Your August issue is one of your best, and Bob Schwalberg’s “The Great Debate” is among the most informative articles I’ve ever read. The premise of the article—choosing between two popular professional cameras—was less important to me than reading about the photographers’ backgrounds, experience, and choice of equipment.
At the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, photographer Lothar Ruebelt used a Leica camera to record Jesse Owens's four stunning gold-medal victories in the 100and 200-meter dashes, the long jump, and the 400-meter relay. This year Leica is issuing a Jessie Owens Golden Anniversary commemorative camera with a 70→210-mm zoom lens.
Photography lost one of its most capable commentators with the death of Harvey V. Fondiller, 65, on August 22 at his Manhattan home. For more than 20 years, Fondiller worked for POP PHOTO as both a staff member and a contributor. Some of his most memorable work has appeared in the magazine.
"Light on America: Photographs by Jay Maisel," at the International Center of Photography, New York, June 27 through August 31. As the saying goes, big is best. Jay Maisel’s prints are not only bigger than most—his panorama of fireworks over downtown Manhattan is 15 feet wide—but they’re also better than many images of similar subjects.
Seeing Seattle: a mutable skyline and a magnificent mountain
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Carl Purcell
Seattle is one of America’s primary tourist destinations, and it certainly has much to offer photographers. Now in the midst of urban renewal, the city has a skyline that seems to change every month. Innovative architecture flows down Seattle’s hillsides into Elliott Bay, and in sunny weather Pioneer Square and other small parks brim with a vitality that comes from living in the great outdoors.
The year was 1928. I was 15 years old, and I’d finally saved enough pennies out of my allowance to buy a box of four Agfa-color plates. I had promised to give a demonstration of color photography to the Brooklyn Boy Scout Nature Club. I would show the scouts that to get sharp focus with Agfacolor plates, I had to turn the focusing screen of my view camera around so the matte side faced me.
Although photography is nearly 150 years old, quite a few pioneers are still alive, alert, and a pleasure to listen to. Two such pioneers who recently imparted their expertise were Dr. Edwin Land, who gave us instant photography through the company he founded, Polaroid, and Dr. Harold Edgerton of the Massachussetts Institute of Technology, who is known as the “father” of electronic flash.
Unusual processors for color printing in home darkrooms
Unicolor Drum Processor
Paterson Orbital Color Print Processor
Kodak Ektaflex Print Maker 8 Processor
Spiratone Motorized Color Print Processor
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Larry Sribnick
In the last few columns I’ve highlighted what to look for in a home color-print processor, and I’ve described some of the products on the market. Let’s wrap up this discussion by taking a look at some of the more unusual processors. Unicolor makes drum processors in 8×10, 11×14, and 16×20 sizes.
A number of my slides taken about seven years ago and stored in a metal slide-storage box have undergone a radical color shift toward red. What kind of film is this, and what made it turn red? Pat Richmond, Ft. Meyers, FL The markings along the edge indicate this material is a motion-picture negative/positive film, repackaged in cartridges for use in 35-mm cameras.
Bill Thomas's Touch of Success Photo Seminars, Sonoran Desert, Nov. 9—16. An introduction to the world of nature photography in which students also learn how to market their photographs. Cost: $750, including lodging, meals, and transportation.
Galen Rowell’s images combine an intense love of the natural world with well-honed photographic techniques.
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George Schaub
Combine a devotion to mountains and wilderness, a sensitivity to the special quality of its pristine light, and a desire to communicate the beauty of the natural world, and you’ll begin to understand what motivates photographer Galen Rowell.
New ISO 200 color-print films from Kodak and Scotch are sharp and fine grained, but the real news is their remarkably wide exposure latitude.
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Bob Schwalberg
Two recently revised ISO 200 color-print films—Kodacolor VR-G 200 and Scotch Color Print HR-200—add new luster to the most beautiful and perhaps the most generally useful grouping of films in the color-negative field today. ISO 200 print films have long been known for their ability to render fine-grained, sharp, colorful images when exposed at their official ISO ratings.
The Chinon CP-7m is a fully automated camera that offers flexibility and freedom of choice. Exposures can be determined automatically via three programs or aperture-priority determination. For greater control, the CP-7m also provides a metered-manual mode plus several ways to modify the automatic-exposure settings.
Well below average—9.76 millivolts on our scale. (Average for all cameras of this type tested during past five years is 19.88 millivolts.) Slightly above average—363.4 millivolts on our scale. (Average for all cameras of this type tested during past five years is 330 millivolts.)
From the first days of photographic history, photographers have wanted to make their images in color. Their frustration with the way black-and-white film reduces nature to shades of gray gave birth to the technique of hand coloring. But because reliable color films have long since replaced hand-colored black-and-white photographs as a means of imitating nature, contemporary photographers have turned to the technique as a way of heightening reality instead.
Shown here are just some of the various materials used for hand coloring, available in most art-supply stores. Oil-based materials: Marshall’s Photo Oils provide permanent, transparent color. A ½×2-inch tube is priced at $3.95, and a ¾×4-inch tube at $4.95.
It’s that time again: A new model year is approaching, and consumers are eager to see the latest in cars, computers—and especially cameras. At the most recent photographic trade show. The World's Fair of Imaging (called photokina in the industry), held in September in Cologne, West Germany, several new products—some scheduled for sale in U.S. camera stores by the end of November, others still in the prototype stage—indicate the direction photographic technology will take in the next five years.
All signs indicate that the camera industry, from the most prestigious firms to the smallest accessory makers, is still playing catch-up with Minolta’s Maxxum, which was introduced more than a year ago. Yet while others offer their challenges, Minolta refuses to stand still and make itself an easy target.
The electronic-still photography field has made tremendous gains in the past year. Judging by the newest group of prototype products, ESP may eventually become a practical and economical alternative to conventional ways of taking and showing pictures.
High-end compact cameras are becoming hybrids, combining the simplicity of point-and-shoot automation with sophisticated SLR features. Certainly the most advanced example of the new breed is a Pentax camera that we saw on display at photokina.
Konica stole the film sideshow at photokina when it unveiled the world’s fastest film, with a remarkable speed of ISO 3200. Although not yet available, SR-V 3200 color-negative film was represented by 5 × 7and 8 × 7;10-inch prints with excellent color, grain, and sharpness.
The major independent lens makers have entered the autofocus (AF) market in two ways: with lenses made specifically for the Minolta Maxxum AF cameras and with lenses that can add AF capabilities to conventional cameras. Five of the independents are subcontractors to Minolta and are already making Maxxum lenses that are sold under the Minolta brand name.
Autofocus cameras undoubtedly arc hot items these days, so it’s not surprising that flash manufacturers are introducing units specifically intended for use with them. Among the major features of the units is an illuminator beam that assists in low-light autofocusing.
The 8-mm format is beginning to dominate video-camcorder introductions. The new units on display at photokina were divided between full-featured, comparatively large models—which still are smaller than earlier versions—and compact units that can easily be handheld.
Four new 120 roll-film cameras—three from Rollei and a prototype from Mamiya—made their debut at photokina ’86. The new Rolleiflex SL66SE and SL66X are 120/220 roll-film single-lens-reflex descendants of the Rolleiflex SL66, with the distinctive built-in bellows providing 50-mm of lens focusing extension and enabling the lens to tilt for sharpness control.
At this year’s photokina, makers of large-format equipment offered a number of refinements of the view camera’s classic design, intended to give the user even greater control with less effort. Linhof has eliminated most of the vexations of view-camera movements in its new Kardan Master GTL and Kardan GT models with a pair of simple tilting joints underneath the front and back standards.
Black-and-white and color-printing fans have something to look forward to in the coming months: One group can expect a new lineup of papers, the other a simplified color-analyzing system. And new enlarging lenses will please them both.
Walk, run, swing, slide—let the audience see from the viewpoint of the subject, not the camera operator.
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Jay Melville
The excitement of movies comes from motion and change on the screen. From a fixed camera position, the filmmaker or videographer can transform the image by panning, tilting, and zooming. But the picture gets most exciting when the camera moves.
The "Coraflex" and other lightweight, compact 35-mm SLR combinations
Are flat lenses made for other SLRs?
floating around in limited quantities.
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Cora Wright Kennedy
I’m a firm believer in lightweight, compact 35-mm equipment. The more weight I tote, the more my body rebels and the more my creative impulses are diminished. A sorry state of affairs, right? This explains why I constantly look for easy-to-carry, manageable gear.
This one-touch zoom lens has 16 elements divided into four sections. In optical power, front to back, they are positive, negative, positive, and positive. While the lens is zooming, the first and last sections move together; the third section moves in the same direction, but it does so more slowly and at an uneven rate.
Los Angeles Spring, by Robert Adams. Aperture, New York; 1986; 60 pages; 50 duotone photographs; hardcover, $50. The black-and-white photographs in Robert Adams’s most recent book, Los Angeles Spring, seem deliberately unbeautiful, and not just in the ravaged landscape he brings to our attention.
The Zenzanon-E 100-mm f/4 macro lens (list: $868) for Bronica ETRS and SQA/SQ-Am cameras is constructed with six elements in four groups and has an aperture range of f/4 to f/32. This macro lens has close focusing capability of 2 feet with a 1:4 magnification ratio without the need for accessory extension tubes or bellows. It weighs 22.9 ounces and is 3.2 inches long. Information: GMI Photographic, 1776 New Highway, P.O. Drawer U, Farmingdale, NY 11735.
GMI Photographic
Spiratone 28→200-mm f/3.8 lens
$169.95
The Spiratone 28→200-mm f/3.8 lens (list: $169.95 has one-touch zoom/focus control and a 1:4 macro capability. With this lens, a subject covering 4×6 inches will cover the full film format. Custom mounts are available for Canon, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, and Pentax K-KA cameras. This multicoated lens has a minimum aperture of f/22. Information: Spiratone Inc., 135-06 Northern Blvd., Flushing, NY 11354.
GMI Photographic
4×6-inch postcard
$12.95
Via-Foto is a 4×6-inch postcard that allows the sender to attach a photograph to the face of the card. The front of Via-Foto has a peel-away, laminated plastic cover that works like the pages in a self-stick photo album. Both the backing and the laminate are covered with an adhesive that seals the photograph in place. The card has a standard postcard back with areas for writing messages and a mailing address. Via-Foto is available in packages of 24 postcards for $12.95, 12 for $6.95, and three for $1.98. Information: Via-Foto, 170 Broadway, New York, NY 10038.
GMI Photographic
Matrix CE-II KD/Console Editor
$750
The Matrix CE-II KD/Console Editor (list: $750) is a light-table viewing system composed of a tabletop and rear viewing surface. The lightboxes have a total capacity of 376 35-mm slides or 20 8×10 transparencies. Both viewing surfaces are illuminated with 5,000-degree ANSI standard lights, each with its own cord and switch. Overlays for the vertical surface come in two types—for storage or speed editing in either a single four-foot long piece or two two-foot sections. Legs are available in either 32 or 36 inches in height. Information: Leedal, Inc., 1918 S. Prairie Ave., Chicago, IL 60616.