Acorn today; tomorrow an oak I really enjoyed Ed Meyer’s article on the ideal camera store [“Protechniques,” April issue]. I recently opened a very small camera store, and am trying to out-do two other dealers that have been around for many years and have more working capital than we have merchandise.
SUBMINIATURE TV CAMERA: The battery-powered wristwatch TV camera is a step closer to reality. RCA has demonstrated a b&w research model weighing under one pound. Its solid-state "eye" consists of 32 rows each with 44 photo-sensitive silicon elements.
I have some tungsten halogen lamps that are rated at 3000 K. What filter should I use over the camera lens to raise the temperature of the light to match 3400 K Type A indoor color film? Art Gliner, Beltsville, Md. There’s no exact match with the usual light-balancing filters.
For darkroom workers, the real talk of the MPDFA show in Chicago was 16-mm Kodacolor II film in 110 cartridges for the new Kodak pocket Instamatic cameras. But the question was when would this tantalizing improvement over current Kodak negative color films be available in 35-mm form, along with the new three-solution chemistry required? When would you and I, who are committed to 35, be able to put the film’s finer grain and better sharpness to work for much better 8x10s and presumably respectable 11 x 14s (or larger prints) made in our own darkrooms? About a year was the general arrival date given for this film in 35 and 126 sizes.
“Every day the artistic trade shows us some new wonder,” was the comment made in ‘65 in response to the introduction to the photographic field of a camera that provided for the development of negatives right inside the camera. No, it wasn’t a new Polaroid Land camera, nor did it happen in 1965.
BOOK REVIEW IN BRIEF—8mm/ 16mm Movie-Making, by Henry Provisor. New York: Amphoto, 1971, 272 pp.; hardcover, $8.95. What can you say about a book on movie making that covers the obligatory points but is written gracelessly, edited poorly, and is occasionally inaccurate? Not much, except to pinpoint its defects and to note that many of the movie books published in the last few years have missed their mark—and this is one of them.
How to publish your own photo book— advice from someone who actually did it
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JACOB DESCHIN
Here I’ve been saying for years that a photographer has to make his own prints if he is really to complete what he saw in the camera’s finder, when along comes Ralph Gibson and takes the concept a large step further. Not only must he make his own prints, Gibson insists, but he must get them published in book form.
Woman, The 2nd World Exhibition of Photography, University of Oregon Museum of Art, Eugene (Jan.-Feb.). The overwhelmingly large and widely publicized Woman did little to further the cause of photography in Eugene, but it drew unusually large crowds into the museum.
For eons, it seems, certain groups of photographers have aspired to elevate the medium of photography to a level of “Fine Art.” I have never been unduly concerned about such nonsense. But somehow or other I got roped into attending a meeting of the Society of Photographers in Communication (formerly A.S.M.P.), which was devoted to the subject of “Merchandising Photography As A Fine Art.
Stretch the spectrum: latest dyes and color sheets offer infinite variety of tints and tones
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AL FRANCEKEVICH
Regular readers of this column will be familiar with Color Key materials and their applications in color posterization effects. Color Key is a material manufactured by the 3-M Co. for making quick, low-cost proofs of color engravings. In recent years, photographers have flocked to it to create unusual color pictures.
Potential pro with a problem, plus a program for profit
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EDWARD MEYERS
“I believe it is important that you publish my letter as a public service type WARNING TO ALL FREE-LANCE PHOTOGRAPHERS, OR AMATEURS TRYING TO SELL PICTURES. “Some months ago I was laid off by Lockheed and decided to take a crack at photography prior to seeking employment.
Good books on camera construction and design are rare and often not in English
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NORMAN GOLDBERG
Quite a few readers of this column have written over the years for my recommendations of books on the subject of camera construction. Most of these readers acknowledge the broad choice of books on optics, but have trouble locating works on the specific topic of the design and construction of cameras.
If you’re a lone worker, concentrating on shooting, yet would also like to record the sound of the scene, you certainly have your hands full. That’s where automatic recording level, a feature common to cassette recorders, comes into the picture, and that’s where we left off last month.
I bought a stereo cassette recorder so I could record commentary on one track and slide-synch pulses on the other; but it seems that on this recorder I have to do both at the same time. How can I set up the recorder so I can record commentary first, and then add the slide synch? Almost all cassette recorders put both tracks into the record mode at the same time.
Thailand: country of ancient temples, busy markets, and bejeweled Buddhas
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LES BARRY
Let’s face it: however much time you plan to spend visiting Bangkok, it isn’t going to be enough. This sprawling metropolis, which has been the capital of Thailand (formerly Siam) for some 300 years, is one of those cities in which the standard tourist attractions only whet the appetite for further adventures.
BOOK REVIEW IN BRIEF—Photo Design by Harald Mante. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1971; 108 pp., 95 illustrations; hardcover, $12. The value of this book depends a great deal on your personal feelings about photography, and of life in general.
Honeywell Elmo Super 110, for super 8 movie making, has a 7—70-mm power zoom f/1.8 lens that focuses to 5½ in. from the front of the lens, speeds of 18 and 24 fps plus about 54 fps for slow motion, capability for single-frame exposures, an auto-exposure system for daylight film speeds of ASA 25, 40, 64, 100, and 160 (or artificial light equivalents 40-250), and is powered by four AA cells.
Someone once told me that not all dreams are dreams
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The bosses here have given each of us a mythical hundred bucks and asked us about the different ways we’d spend it, and since I can’t share the loot with you, at least I can share my thoughts. 1. I’d subscribe to the Milwaukee Journal for a year, put the balance in my savings account, and tell the management here that this newspaper is worth the money for the way it uses the pictures shot by the inspired photo staff.
How the system makes a difference in the photographer's view of the world
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BILL PIERCE
Any camera leaves its mark on the pictures it helps to create. Large-format or smallformat, hand-held or tripod-mounted, with waist-level or eye-level viewing—all cameras have their effect on the final image. A good photographer uses cameras the characteristics of which help him to achieve his brand of photography, and whose limitations are unimportant.
What camera do you prefer using? That’s a simple question that usually evokes a complicated answer. Many of us are evangelistic about the camera of our choice, feeling everyone should share our enthusiasm, but become rather vague when asked for concrete reasons. This is natural, because our reasons are mostly personal, deriving from our ideas about the nature of photography and the kinds of pictures we like taking.
How would you feel if someone you presumed dead were to walk up to you and say, “Hello”? You’d be shocked. Now, no rangefinder camera ever walked up to me and said anything. But when I checked through the 1972 edition of the Photography Directory & Buying Guide, which is compiled by the editors of POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY, and counted the number of rangefinder cameras, I knew that no funeral was imminent.
THREE PHOTOGRAPHERS VOTE RANGEFINDER EIGHT TO ONE!
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Hugh Birnbaum
For the statistically minded, this collection of pictures should prove beyond a doubt that eight out of nine color photographs in a strongly biased selection from the work of Dan Budnik, Mary Ellen Mark, and Terry Bisbee were made with rangefinder cameras.
Coupled rangefinders depend on trigonometry and fine workmanship
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NORMAN GOLDBERG
Photographers are really sort of a smug bunch. They tend to believe that the date that first saw some technical improvement on a camera is the date of discovery of the device. Take rangefinders, for example. Ask almost any photographer about the history of the rangefinder and he’ll remember his propaganda by citing 1932 as the date of the first rangefinder.
Until President Nixon set foot on Chinese soil in February, the last major historic visit there by a foreign dignitary was at the end of the 13th century when Marco Polo went to see Kublai Kahn. Seven hundred years ago, the Chinese had already invented gunpowder and spaghetti, but the camera, unfortunately, was not on the scene to record the great event.
Predictions that nothing of importance would be seen at this show were foolish. Without a doubt, Kodak’s introduction of the new pocket Instamatic cameras and projectors stole the show. And, despite the absence of quite a few major manufacturers, the well was not completely dry.
Startling is the word for the flood of new super 8 cameras—all the more surprising since much of the “trade” had been lamenting about the sluggish activity. However, few of the new models broke new ground. The cameras looked familiar, although the zoom ranges ran longer: 6X, 8X, and even 10X have become standard.
Here we go again! Kodak’s new line of cameras, the pocket Instamatics, were the hit of the recent photo show in Chicago. Five models comprising the new line were shown, and they range in price from $27.95 to $127.95, with features ranging from “box camera” simplicity all the way up to full exposure automation and coupled rangefinder, which accounts for the $100 spread. A series of rumors stretching back several months before the formal product introduction proved to be true: Kodak was going full-bore into the subminiature camera field.
The Leica M5 is, essentially, an M-series Leica with a throughthe-lens meter. To accommodate the meter, the size of the camera has increased, the shape has changed, and some of the familiar features have been repositioned. But, when you pick up the camera, it still feels like a Leica.
Comments: If there were no other new features than the black chrome finish, the M5 would merit admiration and great interest, for this is truly a breakthrough. Black chrome, applied in an even fashion over such broad areas, has not met with much success in the past.
One might think the Polaroid Square Shooter 2 Land Camera is just a cheaper version of the original Square Shooter. The assumption is partly correct: it is cheaper, but it is also different. First, it doesn't have a rangefinder, and second, it doesn't have Focused Flash.
Athletes may go into training, dancers may do their exercises, and pianists may play their Czerny, but who ever heard of a film maker having a workout? It might not be a bad idea for the serious film maker because this is one of the best ways to define and promote those elusive intangibles grouped under “creativity,” and which align themselves into a distinct, individualistic style.
Birmingham Museum of Art, Eighth Ave. at 20th St. N., Birmingham: Joe Phillips. July 9-30 • Mobile Art Gallery, Langan Park, Mobile: The Hand of Man on America/David Plowden (Smithsonian). June 10-July 9 ARIZONA Phoenix Art Museum. 1 625 N.
CONTEST NOTICES—Life magazine announces its Bicentennial Photography Contest, to celebrate the approaching 200th anniversary of the U.S. Open to all, the contest’s theme is “A Declaration of Interdependence.” Pictures should reflect the dependence of Americans on one another (i.e., family, neighbors, races, friends, etc.) Grand Prize is $25,000.
In the stripdown report on the Yashica Mat-124G, which appeared on page 95 of the May, 1972, issue of POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY, 14 words were lost between the author’s typescript and the printed page. The sentence that reads “Certainwind gears are made of brass, where fiber or some tough plastic like delrin would have been better,” should be corrected to read as follows: “Certain wind gears are made of brass, where steel would have been better, and the focusing cam followers are also brass, where fiber or some tough plastic like delrin would have been better.
I would like to know of any 35-mm rangefinder cameras that have manually-operated light-metering systems. Doug Levy, Neponset, N. Y. There are quite a few, and they run from the very complex and expensive to the simpler varieties; some can also be used automatically, if desired.