While Cora Wright Kennedy’s “Tools & Techniques” column, February issue, covered many make-do cures for static-electricity film and camera problems, it failed to mention a preparation that has been designed specifically for these purposes—Singh-Ray Anti-Static Compound CX-3B.
To forbid cropping photographs is like forbidding amendments to the Constitution: it prevents improvement
[no value]
[no value]
Kenneth Poli
I hate Sweeping Statements, don’t you? Should that sound like one to you, I confess that it sounds like one to me, too. But I simply mistrust any rule that admits no exceptions. There may be occasional commands that are universally and eternally true for photographers, but I can’t think of any—except perhaps, “Always remove the lens cap before releasing the shutter.”
Today’s students of photographic history are more fortunate than those of a generation ago; their knowledge of early images is no longer limited to the printed page. Now they can go to museums to view examples of daguerreotypes, calotypes, and albumen prints.
In the Bahamas, you can make a big splash—but, please, not at the expense of your equipment!
[no value]
[no value]
Carl Purcell
The islands of the Bahamas are like the pearls in a necklace, loosely strung against the cobalt blue of the Caribbean. The bands of color— deep-blue, aquamarine, white sand, and a wash of light-blue sky, all etched in the tropical sun—are reminiscent of a Winslow Homer painting.
They use innovative technology to provide more speed with less grain and improved color saturation. How do they compare with the new Kodacolor VR films?
FUJI HR 100 & 400
FUJI HR 100&400
[no value]
[no value]
Bob Schwalberg
Color-print films are becoming sharper, finer-grained, more colorful, and increasingly popular. In the 35-mm format alone, negative-color films now account for more than two-thirds of all film sales. In last month’s issue of POP PHOTO, we reported on four new Kodacolor VR print films.
Local contestants vied for big prizes in the 44th Kodak International Newspaper Awards. Here,s a sampling of the judges' favorites
Notes on the Pictures
[no value]
[no value]
[no value]
From jaguars to tiny ballerinas, sunflower fields to steel foundries, the subject matter was as diverse as the photographers who participated in the 1982 Kodak International Newspaper Snapshot Awards (KINSA) competition. The photographs shown here are a small sampling of the more than 200 black-andwhite and color images that were awarded prizes.
For fresh creative experiences, get involved with wide-angle lenses
[no value]
[no value]
Cora Wright Kennedy
One of the delightful aspects of photography is that experimenting with new equipment can, at times, open new visual doors or help solve problems. So it is that I’ve had a recurring love affair with various kinds of wide-angle lenses. And nowadays I find myself doing more and more shooting with these wide optics.
“New color” photography is empty, vacuous, banal, boring, uninteresting (just an opinion, of course!)
[no value]
[no value]
Howard Chapnick
Pragmatic photography, pictures produced for commercial or social ends, characterized the 150 years before the ’70s. Photographs had not yet become precious enough to exhibit in museums; store in vaults with precise temperature, light, and humidity controls; or display on the walls of photographic esthetes and investors.
Words of wisdom from an experienced photographer, color-print maker, teacher
[no value]
[no value]
Larry Sribnick
If you’re interested in learning color printing, meeting Ray Abbott is an experience you’ll never forget. Ray is an expert color printer. Somehow he finds the time to help people who are just getting started. Listening to Ray gives you the feeling that each of his words should be etched in stone; and if you are a beginning color printer, you should treat Ray's words as if they were.
As readers of this magazine are well aware, one of the long-standing rumors of the world photographic industry has been that of an improved 35-mm cassette by Eastman Kodak Co. Actually, it’s been more than a rumor: various patent disclosures have been published which indicate the direction of Kodak’s thinking.
We join Roy Volkmann during an intensive three-day assignment to create a whole year’s campaign for Ray-Ban sunglasses
The photographer and his basic setup
The wet look
Shooting “the wet look”
Two near misses and a dircet hit
"Snow" on the set
“Sun” in the studio
""Flying" indoors
[no value]
[no value]
Susan L. Brown
It is the middle of the second day of a three-day shooting for Ray-Ban sunglasses in Roy Volkmann’s New York studio. The photographs will be used for national magazine ads, point-of-purchase displays, and “hang tags” in a new “Ray-Ban Bans Rays“ campaign.
Long exposures and a keen eye are the secrets behind these sparkling pictures of rivers and streams
[no value]
[no value]
John Gerlach
The silvery ribbons of cascading water twist and turn as they relentlessly work their way through a maze of boulders. By changing lenses, filters, and shutter speeds, dozens of appealing photographs can be taken from a single vantage point.
Camera Type: Medium-format roll-film single-lens reflex Normal Lens: 80-mm Zenzanon-S f/2.8 Shutter: Between-lens, electronically governed Seiko # 0 with stepless speeds on automatic from 8 to 1/500 sec, stepped speeds from 8 to 1/500 sec on manual; mechanical (nonbattery) speeds 1 /500 sec and "T”
Like many professional photographers, I find myself using 35-mm equipment much of the time. Occasionally, though, a client will request larger-format pictures. If I have a choice, or am shooting for myself, the photographs invariably get made with a 6x6-cm roll-film camera: the medium format’s bigger negatives produce better results without requiring me to sacrifice too much mobility.
Even if it weren’t obvious from the exterior, an inside look at the SQ-A shows how closely related it is to Bronica’s ETR. See the Lab Report on that 4.5x6-cm SLR in the November, 1978 issue of POP PHOTO, and you’ll be struck with the similarities between it and the SQ-A.
Mechanical: All three lenses are mechanically alike. They have focusing helicoids made of dissimilar metals—from the outside inward: brass, aluminum, aluminum—with twin parallel guide arms. Their autodiaphragm mechanism is part of the shutter and uses rather heavy click-stop detent action to maintain the same f-stop setting even after repeated operation under the large spring forces.
Choose horizontals or verticals in an instant bracket turns camera, keeps lens in place
[no value]
[no value]
[no value]
• Bracket for use atop tripod; shifts camera for vertical or horizontal shots • Adjusts for 35-mm or medium-format camera models, motor wind Your camera is on a tripod, ready for a horizontal shot. After several exposures, you decide to try a vertical.
Lightweight multipart system mounts camera to almost any surface
[no value]
[no value]
[no value]
• Modular camera-support system ° Includes tripod with ring-locking four-section legs; center column; ball-and-socket head; vernier clamp; suction-pad mount; ground spike; wood screw • Maximum height of tripod with ball-joint head, 32 in.; minimum, 12.2 in.
They double or triple your lens’ focal length, but how good are they? Here’s everything you need to know about getting the best results
2X converter doubles zoom range
A closer look with a telephoto lens
Here’s how teleconverters work at fixed magnifications
[no value]
[no value]
Bob Schwalberg
Teleconverters are optical accessories that multiply the focal lengths of camera lenses by some fixed factor, without changing the lens distance focusing scale. Converters are mounted between the lens and the SLR camera body, and all current models incorporate mechanical linkages to preserve lens auto-aperture operation and the various light-metering modes of the cameras with which they are used.
Ever since Fred Spira first introduced the TelXtender in the 1960s, it’s been assumed that teleconverters are useful only with tele lenses. True, over the years a few camera makers, as well as some independent makers of optics, have offered converters for normal and wide-angle lenses; but traditions die hard.
U.S. photographers are welcome to participate in the second International Photographic Art Exhibition to be held in Beijing, Oct. 15-30, under the sponsorship of the Chinese Photographers Association. Entry details are as follows: 1) There are no restrictions as to theme or subject.
POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY will periodically list nationwide photographic workshops. If you wish to have your workshop listed, please send complete information at least three months prior to the registration date to: Workshops, POPULAR PHOTOGRAPHY, One Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10016.
In several discussions I’ve had with representatives of Eastman Kodak Co., I’ve received the distinct impression that they have great plans for T-grain technology, which will result in the use of this new technology with almost every sensitized product they make.
Dorothea Lange, introduction by Christopher Cox. Millerton, N.Y.: Aperture, Inc., 1982; 96 pp. with 42 photographs; hardcover, S9.95. The newest addition to Aperture’s History of Photography Series, this slim monograph deals mainly with Lange’s already familiar work for the FSA. Also included are some lesser known, but equally strong, photos from that same period and a “teaser” of six images made toward the end of her life. Y.K.
The Photographer’s Weekend Book, by Michael Bussele. New York: Amphoto, 1982; 222 pp.; hardcover, $14.50. If you’ve ever felt like taking pictures but had no picture ideas, you’ll appreciate this book. Open it at random, and you’ll find an illustrated two-page spread giving suggestions on pictures you can make on your city streets, around the neighborhood, on excursions to nearby places, or right at home.
Nude Workshop, by Lucien Clergue. New York: The Viking Press, 1982; 108 pp. with 82 black-and-white photographs; hardcover, $40. French photographer Lucien Clergue has been “celebrating” nudes—mainly female-—for more than 20 years in settings as diverse as the Death Valley Desert, the Mediterranean Sea, and a Venetian palazzo. While there is nothing meek about his chosen settings, so there is nothing mild in Clergue’s monumental approach to the nude.
Light, but not a lightweight: JVC’s answer to video on the go
[no value]
[no value]
Leendert Drukker
By Leendert Drukker A miniature-VHS offshoot—who needs it? That’s what I and a lot of other folks in the field thought when JVC started plugging for a more compact, lighter-weight video recorder using a smaller, shorter-run version of the standard VHS cassette. With a maximum play time of 20 minutes, it wouldn’t accommodate full-length films; requiring a separate camera, it would be vanquished by the combined camera/ recorders now under development.
Don’t expect a rigorously reasoned column from me: Bob Schwalberg says I do experiments wrong, and he may be right. He often agrees with my results, but seldom with my approach. But then, Bob was trained in the methodology of scientific experimenting, and I don’t think it has occurred to him that when I do a test I’m not doing science; I’m just trying to find things out.
Flash-exposure control can be versatile, simple, and accurate, if camera and lens “communicate”
[no value]
[no value]
Michele A. Frank
Some years ago, a smart engineer decided that electronic-flash synch cords were a nuisance that could be eliminated. The result was the nowstandard “hot shoe” for cameras. The next step toward greater convenience (and exposure accuracy) in electronic-flash photography was the introduction of the automatic flash unit.
Camera movements are the principal advantage of the view camera—but they can be intimidating for the beginner and irksome for the busy pro. The lightweight Alpina 4x5 monorail features some built-in controls to remove the difficulties and save time.
André Kertész: A Lifetime of Perception, introduction by Ben Lifson, edited by Jane Corkin. Toronto and New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., a Key Porter Book, 1982; 260 pp. with 150 duotone illustrations; hardcover, $45. Once you get past Lifson’s somewhat maudlin introduction, you will surely find this latest monograph devoted to Kertész a total delight! Many of the images have long been classics; however, a good number are recent discoveries. We are all the richer for their publication in this collection. Y.K.
Only fools rely on foolproof camera controls for every situation; learning when to overcome them is the beginning of photo wisdom
[no value]
[no value]
Norman Goldberg
Here’s to technological progress in photo hardware. I’m for any concept (new or old) that can help us make better pictures. My own collection of photo gear includes most of the devices that I call “can’t-miss” aids. For example, most of my cameras have throughlens metering.
Introduced at photokina ’82, the Canon 85-mm f/2.8 portrait lens with variable soft-focus control is now available, priced at $590. DIST. : Canon USA Inc., One Canon Plaza, Lake Success, N.Y. 11042. Also shown at photokina ’82, the Nikon 80 — 200-mm Zoom-Nikkor f/2.8 ED lens is available in limited quantities (due to unique manufacturing requirements) at a price of $2,695. DIST: Nikon Inc,, 623 Stewart Ave., Garden City, N.Y. 11530.
Pointed Portraits, photographs by Chalkie Davis. London and New York: Eel Pie Publishing/Kampmann & Co., 1982; 112 pp. with 100 black-and-white photographs; paperback, $9.95. A collection of photographs of rock music’s leading lights over the past 10 years, Pointed Portraits will probably generate far more excitement among aficionados than noncognoscenti. The latter do have one advantage, however— the really good photos (and there are quite a few here) stand out even more strongly without benefit of their subjects’ celebrity.
How did I manage to get these annoying, crosswise streaks on all frames of one roll of film? I developed as I usually do. Kim McNeice, Moonachie, N.J. These vertical marks that extend all the way across the 35-mm film width are typical of a problem called reverse winding.
By far the most personal Christmas card we received at POP PHOTO in 1982 was this Yuletide group portrait of various staffers and contributors sent by Alain Gagnon of Rimousla, Quebec, Canada. Standing (1. to r.) are columnist Carl Purcell, contributing editors Cora Wright Kennedy and David Vestal, and columnist Howard Chapnick.
It offers a multitude of coded information for photographers and photofinishers, but calls for a whole new breed of cameras
[no value]
[no value]
Don Leavitt
At one of the most sparsely attended press conferences in recent memory, Eastman Kodak Co. announced a major new technology for 35-mm film. As part of Kodak’s ongoing effort to integrate traditional, chemically based photography with electronics, they have created the DX system of electronically indexing 35-mm film cassettes.
The Father of Waters: A Mississippi River Chronicle, text by Norah Deakin Davis, photographs by Joseph Holmes. San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1982; 192 pp. with 39 color photographs and 52 black-and-white drawings; hardcover, $27.50.