 to operate with blanks. So Gary Cooper (York) cuts down the enemy soldiers with what else , a German Luger! From what I've read the Luger worked easily with blanks.</p>

<p>http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034167/</p>

<p>Do you think people argued Canon vs Nikon back then?</p>

<p>Looks like a Leica II. Check the link below. The factory and others would sometimes add flash sync to these.</p>

<p>http://www.cameraquest.com/leica2.htm</p>

<p>My first camera was a 127 box type of unknown brand. It was given to me as gift as I left on a trip to Washington,DC in 1964 at age 10. My second camera was an Instamatic 104. My first real camera was a Petri FT (w/ 55F1.8) bought at a dept store for $129 in 1970. I still have it and it still works fine except the merc batts are no longer available. Stopped down the lens is quite good. In fact slides taken with this camera and my next camera (Nikkormat FTN w/50F2) were basically indistinguishable.</p><div></div>

<p>I'd go with a bargain grade shooter body ignoring serial numbers and immediately send it out to be serviced. The lube needs redoing and many parts can be worn and out of spec.In my experience you will then have easily 20 years of trouble free shooting. All of the M3's were all hand built by meticulous craftsmen at the top of their game. Certainly later in the run they honed things in a little. But the M3's are so well engineered the differences are moot in my humble opinion.</p>

<p>The Hasselblad bellows with the 135mm S-Planar lens allows nice shooting distances and 1:1. Some of the sharpest MF slides I've ever seen were shot with this combo. Expensive but worth every penny when you see the results.</p>

<p>These articles illustrate that by 1959 "photography" had reached a technological plateau. In 1959 cameras like the Hasselblad 500C, Leica M3, Nikon SP, Nikon F and various Rollei's etc, were as good as cameras would ever be optically and mechanically.</p>

<p>Only really high end optics improved and evolved, nothing really got better with cameras after this time, only easier.<br /> Things like AF and auto exposure film cameras were really only cake decoration in my opinion.</p>

<p>As always thanks for the entertaining posting.</p>

<p>That one is an FM2 , no "N". The other indicator is your camera's X sync should be marked at 1/200th. The FM2N's sync is at 1/250th.</p>

<p>All of his war coverage was shot with Leicas including his infamous shot of a scowling (at him) Joseph Goebbels. He was one of the early PJ's using 35MM equipment.</p>

<p>Since he lived till 1995 one has to presume he crossed paths with many Rollei's? I'm sure there are examples or pictures of him with one out there some where? I know he shot 90 covers for LIFE during his almost 40 year career.</p>

<p>http://life.time.com/history/goebbels-in-geneva-1933-behind-a-classic-alfred-eisenstaedt-photo/#1</p>

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<p>Erwitt's photographic philosophy was often "content over form". To me the man's face says many things. He is both wondering what that cool water tastes like? And why someone would conceive such a contraption to ostracize other human beings?</p>

<p>My uncle was a decorated Marine in WW2. At the wars end he was stateside traveling by train from NY to NC to get discharged from the service. Along the way he was playing cards and swapping tales with several other servicemen. One of whom was a black sailor that had lost a leg to a torpedo attack in the Pacific.</p>

<p>When the train arrived at the Mason-Dixon Line the conductor came through ordering all the blacks to the "combine" car. When my uncle and another Marine intervened on behalf of the crippled sailor. The conductor told them he would throw them all off the train if they didn't like the "law of the land".<br>

<br /> My uncle told me years later that he never forgot this incident. That sailor lost his leg to help a nation that treated him like a 2nd class nobody. The sailor probably forgot this an hour later as this was the world he lived in at that time.</p>

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<p >This week celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The struggle for blacks under Jim Crow was well documented photographically. There were thousands of poignant and often horrific images shot by photojournalists which revealed the racial based injustice in our land. </p>

<p > Many of these images helped sway public opinion too. The camera became a tool fighting racism. Photos of blacks being sprayed with fire hoses, beaten with clubs and having dogs sicced on them only served to make those doing the beating look barbaric. </p>

<p >For this week’s discussion I chose a simple image shot by one of the masters of “street and human condition” shooters, Elliott Erwitt. To me his images always tend to have humor or irony in them. This picture is only a black and white image of a man getting a drink of water. But on many levels this photograph is quite telling.<br /> </p>

<p>http://www.worldsfamousphotos.com/2007/09/05/segregated-water-fountains-1950/</p>

<p>I think a run of inexpensive 127 and 620 would do the most good as far un-shelving a lot more cameras than 116 or 616. But let's face it we're dreaming.</p>

<p>There were many decent quality preset M42 135/3.5 lenses. And as you said the "4 lenses in a tube" formula worked. Some of the 135/F3.5's had 12 bladed apertures which makes pleasing out of focus backgrounds.</p>

<p>One of my favorite portrait lenses is the Nikkor auto 135/F3.5 shot wide open.</p>

<p>I used a Calumet 6x7 back for years. Works the same as inserting a film holder with dark slide. Be aware of the differing coverages between formats with the same lens. Normal lens on a 4x5 camera is the 150 mm which is a short telefoto lens on a 6x7cm camera. What this means is that for any subject that you need a wide angle lens for. You will need a 4x5 lens shorter than 90 mm which is a normal lens on a 6x7. Once you have the framing masked off it would be silly to mess with it. Also be aware that the lens' depth of field is different with the smaller format.</p>

<p>"Hyper focal distance" always includes infinity on the long end. So it is the maximum DoF attainable at a given f stop and focal distance, that includes infinity. Or so I was taught many moons ago.</p>

<p>Have you checked the battery with a meter to determine it's hot?</p>

<p>Since a pola filter works strongest at 90` angles to the sun. A panoramic shot will certainly cross the line and give an uneven result.</p>

<p>I've seen the silver oxides die in minutes in extreme cold, just a thought. I placed the camera on the roof of my car in near zero F weather. The battery located in the bottom of the camera died instantly from the cold.<br>

Also 6v batts aren't huge sellers these days, they could be dead on the shelf.</p>

<p>Fun as always to read. Especially in light of the fact that $79 in 1959 is equal to around $600 today! One had to be a serious hobbyist to shell out that kind of dough on a 35mm camera! A new car was only around $2K in '59.</p>

<p>I wonder how those zooming lenses worked out?</p>

<p>I live in a condo in upstate NY. There is a continual supply of books left by the mail boxes. People read them, and leave them, and the cycle goes on. Sort of a guerrilla library.They also leave household items, and apparel.</p>

<p>Those are designed for "P&S".</p>

<p>Nice work and lovely specimen as always. Love that orange/yellow Kodachrome cassette too.</p>

<p>The road through the park is a winding, turning one. Once you drive through you will see photo ops every where. And the sun angles and times of day will fall into place. The park is a natural and photographic wonder!</p>